Improving retention for all students, studying mathematics as part of their chosen qualification, by using a voluntary diagnostic quiz

This case study demonstrates the issues and advantages in encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning and to be better prepared both in terms of knowledge and expectations for their study. The study outlines the improvement in retention achieved when students were encouraged to use a voluntary diagnostic quiz on a first year university mathematics module. Initially the power of the diagnostic quiz, in predicting future success on the module, was identified using predictive analytics. Students were contacted by experienced Education Guidance staff who encouraged them to take the quiz prior to course start with the aim of using their results to steer them to start on the “right” course. The diagnostic quiz total score was made available to the student’s course tutor prior to course start to enable further tailoring of support to individual students. Early indications show an improvement in early module retention. The module in this case study was for distance learning students on an open access mathematics course

Interventions to improve public support for public health policy: a systematic review

This thesis explores corporate determinants of health and how transnational corporations oppose evidence based policy measures aimed at reducing harm. Alcohol was explored as an example where there is considerable population harm and where transnational corporations attempt to influence health policies. The Lima and Galea (2018) framework was used to consider how the alcohol industry influences population health to protect profits. Public support for policy measures was shown to influence likelihood of adoption of evidence based policy to improve population health. Studies of support for alcohol policy measures were explored in detail, and provided a rationale for exploring interventions to promote public support for alcohol policy measures. However, scoping searches found only one evaluation of an intervention to improve public support for alcohol policy measures, therefore the work was broadened to include all public health policy measures. A systematic review was conducted to take stock of the evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches to influencing public support for a range of public health policy measures. Components of interventions demonstrating evidence of effect were explored in a narrative synthesis, and effectiveness data for included studies was pooled using both random and fixed effects meta analyses where appropriate. In summary, interventions of this type are shown to elicit small but significant improvements in public support for public health policy measures. Implications for future research are to build on the findings of this review to develop interventions to improve public support for public health policy measures , with a focus on ‘real world’ settings and engagement of key stakeholders to deliver the intervention to the general public. This could contribute to improving public support for evidence based policy measures, increasing the likelihood of adoption and implementation of these policies which will improve population health and reduce harms due to noncommunicable diseases

Disparities between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Educational Attainment: Exploring Factors Related to Low Average School NAPLAN Scores in the Northern Territory

The Indigenous population is a small minority in most areas of Australia, except the Northern Territory where Indigenous people make up roughly a quarter of the population. Indigenous people have lower educational achievement when compared to non-Indigenous people in Australia, with almost half as many of Indigenous having completed Year 12 or equivalent as non-Indigenous in 2016. The focus of this study was to identify factors that may be influencing the lower educational attainment of Indigenous students. Factors related to increased Indigenous presence in a school were expected to predict lower educational attainment. Full or partial support for some of the hypotheses was found, with the percent of Indigenous students, student to teacher ratio, attendance rates, and school location being associated with educational attainment. The attendance rate of students was associated with the socioeconomic score, student to teacher ratio, and location of schools. The results of the analysis may not be representative due to large amounts of missing data, which excluded most schools in very remote locations

Developed Belly Dancing Classes for Pre- and Postpartum Women (Summer 2022)

Rachel Coleman is an Academic Counselor and the Records Coordinator in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. She has been on staff at the University of Mississippi since January 21, 2014.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/staff_res/1013/thumbnail.jp

“If Only They Knew”: Preparing Cross-Cultural Missionaries for Service in Latin America

Drawing on the perspective of Latin American church leaders, “If Only They Knew” details common cultural, linguistic and ministry errors made by U.S. missionaries in Latin America, offers preparation strategies for new missionaries to the region, and proposes action and reflection questions for mission-sending agencies and missionary candidates

Increasing Subjective Client Agency for Psychotherapy at a Veterans Administration Hospital: A Process-Outcome Study

Subjective client agency, defined as client expectations for actively influencing therapy process and outcome, is hypothesized to contribute to psychotherapy process and outcome. Previous work has linked higher degrees of subjective client agency to more positive client ratings of the therapeutic working alliance, while results for outcome studies are mostly non-significant. The current project extended the limited body of research in this area by (a) examining associations for subjective client agency at the outset of group therapy with ratings of group process, therapeutic alliance and treatment outcome for 84 clients at a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic, and (b) attempting to manipulate subjective client agency via a pre-therapy orientation. Internal locus of control for therapy was associated with positive group process ratings. Expectations for taking verbal initiative were associated with greater client-rated agreement on therapeutic goals. However, neither of these operational definitions of SCA was significantly related to therapist-rated alliance or to symptom change in the first eight weeks of group therapy. Moreover, two distinct versions of the pre-therapy orientation failedto alter veterans\u27 expectations for taking an active role in treatment. Implications for further research are discussed

Overlapping Scales of Place Based Indigenous Knowledge and Hydroclimate in Australia

Indigenous Peoples have been monitoring and adapting to uncertainty and change in their local regions for millennia, resulting in a holistic view of the interlinkages within the occupied complex socio-environmental systems. This research consists of investigating the overlapping scales of knowledge within Indigenous Australian seasonal calendars and colonial methods of hydroclimate assessment for improving adaptability to climate change impacts. The analyses began with a sample of 25 Indigenous seasonal calendars providing a glimpse into interlinkages among biota, environment, and meteorology of the localised regions. Across the calendars, five themes of information and multiple categories within these themes became apparent and were explored for relevance to climate change and adaptability. The next stage of research involved analysis and modelling of historical streamflow and observed historical streamflow for changes in trends and seasonality. Quantile regression and cluster analysis results indicate widespread decreases in streamflow across all seasons in the south half of the continent while streamflow in the northern region shows marked local coherence in increases and decreases. Trends within the lower and upper quantiles of flow distributions revealed unique sub-seasonal time windows in the extremes, underscoring that systematic assessment of the entire spectrum of flow levels, and change therein, are necessary to understand vulnerability to human and environmental systems. Climate change is increasing the risk of droughts and bushfires through increasing variability and long-term trends in the local and remote ocean-atmospheric phenomena as represented by two climatic indices: Southern Ocean Index and Indian Ocean Dipole. These two indices, sea surface temperature, and historical Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index were used to assess the nature of variability and spatial patterns in the bushfire season, as delineated from five Indigenous seasonal calendars. Results indicated increased water stress across the four eastern locations during the bushfire season while the western location is experiencing a change in rainfall seasonality. Indigenous place-based knowledge has substantial awareness of the holistic interlinkages that make up the biota, environment, and climate of a region. Collaboration with knowledge holders on resource stewardship has the potential to improve adaptability of humans and ecological systems to the increasing challenges brought by climate change