Staff-student Partnership in Practice in Higher Education : The Impact on Learning and Teaching

© 2012 The Authors. Published with open access by Elsevier Ltd.This staff-student collaborative project involved six small project teams each composed of staff and undergraduate students studying within the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Each project team engaged in a mini-project designed to research an aspect of learning and teaching to develop learning and teaching and to enhance students’ employability skills. The ‘student researchers’ from the small project teams were also members of a larger coaching group that met with the project lead and other experienced colleagues and undertook joint enquiry. Students used reflective logs as one means of recording data on their developing employability skills and their learning from the project. Evaluation activities included documentation of all coaching group workshops and collecting quantitative and qualitative data for each learning and teaching research project. The usefulness of this data was evaluated by staff members in relation to its impact on their module planning. The main implication of this approach is that staff-student partnership in learning and teaching has a significant impact on learning and teaching development and enhancement, learning to learn, raising the profile of research into learning and teaching, and employability skills and attributes. The student researchers came to a much deeper understanding of learning and teaching, and became much more aware of their responsibility for their own learning and committed to enhancing the learning of others. Members of staff noted that working with students had been ‘extremely inspirational’- seeing students work with other students and what they could achieve that could not be achieved by members of staff

Live Thankfully Little Rock: A Case Study of Marketing for Nonprofit for Resale Shops

This thesis discusses the best practices that nonprofit resale shops should follow when marketing

Be Fruitful and Multiply: Fertility and Tradeoffs in Latter-Day Saints

In humans, there are evolutionary trade-offs between energy allocated to reproduction and embodied capital (investing in extended development). We see selection toward early and frequent reproduction over embodied capital in the predominantly Latter-Day Saints (LDS) culture of Utah. We hypothesize that encouragement toward reproduction in LDS individuals has tradeoffs with embodied capital compared to non-LDS individuals. We collected data through an anonymous online survey (Qualtrics) distributed to a stratified random sample of LDS and non-LDS college students and recent graduates of Utah State University in Logan, UT (n=45) and Texas A&M in College Station, Texas (n=17) . We include questions on marital status, religion, sexual behavior, reproductive goals, and college grades. Current results suggest that LDS students are much less likely to be sexually active when unmarried compared to non-LDS students (14% compared to 44%). Non-LDS students in both samples are 65% more likely to have used birth control methods compared to sexually active LDS students. The percentage of participants that wanted children in the future differed according to affiliation with the LDS church X 2 (12, N=58)=31.95, p These results suggest differences in embodied capital priorities between LDS and non-LDS students. This study applies evolutionary theory to cultural behaviors specific to the LDS faith, including previously untested ideas that are relevant to biological anthropology. Here we show connections between religion, reproduction, and evolutionary fitness in a subset of American culture

The use of the descriptive phenomenological approach to reveal the essence of the lived experience of impaired sensation in the feet related to Multiple Sclerosis

Background: In the UK, a topical issue in recently published research is impaired sensation in the feet, which is a commonly reported symptom by people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Research into this phenomenon has so far focused upon potential interventions to assist with improving balance and gait, as reduced plantar sensation has been linked to a greater risk of falling. To date however, there is no published phenomenological research that has explored the experiences of people living with MS related impaired sensation in their feet.  Research Question: What are the lived experiences of impaired sensation in the feet related to MS? PPI: Interested patients and the public were involved from the research design stage to ensure the research was meaningful to all potential stakeholders.  Participants: Five English speaking adults (18+) with MS who self-reported impairments in the sensation of their feet (for example; numbness, pins and needles or burning), volunteered to take part in the study. The participants were recruited from a catchment of people living with MS, under the active care of a Community NHS Foundation Trust. Methodology & Method: Descriptive phenomenological research, although a less commonly used approach, is well placed to account for an essential structural description of a phenomenon, precisely as it is lived by patients, without interpretation, or application of theory, to contribute knowledge to the wider evidence base. Participants who provided written consent to take part in the study were interviewed in their home environment. Each participant was asked to describe their experience of living with impaired sensation in their feet, as concretely and in as much detail as possible. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and are being analysed by adopting the phenomenological attitude and reduction, and using the descriptive phenomenological method proposed by Giorgi (2009). An essential structure of the lived-through phenomenon will be created that aims to uncover, not define, how the phenomenon of interest is lived and intended meaningful by people with MS. This poster will focus upon the methodology employed as part of the research process.  Outcome: The study itself aims to produce phenomenological descriptive knowledge about the unifying structure of the lived-through phenomenon, based on the qualitative interview data. The findings of the study may have significant implications for the enhancement of meaningful practice; such as increasing the awareness of the phenomenon amongst clinicians, potentially improving therapeutic care and clinical interventions. It may also help to formulate ideas for future clinical research

Collaborative Action Retreat Report: Summary of Retreat Held in June 2015

No abstract available

A case-control study of drug risk factors for age-related macular degeneration.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and exposure to antacids, antithyroids, thyroid hormones, and thiazide diuretics. DESIGN: Matched case-control study. PARTICIPANTS: Population-based participants were selected from the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database. A total of 18,007 people with diagnosed AMD were compared with 86 169 controls matched for age, gender, and general practice. METHODS: Conditional logistic regression was used to determine the association between exposure to each drug group of interest and a diagnosis of AMD, adjusting for relevant confounding variables. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the odds ratio for the association between exposure to antacids, antithyroids, thyroid hormones, or thiazide diuretics and AMD. Secondary analyses were conducted to assess the effect of recent exposure to the drugs of interest, the total number of prescriptions received, and restricting the data set to participants with more than 2 years of observation time. RESULTS: The crude odds ratios for association between any record of drug exposure and AMD were as follows: 1.34 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-1.39) for antacids; 1.15 (95% CI, 0.92-1.44) for antithyroids; 1.34 (95% CI, 1.29-1.39) for thyroid hormones; and 1.13 (95% CI, 1.08-1.17) for thiazide diuretics. After adjusting for consultation rate, observation time, diabetes, heart failure, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular drug use, atherosclerosis, hypertension, aspirin use, hormone replacement therapy use, body mass index, alcohol consumption, and smoking, the odds ratios reduced to: 1.06 (95% CI, 1.02-1.10) for antacids, 0.98 (95% CI, 0.78-1.24) for antithyroids, 0.99 (95% CI, 0.92-1.06) for thyroid hormones, and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.94-1.02) for thiazides. Secondary analyses were consistent with these findings for all 4 drug categories. CONCLUSIONS: No association was detected between short- and medium-term use of antithyroids, thyroid hormones, and thiazide diuretics and the risk of AMD. Short- and medium-term use of antacids seems to be associated with a small increase in the risk of this disease. However, this increased risk is likely the result of residual confounding by smoking or uncontrolled confounding resulting from socioeconomic status. No conclusions could be drawn regarding longer-term use of each drug category

Motor vehicle and pedal cycle conspicuity: part 3 - retroreflective and fluorescent materials, validation report.

The aim of these validation trials were to establish whether red retro-reflective markings in the Draft Regulation XA format perform as well as the yellow markings in the same format and to determine if either the yellow or red Draft Regulation XA markings perform significantly better than what is currently on the road

Screen time is associated with adiposity and insulin resistance in children

Higher screen time is associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk in adults, but the association with T2D risk markers in children is unclear. We examined associations between self-reported screen time and T2D risk markers in children. Survey of 4495 children aged 9-10 years who had fasting cardiometabolic risk marker assessments, anthropometry measurements and reported daily screen time; objective physical activity was measured in a subset of 2031 children. Compared with an hour or less screen time daily, those reporting screen time over 3 hours had higher ponderal index (1.9%, 95% CI 0.5% to 3.4%), skinfold thickness (4.5%, 0.2% to 8.8%), fat mass index (3.3%, 0.0% to 6.7%), leptin (9.2%, 1.1% to 18.0%) and insulin resistance (10.5%, 4.9% to 16.4%); associations with glucose, HbA1c, physical activity and cardiovascular risk markers were weak or absent. Associations with insulin resistance remained after adjustment for adiposity, socioeconomic markers and physical activity. Strong graded associations between screen time, adiposity and insulin resistance suggest that reducing screen time could facilitate early T2D prevention. While these observations are of considerable public health interest, evidence from randomised controlled trials is needed to suggest causality. [Abstract copyright: Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Motor vehicle and pedal cycle conspicuity: part 3 - vehicle mounted warning beacons. Summary report.

Accident studies suggest that the early detection and identification of other types of road users is likely to be a safety benefit to drivers, and one means for achieving this is through the use of vehicle-mounted warning beacons. A review of previous research, current technology, standards and regulations, and the views of relevant parties confirms the contribution of warning beacons in this respect. It also indicates that the warning beacons available in the market are largely governed by the restrictions imposed by the relevant regulations. However contact with various warning beacon user groups suggests that these designs are not as effective as they would wish and may in certain instances be giving rise to disbenefits to other road users. A rigorous scientific test programme identified those factors which make warning beacons more conspicuous and specific consideration was given to those vehicles, fitted with amber warning beacons, which work within environments of flashing amber road beacons. Disbenefits of warning beacon design, in terms of disability glare, discomfort glare, distraction and eleptogenesis, were also investigated. It is recommended that the users of warning beacons be prioritised with the highest priority group being allocated the top values of those features which make warning beacons conspicuous (subject to consideration of the disbenefits likely to be generated). Road trials should be undertaken to further refine the recommendations

Quality and field of vision - a review of the needs of drivers and riders: final report.

Quality and field of vision - a review of the needs of drivers and riders: final report