Using social media to raise your profile

In this session we will share our experiences of using social media to raise the external profile of sport and fitness at The Open University. Specifically we will be looking at our use of Twitter, the Sport and Fitness team blog and The Conversation. The session will examine the sport and fitness team’s approach to engaging with social media and consider the potential impact of these activities by sharing some of the statistics which indicate the reach of our activities. By drawing on the personal experiences and reflections of the team involved we will offer some 'top tips' to engage audiences via social media

Emotion regulation strategies and goals of distance learning students in an assessed online collaborative project

Being able to effectively regulate emotions is viewed as a crucial process in online learning. With an increasing use of social and collaborative activities in online learning environments, there are many unique challenges that may impact emotion regulation in these settings, such as a lack of social and emotional cues. Currently, there is limited research exploring emotion regulation strategies (i.e. how learners regulate their emotions) and emotion regulation goals (i.e. why learners regulate their emotions) of students in these online collaborative learning environments. In the present study, the emotion regulation strategies and goals used by 17 distance learning students undertaking an assessed, online, collaborative group project were explored. An online diary was used to gather self-report data at six-time points during the group activity. In each diary entry, participants were asked to select both a pleasant and unpleasant emotion they had experienced in relation to the group project, and indicate whether they had attempted to regulate each emotion. If they had, they were asked to describe how and why they had tried to regulate their emotions. Results revealed that students used a variety of strategies to regulate pleasant and unpleasant emotions. It was also found that participants described having emotion regulation goals primarily aimed at changing the momentary emotional experience (hedonic goals) as well as goals focused on other outcomes resulting from changing the experience or expression of specific emotions (instrumental goals). A brief discussion of the implications for educators and learning designers conclude this presentation

The impact of emotions on student participation in an assessed, online, collaborative activity

There is growing recognition of the importance of emotions in academic online learning contexts. However, there is still little known about the role of emotions in social and collaborative online learning settings, especially the relationship between emotions and student participation. To explore this relationship, this study used a prospective longitudinal research design to follow 46 distance learning students throughout a 3-week assessed, online, collaborative activity. This approach allowed the fluctuating and dynamic aspects of emotions to be explored as well as the relationship between emotions and student participation in the collaborative activity. Self-report data were gathered using a semistructured online diary at five time points throughout the task (once at the start of the collaborative activity, three times during the activity, and the final entry after the activity had finished). Findings revealed that learners generally perceived pleasant emotions (such as relief, satisfaction and enjoyment) to have positive impacts, or no impact, on participation, whereas unpleasant emotions (such as anxiety, frustration, and disappointment) were generally perceived to have negative impacts, or no impact, on participation. Interestingly, however, anxiety, and to a smaller extent frustration, were perceived by a number of students to have positive impacts during the activity. To conclude this paper, implications for educators are highlighted

What ‘Omics can tell us about antifungal adaptation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to P. David Rogers for permission to review datasets from Kelly Caudle‘s thesis. We wish to acknowledge our friends and colleagues in the Aberdeen Fungal Group and Edward Wallace (University of Edinburgh) for their comments on this manuscript. Finally, we wish to apologize to any colleagues whose work we have left out due to space constraints. FUNDING G.F. Ribeiro: PhD studentship from University of Aberdeen. E. Denes: PhD studentship from BBSRC Eastbio doctoral training programme. H. Heaney is supported by The Academy of Medical Sciences (SBF006\1128). D.S. Childers has financial support from Carnegie Trust (RIG009286), The Royal Society (RGS\R2\202409) and The Academy of Medical Sciences (SBF006\1128). All: This work was supported by the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Students' feelings in social and collaborative learning: some case studies

In HE institutions within Europe and beyond, there is considerable interest in adopting collaborative approaches to online learning. These approaches give students opportunities to learn from each other as they study online, and also to develop employability skills in working with others. Many educators are therefore keen to adopt these new methods in their courses; however not all students are enthusiastic about them. For example, students may be anxious about the prospect of taking part in online collaborative learning activities, particularly if they do not know the other students, and if their grades are dependent upon the success of the collaboration. Students experience a range of different feelings in relation to online collaborative learning (Webster & Hadwin, 2013). Some feelings (anxiety or frustration) may be a largely negative experience, while others (sense of achievement or enjoyment) are largely positive. Recent research shows the effects of these different emotions on students’ engagement and success are not as obvious as might be assumed (Hilliard, 2017). We present two case studies of modules from the UK Open University which have integrated collaborative activities: a second-year (9-month part-time) undergraduate module on Information Technology; and a short (10-week part-time) module on Digital Photography. We consider how the feelings of students about the collaborative activities change from before they start, to during the collaboration, and finally after the activities have finished. The findings are used to identify how educators can best support their students in undertaking online collaboration with confidence and maximising the benefits gained. Hilliard, J. (2017). Students’ Perceptions And Experiences Of Anxiety In An Online Collaborative Project. MRes thesis The Open University. [http://oro.open.ac.uk/52546/] Webster, E. A., & Hadwin, A. F. (2013). Regulating emotions during computer-supported collaborative problem solving. Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Victoria, British Columbia

Using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in an assessed, online, collaborative project

Over the last decade, research has increasingly highlighted the inextricable links between emotion and cognition as well as the profound effects emotions have in academic contexts in both individual and social learning settings (Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012). Although much of this research has been undertaken in face-to-face learning, such notions have also been evidenced in online learning environments (Henritius et al., 2019; Reis et al., 2018). With the increased understanding of the importance of emotions in educational contexts, researchers have started to develop tools that can be used by students to help raise awareness of their emotions and help them regulate their feelings when undertaking learning activities (Järvelä et al., 2016). One such tool is The Socio-Emotional Sampling Tool (SEST) (Webster and Hadwin, 2013) which aims to prompt students to metacognitively monitor and evaluate their current emotional state before, during and after undertaking computer-supported collaborative learning activities. The SEST has been developed to have both research and instructional purposes; on the one hand, it can be used as a research tool to collect data about students’ emotional experiences, whilst on the other hand it can be used as an instructional tool to help students become more aware of their emotions and think about ways of regulating their feelings. In this research, we have adapted the SEST and implemented this tool (using real time student feedback) throughout an 9-week assessed, online collaborative project in the Communication and Information Technologies (TM255) module at The Open University. Specifically, students were presented with the opportunity to fill out short feedback forms on four occasions throughout the project (once before it had started, twice during the project, and once after it had finished). Although each form aimed to assess students’ current feelings towards the activity, the two forms completed during the task were also aimed at getting students to think about how they could regulate their emotions. Links to each of the four forms were embedded into the weekly content of module’s Virtual Learning Environment. In this presentation, we will report preliminary findings from the study as well as discuss practical implications of using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in assessed, online, collaborative projects in a distance learning setting

Using Short Questionnaires to Support Students' Emotion Awareness and Regulation During an Online Group Project

Over the past two decades, research has highlighted the profound influence emotions can have on students’ learning, achievement, and wellbeing. Being able to successfully regulate one’s emotions is now viewed as crucial when learning in educational settings. To support students with this process, a growing line of research has explored various ways of helping students understand and manage their emotions (e.g., via the use of digital tools aimed at helping students become more aware of their emotions and prompting ways to regulate these emotions). Despite this, limited research has been undertaken in online group learning settings, where students work remotely together as part of their course using collaborative communication tools. These learning contexts present unique challenges which can make emotion regulation more difficult than in face-to-face learning environments (e.g., delayed response times when communicating with peers and teachers and a reduced sense of how others are feeling, due to limited emotional cues when learning online). In this paper, we describe an approach used at the UK Open University (UKOU) to assist students’ emotion awareness and regulation during a 9-week group project. This involves the use of short questionnaires which have been embedded into the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) of a module. Since their inclusion, these questionnaires have been found to enhance emotional awareness in many students, as well as support the regulation of emotions in the group project. To conclude this paper, reflections on using the short questionnaires are discussed and implications for educators and institutions are identified

Using short questionnaires to support students' emotion awareness and regulation during an online group project

Over the past two decades, research has highlighted the profound influence emotions can have on students’ learning, achievement, and wellbeing. Being able to successfully regulate one’s emotions is now viewed as crucial when learning in educational settings. To support students with this process, a growing line of research has explored various ways of helping students understand and manage their emotions (e.g., via the use of digital tools aimed at helping students become more aware of their emotions and prompting ways to regulate these emotions). Despite this, limited research has been undertaken in online group learning settings, where students work remotely together as part of their course using collaborative communication tools. These learning contexts present unique challenges which can make emotion regulation more difficult than in face-to-face learning environments (e.g., delayed response times when communicating with peers and teachers and a reduced sense of how others are feeling, due to limited emotional cues when learning online). In this paper, we describe an approach used at the UK Open University (UKOU) to assist students’ emotion awareness and regulation during a 9-week group project. This involves the use of short questionnaires which have been embedded into the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) of a module. Since their inclusion, these questionnaires have been found to enhance emotional awareness in many students, as well as support the regulation of emotions in the group project. To conclude this paper, reflections on using the short questionnaires are discussed and implications for educators and institutions are identified

The environmental stress sensitivities of pathogenic Candida species, including Candida auris, and implications for their spread in the hospital setting

We are grateful to Dr. David Stead, Evelyn Argo and Craig Pattison (Aberdeen Proteomics Core Facility) for their expert identification of Candida isolates by MALDI ToF MS, and to Dr Jill King and our colleagues in the Aberdeen Fungal Group for their helpful advice. AJPB and NARG were supported by a programme grant from the Medical Research Council [www.mrc.ac.uk] (grant number MR/M026663/1) and by the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (grant number MR/N006364/1). AJPB was also supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council [www.bbsrc.ac.uk] (grant numbers BB/F00513X/1, BB/P020119/1), and AWW by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division. NARG was also supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust [www.wellcome.ac.uk] (grant numbers 075470, 086827, 093378, 097377, 099197, 101873, 102705, 200208). DMM was supported by National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) [www.nc3rs.org.uk] (grant numbers NC/S001557/1 and NC/N002482/1) and the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council [www.bbsrc.ac.uk] (grant number BB/P02050X/1). HH was supported by the John Duthie Scholarship from the University of Aberdeen’s Development Trust. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Oral corticosteroid (OCS) risk predictor for Type II Diabetes in asthma

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