Virtual reality therapy takes greenspace to older nursing home residents : a pilot study

Older nursing home (NH) residents receiving antidepressant, anxiolytic, or sedative-hypnotic medications for depression or anxiety are at increased risk of falling, sustaining injury, social isolation, and dying. Virtual reality (VR) therapy may provide a safe alternative or adjunct to the traditional pharmacological approach for managing depressive and anxiety symptoms, but the use of VR technology has not been studied in the NH setting. Preliminary work for this study indicated that a fully immersive VR intervention was feasible in a similar population and identified barriers that might hinder success in a subsequent trial. Two main barriers identified were usability of the head-mounted display system and content within the VR application. Modifications were made to the intervention with the intent of reducing or eliminating these problems. For this study, a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was used to pilot test ViRT-Ta-GO: Virtual Reality Therapy Takes Greenspace to Older NH residents on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Findings demonstrate the usefulness of the intervention within the NH population, suggesting that it will be advantageous to evaluate the application of ViRT-Ta-GO through controlled clinical trials.Includes bibliographical references

Student perceptions of online courses

Presently, at the post-secondary level, digital or online education is offered in addition to traditional face-to-face courses and the number of online course offerings is rapidly growing. The Occupational Outlook Handbook reveals that employment in” computer and information technology” occupations is projected to grow 12 percent between the years 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all other occupations. This is directly related to an emphasis on cloud computing, the collection, storage and connectivity of data to the Internet and the continued demand for mobile computing (Online Learning Consortium, 2015). This survey will describe online student perceptions and their preferences with regard to taking online courses and their concerns with these online courses

COVID-19 student mental health check II

The year 2020 will forever be known as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the entire population in one way or another. What began in January 2020 still has the world population firmly in its grip a year later. The students’ responses, in their own words, to changes in living, daily `routines, and health fears can be seen in the following paper. In this article, the responses of students in several undergraduate classes at a Hispanic serving institution in south Texas were collected and synthesized. The 155 responses were divided into seven frequently observed and repeated themes: jobs and job related, school and courses, routine, family, positivity, infection and stress. Findings for this second half of 2020 period differ from those collected during the first half of 2020 (Blankenship & Jones, 2020) in that two new themes (infection and stress) were added, and two themes (graduation and shopping/groceries) were deleted from the mix. Teaching professionals must be mindful to continue providing added support to assist students as they navigate this changing time

Learning styles, online courses, gender, and academic achievement of Hispanic students in higher education

This study aims at identifying learning styles of two groups of online students enrolled in Legal Studies and Corporate Training courses and comparing learning styles and academic achievements in those courses. The learning styles questionnaire was adapted from a learning styles questionnaire in College Study Strategies (Laskey & Gibson, pp. 52-53, 1997) and is a continuation of previous research by the authors. In the fall 2017, the authors administered the adapted questionnaire to undergraduate corporate training and legal studies online students in a Southern Hispanic serving institution. The questionnaire allowed students to identify whether their preferred method of learning was field dependent or field independent. Results of the learning styles questionnaires were compared with academic achievement. A discussion of field dependent and independent learning styles for Hispanic online learners will be presented. Recent research and the evidentiary rationale for attempting to predict academic achievement from specific learning styles will be explored

Year two: Effect of procrastination on academic performance of undergraduate online students

Procrastination presents problems not only for undergraduate students, but also for undergraduate faculty, and the effects of student procrastination on academic performance is a joint concern. This two-year follow up study seeks to better understand the relationship between academic performance and the actual time of submission of assignments relative to the deadline imposed on those submissions. The authors investigated the effect of academic assignment submission time and the academic grades earned before, on, and after the assignment submission deadline. These results continue to suggest that the earlier assignments are submitted, the higher the grades tend to be. Therefore, online faculty need to encourage undergraduate online students to develop a better understanding of the potential benefits of adopting the habit of earlier submission of assignments

Mentoring as seen through the lens of doctoral students

This paper will describe the reflections of doctoral students as they complete their first experience of formal mentoring and examine what they discovered about the process and rigors of mentoring adults. Goals and objectives were negotiated and a formal written agreement describing trust, communication, time expectations and constraints, confidentiality of information, plan developing, success criteria and measurement, delineation of mutual responsibilities and target dates for learning goals was executed. Although the students all indicated a successful experience, the process of how each achieved that experience varied

Learning style preferences and the online classroom

This study was adapted from a learning styles questionnaire in College Study Strategies (Laskey & Gibson, pp. 52-53, 1997). The authors administered the adapted questionnaire to undergraduate education and legal online students in a Southern predominately Hispanic serving institution. This study allowed the students to identify their preferred method of learning and will allow the online instructors to modify and improve the design of their courses. Results of the learning styles questionnaire will be presented with suggestions and recommendations for teachers of field dependent and independent online learners

What do you mean you never got any feedback?

Students are continuously using their cell phones, iPads and text or video messaging services to obtain instant feedback on virtually every aspect of their lives. This mindset of gaining an immediate response to questions asked translates into the classroom environment as well. Although online learning and virtual classes offer students freedom from traditional classroom constraints, the need for constructive and immediate feedback on assignments continues to be a main focus for online students. Over a period of one year, this study focused on learning the perceptions of students to detailed instructor feedback on online assignments, how they wanted to receive that feedback and how satisfied they were with the feedback provided by the instructor. Learning the kind of feedback students perceive as beneficial will assist the online instructor to provide comprehensive and constructive feedback that promotes the realization of participative goals, engages students and enhances learning. Results of this study and implications for further research will be shared

The Incorporation of Alcohol Awareness Activities in the Hospitality Administration Curricula

Hospitality administration programs provide students with knowledge of basic principles underlying the industry and prepare them to assume responsible roles in business and society. A growing body of evidence suggests that providing information to students about accurate drinking norms is associated with decreased drinking on campus (U.S. Department of Education, Higher Education Center, 2006). Accredited hospitality administration programs in the United States were surveyed to determine the extent to which alcohol awareness activities are included in courses that cover the role of legal and ethical managerial behavior concerning beverage management