‘Unfettered expression of thought’? Experiences of anonymous online role play

Advocates suggest that anonymity allows all learners to have an equal voice in a learning environment, and that it encourages participation. This paper explores tutors’ and learners’ experiences of an anonymous, synchronous role play activity conducted using online discussion forums. A qualitative study was undertaken to investigate the experiences of five groups of learners and four tutors. Data were obtained from an online questionnaire and interviews with students and tutors. The findings reveal a huge diversity in responses to the activity. Learners’ emotions before the activity ranged from ‘confident’ to ‘panic’. Afterwards many stated that ‘anonymity’ was the best thing about the activity, suggesting that it ‘loosened inhibitions’ and allowed ‘unfettered expression of thought’. At the same time, some respondents admitted trying to guess the identity of participants, and played their roles with varying degrees of conviction and engagement. Some participants may even have refrained from playing any part in the activity, hiding behind their anonymity. For tutors issues of control were significant and issues of facilitation were raised, although inappropriate behaviour was rare. This study has revealed the diversity of learners’ responses to online role play, and the generally positive attitude towards anonymity. It also highlights the potential for anonymity to contribute to inequality in participation and raises the question of whether genuine anonymity can be useful or achievable. Key findings with significance for future implementation of similar role play activities are presented here

Pattern recognition receptors in antifungal immunity

We thank the Wellcome Trust for funding this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Newhouse receives Bracelet from Terri

Clipping from Tri-city Heraldhttps://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/sdfrancisco_documents/1069/thumbnail.jp

Breast cancer patients diagnosed by National Breast Screening Programme

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Malta. A National Breast Screening Programme (NBSP) was introduced in 2009 for women in the 50 to 60 year old age group. The first 112 patients diagnosed by the NBSP were compared to a matched control group of symptomatic patients randomly selected from the Breast Clinic, who had presented to the clinic with a breast lump. The files of all these patients were reviewed retrospectively. In the screening group there were 94 patients with invasive cancer and 18 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) while in the control group there were 114 patients with invasive cancer and 3 with DCIS. In the screening group, 81 (86.2%) patients with invasive cancer underwent wide local excision (WLE) and 13 (13.8%) underwent mastectomy. In the control group 88 (77.2%) patients with invasive cancer underwent WLE and 26 (22.8%) had a mastectomy. Out of all the patients in the screened group with DCIS, 12 (66.7%) underwent WLE and 6 (33.3%) underwent mastectomy. In the control group only 3 patients had DCIS and these were all treated by WLE. The average Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) of the screening population with invasive cancer is (3.28 (95% CI)) and is lower than the NPI of the control group is (3.74 (95% CI)). This study shows that in the screening group there is a higher percentage of patients with DCIS when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the screened group patients with DCIS were more likely to undergo mastectomy than those with invasive cancer.peer-reviewe

From Brown to Busing

An extensive literature debates the causes and consequences of the desegregation of American schools in the twentieth century. Despite the social importance of desegregation and the magnitude of the literature, we have lacked a comprehensive accounting of the basic facts of school desegregation. This paper uses newly assembled data to document when and how Southern school districts desegregated as well as the extent of court involvement in the desegregation process over the two full decades after Brown. We also examine heterogeneity in the path to desegregation by district characteristics. The results suggest that the existing quantitative literature, which generally either begins in 1968 and focuses on the role of federal courts in larger urban districts or relies on highly aggregated data, often tells an incomplete story of desegregation.

A War of Words: Revelation and Storytelling in the Campaign against Mormon Polygamy

In the nineteenth century, the power of religious belief transformed the legal landscape. This Article details how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormon Church) instilled a new and very different law of marriage for followers. Plural marriage, or polygamy, was key to Mormons\u27 revisioning of traditional Christian faith and practice. Polygamy was also key to a widespread popular campaign to outlaw the Mormon practice. Novelists drew on widely shared ideas about the proper relationship of church and state, and also on theories that Christian monogamy was the basic building block of society. Without separation of church and state, they argued, polygamy would undermine all of American society. In the search for a justification of action against polygamy, popular novelists claimed that the Constitution must contain the power to legislate against the Mormons in Utah. This lay legal culture, and the popularity of the fictional world it created, was effective despite the fact that it fundamentally mischaracterized Mormon society and belief