Beyond Average: Contemporary statistical techniques for analysing student evaluations of teaching

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) have been used to evaluate higher education teaching performance for decades. Reporting SET results often involves the extraction of an average for some set of course metrics, which facilitates the comparison of teaching teams across different organisational units. Here, we draw attention to ongoing problems with the naive application of this approach. Firstly, a specific average value may arise from data that demonstrates very different patterns of student satisfaction. Furthermore, the use of distance measures (e.g. an average) for ordinal data can be contested, and finally, issues of multiplicity increasingly plague approaches using hypothesis testing. It is time to advance the methodology of the field. We demonstrate how multinomial distributions and hierarchical Bayesian methods can be used to contextualise the SET scores of a course to different organisational units and student cohorts, and then show how this approach can be used to extract sensible information about how a distribution is changing

Transformation of Epichloë typhina by electroporation of conidia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Choke, caused by the endophytic fungus <it>Epichloë typhina</it>, is an important disease affecting orchardgrass (<it>Dactylis glomerata </it>L.) seed production in the Willamette Valley. Little is known concerning the conditions necessary for successful infection of orchardgrass by <it>E. typhina</it>. Detection of <it>E. typhina </it>in plants early in the disease cycle can be difficult due to the sparse distribution of hyphae in the plant. Therefore, a sensitive method to detect fungal infection in plants would provide an invaluable tool for elucidating the conditions for establishment of infection in orchardgrass. Utilization of a marker gene, such as the green fluorescent protein (GFP), transformed into <it>Epichloë </it>will facilitate characterization of the initial stages of infection and establishment of the fungus in plants.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We have developed a rapid, efficient, and reproducible transformation method using electroporation of germinating <it>Epichloë </it>conidia isolated from infected plants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The GFP labelled <it>E. typhina </it>provides a valuable molecular tool to researchers studying conditions and mechanisms involved in the establishment of choke disease in orchardgrass.</p

Citrus Variety Trends in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

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Principles behind evaluations of national food and beverage taxes and other regulatory efforts

Non-PRIFPRI3; ISIPHN