Fostering Learner Autonomy in Higher Education through Coaching and Mentoring for Non-Traditional Learners

This article considers the potential ways for coaching and mentoring practices in higher education to support the development of learner autonomy, a key espoused aim of university education. I argue that coaching and mentoring can foster self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and goal-setting among students, empowering them to take greater responsibility for their learning, and that higher education institutions should make greater use of coaching and mentoring practises, particularly for non-traditional learners[what in the UK are identified as 'widening participation' students]. The aim is to stimulate reflection and discussion among higher education practitioners

'I was really upset and it put me off': The emotional impact of assessment feedback on first-year undergraduate students

Assessment feedback can have an emotional impact on students. This qualitative research contributes to the existing body of literature on students' emotional reactions to assessment feedback by investigating the negative responses to summative feedback experienced by first-year students at two UK universities. The majority of the learners interviewed indicated that their initial first-year feedback had a negative emotional impact and demotivated them. For some students, these negative emotions were very serious and led them to consider leaving university. Negative emotions were related to the written feedback provided, the grade received, and the student's expectations about both. Potential solutions to mitigate first-year students' negative emotional reactions to summative assessment feedback are provided

The Design and Use of Questionnaires in Educational Research: A New (Student) Researcher Guide

Questionnaires are widely used in educational research to gather data about the top under investigation. This is because they are cost-effective, relatively simple to use and can provide researchers with a large amount of data in a relatively short period(Patton, 2014). For these reasons, students who engage in qualitative research, typically for a dissertation or final-year project, will often decide to use one. However, this may often be challenging for those commencing a research journey. Furthermore, students are typically unlikely to have been required to design a questionnaire in previous assignments and may lack the knowledge, skills and confidence to design and use one effectively. This paper explores the critical considerations in questionnaires design, development, and operationalism in qualitative educational research. It aims to provide a theoretically underpinned practical guide for students considering using a questionnaire to gather data. In addition, the paper provides authentic examples of research questions to facilitate better understanding

Contemporary students’ approaches to learning: a case study of the relationship between assessment and approaches to learning of education students at two English universities.

This research explores the approaches to learning of contemporary students at two northern English universities through a qualitative case study using data collected from individual semi-structured interviews with twenty undergraduates studying in the field of educational studies. The research found that although students were unaware of the terms ‘surface’ and ‘deep’ approaches to learning they recognized differences between the two. They valued personal understanding, with their general intention being to use a deep approach, that is, an intention to understand for themselves what they are studying. Students’ general approach to learning did not change as they progressed through a degree programme, yet engagement with assessment feedback, study practices and use of learning outcomes typically did. Students’ perception of assessment requirements was confirmed as being the key determinant of their approach to learning. Despite a desire to understand what they learn, contemporary students are instrumental in their approaches to learning and study practices, and where assessment does not count toward their degree classification are less likely to use a deep approach. An original contribution to knowledge is the finding that instrumentalism combines with students’ interest in, and enjoyment of, the topic studied. These are crucially important factors in their approaches to learning, and students preface the term ‘understanding’ with certain authoritative adjectives. In the light of these findings the thesis offers recommendations for improving practice to better encourage a deep approach to learning

Competence and competency in higher education, simple terms yet with complex meanings: Theoretical and practical issues for university teachers and assessors implementing Competency-Based Education (CBE)

There are different and conflicting definitions of competence, competency, and competency-based learning. Consequently, multiple interpretations and understandings are held by educators in respect of what these terms mean, when applied to their own teaching and assessment practices. Whilst UK and American universities are increasingly adopting competency-based learning, unless informed and considered discussion has taken place amongst staff about their individual understandings and interpretations, any development of new, competency-based assessment processes and procedures, is problematic. This paper provides an overview of the main issues involved in defining competency and assessing competence, along with recommendations for action. The purpose is to stimulate reflection and discussion, so that teaching staff can arrive at a common understanding and interpretation of the terminology of competency-based education, so that they may develop appropriate, authentic and fair assessment processes

Drunk bugs: chronic vapour alcohol exposure induces marked changes in the gut microbiome in mice

The gut microbiota includes a community of bacteria that play an integral part in host health and biological processes. Pronounced and repeated findings have linked gut microbiome to stress, anxiety, and depression. Currently, however, there remains only a limited set of studies focusing on microbiota change in substance abuse, including alcohol use disorder. To date, no studies have investigated the impact of vapour alcohol administration on the gut microbiome. For research on gut microbiota and addiction to proceed, an understanding of how route of drug administration affects gut microbiota must first be established. Animal models of alcohol abuse have proven valuable for elucidating the biological processes involved in addiction and alcohol-related diseases. This is the first study to investigate the effect of vapour route of ethanol administration on gut microbiota in mice. Adult male C57BL/6J mice were exposed to 4 weeks of chronic intermittent vapourized ethanol (CIE, N = 10) or air (Control, N = 9). Faecal samples were collected at the end of exposure followed by 16S sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Robust separation between CIE and Control was seen in the microbiome, as assessed by alpha (p < 0.05) and beta (p < 0.001) diversity, with a notable decrease in alpha diversity in CIE. These results demonstrate that CIE exposure markedly alters the gut microbiota in mice. Significant increases in genus Alistipes (p < 0.001) and significant reductions in genra Clostridium IV and XIVb (p < 0.001), Dorea (p < 0.01), and Coprococcus (p < 0.01) were seen between CIE mice and Control. These findings support the viability of the CIE method for studies investigating the microbiota-gut-brain axis and align with previous research showing similar microbiota alterations in inflammatory states during alcoholic hepatitis and psychological stress

Anisotropic Coarsening: Grain Shapes and Nonuniversal Persistence

We solve a coarsening system with small but arbitrary anisotropic surface tension and interface mobility. The resulting size-dependent growth shapes are significantly different from equilibrium microcrystallites, and have a distribution of grain sizes different from isotropic theories. As an application of our results, we show that the persistence decay exponent depends on anisotropy and hence is nonuniversal.Comment: 4 pages (revtex), 2 eps figure

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Shigella sonnei genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis indicate recent global dissemination from Europe

Shigella are human-adapted Escherichia coli that have gained the ability to invade the human gut mucosa and cause dysentery1,2, spreading efficiently via low-dose fecal-oral transmission3,4. Historically, S. sonnei has been predominantly responsible for dysentery in developed countries, but is now emerging as a problem in the developing world, apparently replacing the more diverse S. flexneri in areas undergoing economic development and improvements in water quality4-6. Classical approaches have shown S. sonnei is genetically conserved and clonal7. We report here whole-genome sequencing of 132 globally-distributed isolates. Our phylogenetic analysis shows that the current S. sonnei population descends from a common ancestor that existed less than 500 years ago and has diversified into several distinct lineages with unique characteristics. Our analysis suggests the majority of this diversification occurred in Europe, followed by more recent establishment of local pathogen populations in other continents predominantly due to the pandemic spread of a single, rapidly-evolving, multidrug resistant lineage

Epidemiology of gestational diabetes mellitus according to IADPSG/WHO 2013 criteria among obese pregnant women in Europe

Aims/hypothesis: Accurate prevalence estimates for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among pregnant women in Europe are lacking owing to the use of a multitude of diagnostic criteria and screening strategies in both high-risk women and the general pregnant population. Our aims were to report important risk factors for GDM development and calculate the prevalence of GDM in a cohort of women with BMI ≥29 kg/m2 across 11 centres in Europe using the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG)/WHO 2013 diagnostic criteria. Methods: Pregnant women (n = 1023, 86.3% European ethnicity) with a BMI ≥29.0 kg/m2 enrolled into the Vitamin D and Lifestyle Intervention for GDM Prevention (DALI) pilot, lifestyle and vitamin D studies of this pan-European multicentre trial, attended for an OGTT during pregnancy. Demographic, anthropometric and metabolic data were collected at enrolment and throughout pregnancy. GDM was diagnosed using IADPSG/WHO 2013 criteria. GDM treatment followed local policies. Results: The number of women recruited per country ranged from 80 to 217, and the dropout rate was 7.1%. Overall, 39% of women developed GDM during pregnancy, with no significant differences in prevalence across countries. The prevalence of GDM was high (24%; 242/1023) in early pregnancy. Despite interventions used in the DALI study, a further 14% (94/672) had developed GDM when tested at mid gestation (24–28 weeks) and 13% (59/476) of the remaining cohort at late gestation (35–37 weeks). Demographics and lifestyle factors were similar at baseline between women with GDM and those who maintained normal glucose tolerance. Previous GDM (16.5% vs 7.9%, p = 0.002), congenital malformations (6.4% vs 3.3%, p = 0.045) and a baby with macrosomia (31.4% vs 17.9%, p = 0.001) were reported more frequently in those who developed GDM. Significant anthropometric and metabolic differences were already present in early pregnancy between women who developed GDM and those who did not. Conclusions/interpretation: The prevalence of GDM diagnosed by the IADPSG/WHO 2013 GDM criteria in European pregnant women with a BMI ≥29.0 kg/m2 is substantial, and poses a significant health burden to these pregnancies and to the future health of the mother and her offspring. Uniform criteria for GDM diagnosis, supported by robust evidence for the benefits of treatment, are urgently needed to guide modern GDM screening and treatment strategies