Speculative Design and Curriculum Development: Using Worldbuilding to Imagine a New Major in a Post-Course Era

Randy Bass, Executive Director of Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, recently made the provocative claim that we inhabit a “post-course era.” Building on the findings of the National Survey of Student Engagement that show that the places in which undergraduate students demonstrate the highest degree of engagement is in areas outside the traditional curriculum and its courses, Bass suggests that we not merely try to enrich the formal curriculum, but that we also consider supporting and augmenting activities in the “extra” curriculum. We can thereby create opportunities for learning within informal as well as formal settings. In the process of developing a new BA degree within the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California dedicated to Media Arts and Practice—a major that is designed to support students interested not just in media literacy but also in media expertise and the ability to communicate powerfully through diverse media forms—we wanted to imagine a major for the post-course era: a major without courses, traditional assignments, and expected modes of assessment. This essay explores the design challenge posed in trying to imagine such a major, and offers a speculative degree proposal for the post-course era

Career Changers as First-Year Teachers in Rural Schools

The challenges novice teachers face as they adjust to inservice teaching are well documented. However, relatively little attention has been given to beginning teachers in rural schools who have had previous careers in other professions. We used qualitative methods to examine the professional experiences and perceptions of four career-changing first-year teachers in rural schools, seeking to identify significant issues in their professional developmental processes. Three primary themes emerged: evidence of effectiveness as teachers; mentoring career changers, and; adjustment to rural school and community. We conclude with implications and recommendations for educators working to support this unique population of educators in preservice preparation programs and rural school districts

Meeting the Challenges of an Aging Population with Success

With 117,099 people over the age of 65, Franklin County has the second-highest number of seniors among all Ohio counties. Projection data from the Ohio Department of Development indicates that Franklin County's 65-and-over population will grow to 224,340 by the year 2040. Key findings from this report indicate that improved coordination between the complex web of federal, state, county, and municipal resources would have significant impact on seniors' health and quality of life. The report also includes an analysis of the most vulnerable seniors in Franklin County identified at the neighborhood level

Teen Pregnancy

Background. In 2015, more than 200,000 babies were born to women aged 15-19, a record low for teens in the United States. However, it remains substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations. The highest rates of teen pregnancy occur in the rural areas of the Southern states. Black and Hispanic teens are more than twice as likely as White teens to become pregnant. Factors that contribute to teen pregnancy include (a) low socioeconomic conditions, (b) lower education, (c) low income levels, (d) decreased healthcare access, and (e) being on welfare. The U.S. government has been working to combat these issues through The President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) and the Surgeon General’s Healthy People 2020. Methods. Information was gathered utilizing Google search engine with the following search terms (a) teen pregnancy, (b) teen pregnancy prevalence, (c) teen pregnancy rates, (d) outcomes of teen pregnancy, (e) The President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, (f) TPPI, and (g) Healthy People 2020, for articles published between 2013-2018 in English. Results. Teenage mothers are (a) less likely to achieve a high school diploma, (b) more likely to experience health problems, and (c) are at a higher risk of facing unemployment resulting in welfare. Pregnancy was noted as the reason by 30% of girls who drop out of school. Only 40% of teen mothers finish high school with \u3c 2% graduating college by age 30. Teenage mothers are at an increased risk of complications including (a) anemia, (b) toxemia, (c) high blood pressure, (d) placenta previa, and (e) premature birth. Even after delivery, complications continue and include (a) anxiety and depression symptoms, (b) delayed or halted education, (c) child neglect, and (d) financial troubles. Children born to adolescents also face particular challenges being more likely to have poorer (a) educational, (b) behavioral, and (c) health outcomes. The most common complications of teen pregnancy are (a) low birth weight, (b) premature delivery, (c) jaundice, (d) respiratory distress syndrome, and (e) neonatal mortality. Conclusions and Recommendations. In 2010, TPPI launched through the Department of Health and Human Services with the goal to financially support targeted groups with high teen pregnancy rates with prevention and education. TPPI successfully established 3,800 community partnerships and trained 6,100 facilitators reaching predominantly Hispanic and Black teens ages 14 or younger. Teen pregnancy has decreased since 2010; however, prevention improvements can still be made. TPPI practices community wide approaches tailored to local needs. Another recommendation is to increase access to contraceptives through locally and culturally oriented healthcare services, such as having condoms in school nurse and primary care offices. Mandating sexual education at the state level ensures knowledge to avoid teen pregnancy. Primary care office hours must accommodate an average teen’s schedule extending hours if necessary. Organizations should visit schools to hold information sessions or doctor’s offices can hold community sessions to educate on available services, prevention methods, and consequences of teen pregnancy

Atomizing nozzle and process

High pressure atomizing nozzle includes a high pressure gas manifold having a divergent expansion chamber between a gas inlet and arcuate manifold segment to minimize standing shock wave patterns in the manifold and thereby improve filling of the manifold with high pressure gas for improved melt atomization. The atomizing nozzle is especially useful in atomizing rare earth-transition metal alloys to form fine powder particles wherein a majority of the powder particles exhibit particle sizes having near-optimum magnetic properties

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and prenatal maternal smoking: rising attributed risk in the Back to Sleep era

BACKGROUND: Parental smoking and prone sleep positioning are recognized causal features of Sudden Infant Death. This study quantifies the relationship between prenatal smoking and infant death over the time period of the Back to Sleep campaign in the United States, which encouraged parents to use a supine sleeping position for infants. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study utilized the Colorado Birth Registry. All singleton, normal birth weight infants born from 1989 to 1998 were identified and linked to the Colorado Infant Death registry. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between outcomes of interest and prenatal maternal cigarette use. Potential confounders analyzed included infant gender, gestational age, and birth year as well as maternal marital status, ethnicity, pregnancy interval, age, education, and alcohol use. RESULTS: We analyzed 488,918 birth records after excluding 5835 records with missing smoking status. Smokers were more likely to be single, non-Hispanic, less educated, and to report alcohol use while pregnant (p < 0.001). The study included 598 SIDS cases of which 172 occurred in smoke-exposed infants. Smoke exposed infants were 1.9 times (95% CI 1.6 to 2.3) more likely to die of SIDS. The attributed risk associating smoking and SIDS increased during the study period from approximately 50% to 80%. During the entire study period 59% (101/172) of SIDS deaths in smoke-exposed infants were attributed to maternal smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Due to a decreased overall rate of SIDS likely due to changing infant sleep position, the attributed risk associating maternal smoking and SIDS has increased following the Back to Sleep campaign. Mothers should be informed of the 2-fold increased rate of SIDS associated with maternal cigarette consumption