Crowdsourcing Cognitive Presence: A Quantitative Content Analysis of a K12 Educator MOOC Discussion Forum

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer participants opportunities to engage with content and discussion forums similar to other online courses. Pedagogical components of MOOCs and the nature of learning are worth of examining due to issues involving scale, interaction and the role of the instructor (Ross, Sinclair, Know, Bayne & McLeod, 2014). The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework provides a basis for measuring cognitive presence in online discussion forums. As voluntary point of entry to a community of learners, it is important to consider the nature of participant contributions in terms of cognitive presence. This study focused on an educator MOOC because MOOCs have been proposed as an efficient vehicle for providing professional development due to the significant self-identification of participants as educators (Ho et al. 2014). Participant attributes have been categorized, however the discussion forum is difficult to study on a massive scale (Kizilcec, Piech, & Schulz, 2013). Automated measures of cognitive presence may not provide the full view of learning behaviors implicit in messages posted to the forums (Wong, Pursel, Divinsky & Jansen, 2015). To address this gap, the forum messages were hand-coded and analyzed using quantitative content analysis (Neuendorf, 2002). The study found that the measure of exploration increased over the duration of the course. Viewing cognitive presence over time provided a new metaphor for explaining the proportions of cognitive presence in the discussion forum of an educator MOOC. This finding suggests that increased instructor presence during the later stages of the course may increase cognitive presence over time (Akyol & Garrison, 2007; Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005)

Over-Age, Under-Credited Students and Public Charter Schools: An Exploration of Successes, Strategies, and Opportunities For Expansion

This report examines how public charter schools are effectively serving students who have fallen behind in school or dropped out all together. The report released by OPP, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools  and SIATech, offers examples of successes and key policy recommendations to better serve these students, often called over-age, under-credited (or OU) youth

Perceptions of institutional teaching culture by tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty

The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) was used to investigate beliefs of tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty members (N=576) about the teaching culture within three large research-intensive universities in Canada. As predicted, we found significant differences between these three groups of faculty members’ perceptions of their institutions’ teaching cultures. Sessional faculty perceived that their universities rewarded effective teaching less than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the tenure-track and sessional faculty to believe it was important to encourage, recognize, or assess effective teaching. These results have important implications for the quality of teaching and, ultimately, student learning, as sessional faculty are teaching an increasing number of students and tenured faculty are the primary decision-makers in setting the priorities for their institutions

Designing a Relational Data Base for a Problem Solving Environment

When choosing a system design in which to solve a recurring problem which depends on interrelated data a relational data base environment should be considered. The original problem can be solved through this design and by allowing users to view the data in the relational constructs the data can be easily used in numerous other applications. Theoretical support insures the design is sound avoiding inaccurate results. Independence between the logical and physical views of the data enables the data base administrator to adjust the physical data structures in order to optimize system performance without affecting existing user applications

Statistical Methods for Detecting and Characterizing Departures from Additivity in Multi-Dimensional Drug/Chemical Mixtures

In studies of the effects of multiple drug or chemical combinations, one goal may be to detect and characterize the interactions between the agents. The techniques currently applied to this problem have limitations when the experiments involve more than 2 agents. Certain response-surface techniques require an unrealistic number of observations for studies involving a large number of agents. Current graphical methods are impossible to use in studies of 3 or more agents. In this research two statistical techniques are described that can be applied to studies with an unlimited number of agents. In the first approach, dose combinations are collected along rays or at fixed ratios. Using properties of this experimental design, an additive model is derived. Comparing the fitted dose-response curve along each ray to the curve predicted under additivity, synergistic and antagonistic interactions between the agents can be detected. Statistical testing procedures are given to determine if these are significant interactions, not due to random fluctuations in the data. Graphical techniques that enhance the interpretation of the results are described. The second approach developed in this research is a point-wise test which determines if the agents interact in an nonadditive manner. This test can be applied to each dose combination of interest After applying a multiple comparison adjustment to the resulting p-values, departures from additivity can then be characterized. These approaches are likely to be more economical than current techniques, implying that a larger number of agents can be studied in combination for the same experimental effort

Faculty Preparedness to Teach Students with Learning Disabilities: Developing an Instrument to Assess Faculty Perceptions

Despite increasing rates of entry, students with learning disabilities (LD) continue to face barriers to completing post-secondary education. Faculty attitudes and knowledge are important factors in supporting students with LD, yet little is known about faculty preparation. No valid, reliable, easy-to-administer inventory exists to assess the perceptions of faculty about their preparedness for the task of teaching students with LD. The Faculty Preparedness Questionnaire (FPQ) was developed to measure faculty perceptions of preparedness for teaching students with LD based on two factors: knowledge and attitude. For this study, 101 community college instructors completed the original questionnaire consisting of 22 items. After factor analysis, the 17-item FPQ was determined to be a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of instructor attitudes and knowledge as components of their perceptions of preparedness. This research contributes to the current dialogue regarding best practice for inclusive post-secondary education

End-of-life priorities of older adults with terminal illness and caregivers: A qualitative consultation

Abstract Background As older adults approach the end‐of‐life (EOL), many are faced with complex decisions including whether to use medical advances to prolong life. Limited information exists on the priorities of older adults at the EOL. Objective This study aimed to explore patient and family experiences and identify factors deemed important to quality EOL care. Method A descriptive qualitative study involving three focus group discussions (n = 18) and six in‐depth interviews with older adults suffering from either a terminal condition and/or caregivers were conducted in NSW, Australia. Data were analysed thematically. Results Seven major themes were identified as follows: quality as a priority, sense of control, life on hold, need for health system support, being at home, talking about death and competent and caring health professionals. An underpinning priority throughout the seven themes was knowing and adhering to patient's wishes. Conclusion Our study highlights that to better adhere to EOL patient's wishes a reorganization of care needs is required. The readiness of the health system to cater for this expectation is questionable as real choices may not be available in acute hospital settings. With an ageing population, a reorganization of care which influences the way we manage terminal patients is required

Risk factors of ischemic stroke and subsequent outcome in hemodialysis patients

Background and purpose: End stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring hemodialysis (HD) carries up to a 10-fold greater risk of stroke than normal renal function. Knowledge concerning risk factors and management strategies derived from the general population may not be applicable to those with ESRD. We studied a large ESRD population to identify risk factors and outcomes for stroke. Methods: All adult patients receiving HD for ESRD from 01/01/2007 to 31/12/2012 were extracted from the electronic patient record. Variables associated with stroke were identified by survival analysis; demographic, clinical, imaging and dialysis related variables were assessed and case-fatality determined. Follow-up was until 31/12/2013. Results: 1382 patients were identified (mean age 60.5 years, 58.5% male). The prevalence of AF was 21.2% and 59.4% were incident HD patients. 160 (11.6%) experienced a stroke during 3471 patient-years of follow-up (95% ischemic). Stroke incidence was 41.5/1000 patient-years in prevalent and 50.1/1000 patient-years in incident HD patients. Factors associated with stroke on regression analysis were prior stroke, diabetes and age at starting renal replacement therapy. AF was not significantly associated with stroke and warfarin did not affect stroke risk in warfarin treated patients. Fatality was 18.8% at 7, 26.9% at 28 and 56.3% 365 days after stroke.<p></p> Conclusions: Incidence of stroke is high in patients with ESRD on HD with high case-fatality. Incident HD patients had the highest stroke incidence. Many, but not all, important risk factors commonly associated with stroke in the general population were not associated with stroke in patients receiving HD