Lessons from the Pivot: Higher Education\u27s Response to the Pandemic

This text includes chapters from instructional designers, university faculty and staff, and undergraduate and graduate students, and the text has been divided into three sections to reflect these varied perspectives. Each section begins with research-based perspectives, but also contains more personal narratives at the end. While the context of most of the chapters is the United States, there are also chapters with a Canadian context. It is also important to note that, as of the first half of 2021, the pandemic rages on, and mentions of COVID-19 in the following chapters will be reflective of the state of affairs in North America in the spring and fall of 2020.https://scholar.umw.edu/education_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

“You Say What I Say”: The Value of Studying Elicited Verbal Imitation in Toddlers

Copying what another says is a quintessential human ability. As toddlers learn to talk, they imitate sounds, words, and sentences. The frequency of verbal imitation typically accelerates during the second year of life. However, there are certain clinical populations, such as late talking toddlers (LTs), for whom imitation can be challenging. This thesis studies elicited verbal imitation in 2-year-olds, addressing three central themes. The first theme concerns the connection between elicited verbal imitation and new word learning overtime. How important is it for toddlers to imitate new words when they are first exposed to them? This was examined retrospectively in an investigation of the word learning abilities of 48 typically-developing (TD) 2-year-olds. It was found that a toddler’s ability to accurately imitate a nonword linked to a referent (i.e., a new word) during training significantly predicted their ability to name the referent at 1-minute and 5-minutes later, along with their extant vocabulary abilities. However, at a later time-point (1-7 days later), only extant vocabulary was a significant predictor of naming. These findings suggested that the ability to accurately imitate a new word may be important during the initial cusp of word learning and as such, important in the process of learning to talk. In clinical populations, verbal imitation has widespread relevance. It is employed in assessment and intervention across language and speech domains to identify, understand, and help children who struggle with talking. For toddlers, who are just beginning to learn to talk by building a lexicon, elicited verbal imitation has potential for studying whether the characteristics of new words may influence production. This idea formed the second theme of this thesis. To pursue the idea, a test was needed that allowed investigation of the influence of stimulus characteristics on imitation accuracy, while simultaneously maximising the likelihood that toddlers would attempt all the stimuli in the test. In the absence of such a test, the Monosyllable Imitation Test for Toddlers (MITT) was designed as part of this thesis. The MITT represents a type of online processing assessment. It comprises two toddler-friendly computer animations. The animations are short, interactive stories that contain pragmatic reasons to imitate eight carefully designed new words/stimuli. Stimuli are manipulated by both neighbourhood density and consonant complexity resulting in two stimuli in each of the following categories: dense neighbourhood/early-developing consonant (dense-early), sparse neighbourhood/early-developing consonant (sparse-early), dense neighbourhood/latedeveloping consonant (dense-late), and sparse neighbourhood/late-developing consonant (sparse-late). The independent and convergent influence/s of these stimulus characteristics was studied in age-matched TDs and LTs who attempted to imitate every stimuli item (i.e., TDs N = 26 / 26 and LTs N = 16 / 26). Both the TDs and LTs were sensitive to stimulus characteristics but exhibited differing patterns. Specifically, for TDs, both neighbourhood density and consonant complexity had significant independent influences—dense were more accurate than sparse, and early were marginally more accurate than late. The LTs only showed a significant independent influence for consonant complexity—early were more accurate than late. For convergent influences, TDs imitated all stimuli with equally high accuracy except for sparse-late, which were significantly less accurate. The LTs imitated dense-early stimuli with significantly greater accuracy than stimuli in the other three categories. The clinical utility of the MITT relative to compliance rates and diagnostic accuracy was also examined and compared to an existing toddler test of nonword imitation that uses 1- 4 syllable stimuli. Non-compliance was defined as refusal to start the test or ≥4 consecutive no responses. Thus, although 10 from 26 LTs did not provide a verbal response for every stimulus item on the MITT, none refused to start the test and only two failed to respond to ≥4 consecutive items. All TDs responded to every item. This resulted in a non-compliance rate for the MITT of just 4%. The existing nonword imitation test had a non-compliance rate of 13%. Both the MITT and the existing test were promising diagnostically. It is posited that the diagnostic value of the elicited verbal imitation tests studied may have reflected expressive phonology difficulties in the LT group. Although the MITT successfully permitted examination of the influence of stimulus characteristics on imitation accuracy in TDs and LTs, there was more to be learnt from the MITT imitation data. For instance, many LTs provided verbal responses in the MITT that bore little resemblance to the target stimuli, and therefore, examining their responses via accuracy alone seemed remiss. What could be learned from the diversity of responses made by toddlers, particularly LTs? Exploration of the breadth of toddlers’ responses formed the third theme of this thesis. Using both the MITT and a toddler-specific expressive phonology assessment, six types of responses were identified: no response, protoword-like response, different verbal response, correct phoneme, common phonological error and uncommon phonological error. Toddlers’ responses tended to correlate across the two sampling contexts, and responses used by toddlers also correlated with a variety of direct/parent-report assessment measures. Differences between the LTs and TDs in their proportion use of responses were found. The LTs responses were further investigated. Using cluster analysis, five subgroups of LTs were identified based on toddlers’ proportional use of the six response types. It was also evident that each subgroup had a unique profile of expressive vocabulary and phonology abilities. In the final chapter of this thesis, a conceptual framework for what might be involved when toddlers first hear, process, and try to produce words guides the discussion and interpretation of the findings from the three papers documented in this thesis. It is suggested that both TDs and LTs draw upon their existing phonological and/or articulatory-phonetic knowledge when processing and producing new words. Moreover, it is posited that late talking may be a manifestation of varied underlying difficulties with developing knowledge and processing abilities. For at least some LTs, their difficulties seem to be related to building phonological and/or articulatory-phonetic representations of words. Clinically, this implies that LTs may require goals and intervention approaches tailored to their specific area(s) of difficulty. It also has potential implications for longitudinal LT research. In conclusion, verbal imitation appears to be a strategy that toddlers may call on as they learn to talk. Elicited verbal imitation offers a window into studying new word production in toddlers. For LTs, the use of elicited verbal imitation together with other assessment procedures, allows for rich insights about the nature of their difficulties with learning to talk

Computer -aided instruction compared to a traditional method of teaching fractions in elementary mathematics

The purpose of this study was to compare student achievement in mathematics on the concept of fractions. The students in the two groups were from an urban area. The research question that guided the study, theorized that students using computer-aided-instruction and the traditional method would not demonstrate significant differences in math achievement. The identified objectives that addressed the research question were the following: (a) to determine, by use of paired t-test, whether or not each of the two teaching methods significantly affect math scores; (b) to directly compare the computer-aided-instruction to traditional instruction and compare the results on the concept of fractions; (c) to compare male/female results within each teaching method on the concept of fractions; and (d) to compare African American males/white males results within each teaching method on the concept of fractions. The researcher gathered data and analyzed student achievement by administering the California Achievement Test to the two groups as a pre and post assessment. StatView by SAS Institute, Inc. was used to analyze data for this study. Unpaired t-analysis and Mancova were used to generate the comparative data. The major findings of this study were as follows: (a) The results of the study revealed that no significant difference was found in achievement between the two groups or between the group means; (b) When directly comparing computer-aided-instruction to traditional instruction when teaching fractions, no significant difference was found between the two teaching methods or between the group means; (c) In comparison of male/female results within each teaching method on the concept of fractions, no significant difference was found in the pre or posttest; and (d) There was a significant difference between African-American males and white males in the experimental group with fraction gains, but no significant difference found in the control group. No significant difference was found in the pretest of fractions in either group. A significant difference was determined in the posttest of the control group and no significant difference was found within the experimental group.

Familial recurrent hydatidiform mole:a review

This article reviews published data on familial recurrent hydatidiform mole with particular reference to the genetic basis of this condition, the likely outcome of subsequent pregnancies in affected women and the risk of persistent trophoblastic disease following molar pregnancies in these families. Familial recurrent hydatidiform mole is characterized by recurrent complete hydatidiform moles of biparental, rather than the more usual androgenetic, origin. Although the specific gene defect in these families has not been identified, genetic mapping has shown that in most families the gene responsible is located in a 1.1 Mb region on chromosome 19q13.4. Mutations in this gene result in dysregulation of imprinting in the female germ line with abnormal development of both embryonic and extraembryonic tissue. Subsequent pregnancies in women diagnosed with this condition are likely to be complete hydatidiform moles. In 152 pregnancies in affected women, 113 (74%) were complete hydatidiform moles, 26 (17%) were miscarriages, 6 (4%) were partial hydatidiform moles, and 7 (5%) were normal pregnancies. Molar pregnancies in women with familial recurrent hydatidiform mole have a risk of progressing to persis-tent trophoblastic disease similar to that of androgenetic complete hydatidiform mole

Speech production abilities of 4- to 5-year-old children with and without a history of late talking : the tricky tyrannosaurus

Purpose: Research on the speech production abilities of children with a history of late talking (HLT) is limited. We compared 4- to 5-year-old children with and without a HLT on a routine speech assessment and a single-word polysyllable assessment. Method: The two speech assessments were administered to 13 children with a HLT (4;4–5;9 years) and 11 children with a history of typical development (HTD) (4;1–5;10 years). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: The HLT group had significantly poorer speech accuracy than the HTD group on both the routine speech and polysyllable assessments. The HLT group also showed a significantly higher percentage occurrence of consonant omissions on both speech assessments compared to the HTD group. Descriptive analysis of participants’ polysyllable productions indicated that the HLT group showed a higher percentage occurrence of a range of error types compared to the HTD group. Conclusion: By 4–5 years of age, children who were late to talk had speech production abilities that were significantly poorer than their peers who were not late to talk, suggesting continued underlying differences

Responses made by late talkers and typically developing toddlers during speech assessments

Purpose: Assessing toddlers’ speech is challenging. We explored responses made by late talkers and their typically developing peers in structured speech sampling contexts and determined if late talker subgroups could be identified. Method: Twenty-six late talkers and 26 age-matched typically developing toddlers participated in an expressive phonology assessment and an elicited non-word imitation test. We quantified the breadth of toddler responses used in a subset of monosyllabic stimuli from the toddler phonology assessment and in the non-word imitation test. Correlational and cluster analyses were conducted. Result: There were six response types: no response, protoword response, different verbal response, correct phoneme, common and uncommon phonological errors. Toddlers’ use of most of the response types correlated across the two sampling contexts. Use of the response types also correlated with several direct and parent-report assessments. There were significant group differences in the use of several response types in both sampling contexts. Five late talker subgroups were identified that presented with differing profiles of responses. Conclusion: Toddlers respond in a variety of ways during structured speech sampling contexts. Responses made by late talkers offer insights about the nature of late talking and their heterogeneity. Implications for research and clinical management of late talkers are discussed

Initiation of student-TA interactions in tutorials

At the University of Maryland we videotaped several semesters of tutorials as part of a large research project. A particular research task required us to locate examples of students calling the teaching assistants (TAs) over for assistance with a physics question. To our surprise, examples of this kind of interaction were difficult to find. We undertook a systematic study of TA-student interactions in tutorial: In particular, how are the interactions initiated? Do the students call the TA over for help with a particular issue, does the TA stop by spontaneously, or does the worksheet require a discussion with the TA at that point? The initiation of the interaction is of particular interest because it provides evidence of the motivation for and purpose of the interaction. This paper presents the results of that systematic investigation. We discovered that the majority of student-TA interactions in tutorial are initiated by teaching assistants, confirmed our initial observation that relatively few interactions are initiated by students, and found, further, that even fewer interactions are worksheet initiated. Perhaps most importantly, we found that our sense of who initiates tutorial interactions—based on extensive but informal observations—is not necessarily accurate. We need systematic investigations to uncover the reality of our classroom experiences