Videos Impact Learning!

The specific teaching practice is the use of video in the classroom. Video can take the form of introduction videos, student assignment, instructor feedback and peer-to-peer engagement. At the Office of Online Education, we utilize the Community of Inquiry Model and Online Teaching Competencies (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2000) that identifies three teaching presences: teaching, cognitive and social. The use of video can impact teaching presence (establishing and maintaining an active learning community and providing direct instruction) and social presence (the ability of the learner to project themselves socially and affectively in a community of inquiry.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1101/thumbnail.jp

The Role of Nestling Acoustic Experience in Song Discrimination in a Sparrow

Oscine songbirds are an ideal system for investigating how early experience affects vocal behavior. Young songbirds face a challenging task: how to recognize and selectively learn only their own species’ song, often during a time-limited window. Because birds are capable of hearing birdsong very early in life, early exposure to song could plausibly affect recognition of appropriate models; however, this idea conflicts with the traditional view that song learning occurs only after a bird leaves the nest. Thus, it remains unknown whether natural variation in acoustic exposure prior to song learning affects the template for recognition. In a population where sister species, golden-crowned and white-crowned sparrows, breed syntopically, we found that nestlings discriminate between heterospecific and conspecific song playbacks prior to the onset of song memorization. We then asked whether natural exposure to more frequent or louder heterospecific song explained any variation in golden-crowned nestling response to heterospecific song playbacks. We characterized the amount of each species’ song audible in golden-crowned sparrow nests and showed that even in a relatively small area, the ratio of heterospecific to conspecific song exposure varies from 0 to 20%. However, although many songbirds hear and respond to acoustic signals before fledging, golden-crowned sparrow nestlings that heard different amounts of heterospecific song did not behave differently in response to heterospecific playbacks. This study provides the first evidence that song discrimination at the onset of song learning is robust to the presence of closely related heterospecifics in nature, which may be an important adaptation in sympatry between potentially interbreeding taxa

School as a Context for Development: Examining First-Graders' Strategy Use across Domains

Data from four cohorts of first-grade teachers and students were used to (1) describe students’ strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks across the first-grade, (2) consider differences in teachers’ use of Cognitive Processing Language (CPL), or instruction that encourages deep levels of processing and metacognition over time and across subject matter, and (3) examine the effects of teachers’ CPL on students’ strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks. Minimal change was observed in students’ recall, accuracy, and strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks over the course of the year, which contributed to the failure to establish linkages between teachers’ use of CPL and students’ performance. The results highlight the need for additional research that carefully considers whether the tasks being used are developmentally appropriate and sensitive enough to capture change over the course of an academic year. In addition, efforts to further understand the association between strategy use and performance across domains should also include measures of metacognition and self-regulated learning.Doctor of Philosoph

Do Gender, Delinquent Peer Affiliations, and Parenting Practices Moderate the Relation Between Callou-Unemotional Traits and Delinquency

The present study examined how contextual factors differentially influence the relation between the components of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and delinquency for male and female adolescents. More specifically, it considered delinquent peer affiliations and ineffective parenting practices as moderators in this relation with the belief that those moderators would exert a different influence for males and females. The study was conducted with a sample of 238 adolescents (166 males, 72 females) ages 16 to 19 attending a voluntary military style residential program. Analyses demonstrated a general lack of support for the central hypotheses of the present study. There was a significant interaction between negative parenting and callousness for predicting delinquency, such that participants with both high levels of callousness and negative parenting reported the highest levels of delinquency. 1n addition, positive parenting differentially moderated the relation between unemotionality and delinquency for males and females. Although the main hypotheses were not supported, the current study demonstrated that gender and parenting practices may impact the relation between particular aspects of CU traits and delinquent behavior

Agency And Resistance Strategies Among Black Primary Care Patients

Research has identified marginalized and minority patients as displaying fewer participatory behaviors during the clinical interaction. Using a culture-centered framework, this study examines the process by which patients with a previous history of discrimination employed agency and resistance strategies in order to influence the outcome of their clinical interactions. This study conducted a secondary analysis of the video taped interactions of 25 black primary care patients in an urban low-income clinic. Using qualitative content analysis, I identified five emergent themes for patient agency: interrupting the physician, stating observations of care, expressing needs and desires, constructing identity, and agenda/goal management. Participants also used both active and passive forms of resistance tactics in an effort to influence the diagnosis and treatment plan, including questioning the diagnosis/treatment plan, proposing a new diagnosis/treatment plan, providing values and beliefs, questioning the physician’s competence and refusing to endorse the treatment plan. Results from this study indicate that black primary care patients with a history of previous discrimination displayed highly participatory behaviors during the clinical interaction, with displays of patient agency and, in some instances, patient resistance. Future research should examine the role of patient resistance as an attempt to negotiate within the interaction

How Chilly is Valpo? A Campus Climate Survey

Institutions of higher education in the U.S. have a history of racial and sexual discrimination. The consequences for unfriendly campus climates are serious; Gurin found that students of color who experience “cool” climates are more likely to demonstrate depressed graduation rates and decreased satisfaction with university experiences (Gurin et. al. 2004). The aim of this study was to holistically assess Valparaiso University’s campus climate based on the University of Toledo’s campus climate survey. These researchers focused on comparing the results of students who self-identified as minorities – specifically Black, Latino, Asian, international, and LGBTQ students – with the results of students who did not identify as minorities. Surveys were administered via e-mail to the Valparaiso University community with an anticipated response rate of 200. Leaders of multicultural student organizations and VU professors were contacted individually to encourage students to participate. This is the first time that a campus climate survey has been completed at Valparaiso University, and this is also one of the first surveys of its kind to address multiple levels of diversity. The results offered unique insights into the experiences of all students, which were useful in addressing the current campus climate on both micro- and macro-levels

An All Inclusive Practical Approach to PBIS

Schools are faced with daily opportunities to create a schoolwide culture where students want to learn and teachers are able to teach. PBIS allows flexibility to create a program that best meets the needs of each individual school. Futral Road has excelled in creating a culture of recognizing positive growth, while consistently raising the bar for excellence in academics and behavior. Futral’s program focuses on proactive strategies that meet the needs of students, parents, and teachers. This presentation will help the participants to create an all inclusive sustainable program that will create real change. This presentation will also highlight the correlation between positive behavior and academic achievement, while accentuating processes to track core content data. Schools nationwide are faced with increased accountability. With increased accountability, there are tremendous opportunities to develop a schoolwide PBIS program that meets the needs of all stakeholders. PBIS is a proactive approach that creates a positive school culture that results in increased student achievement and accountability. It also provides parents and staff with proactive strategies that continuously use data to develop a sustainable program that meets the needs of all learners. This presentation will highlight the practical ways. Futral Road has created a positive sustainable culture . It has received recognitions as a National School of Excellence and a Blue Ribbon School. Its PBIS program has been recognized as an innovative program that has proven results. This session will provide practical ideas for administrators and a school’s PBIS team to take back and implement at their schools

Reflections Drive Online Course Quality

The teaching practice that the department found helpful was self-guided reflection and assessment of professional development needs to improve course design and delivery. Professional development opportunities included cohort experiences, webinars, and self-paced trainings on online best practice including: course organization, student engagement, content delivery and assessment. 630 UNLV faculty participated in the Summer Course Improvement Program. The first step was to self-assess their online teaching practices and identify their professional development needs and goal. 262 chose to enhance a skill and 368 chose to incorporate a new strategy in their course 523 UNLV faculty attended one or more professional development opportunities, and provided evidence of a change in their course content or delivery approach 469 UNLV faculty identified an evaluation strategy for the effectiveness of this changehttps://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1142/thumbnail.jp

UNLV Teaching and Technology Model

The teaching practice is UNLV\u27s Online Teaching and Technology Model which incorporates asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1170/thumbnail.jp

SOST Inhibits Prostate Cancer Invasion.

Inhibitors of Wnt signaling have been shown to be involved in prostate cancer (PC) metastasis; however the role of Sclerostin (Sost) has not yet been explored. Here we show that elevated Wnt signaling derived from Sost deficient osteoblasts promotes PC invasion, while rhSOST has an inhibitory effect. In contrast, rhDKK1 promotes PC elongation and filopodia formation, morphological changes characteristic of an invasive phenotype. Furthermore, rhDKK1 was found to activate canonical Wnt signaling in PC3 cells, suggesting that SOST and DKK1 have opposing roles on Wnt signaling in this context. Gene expression analysis of PC3 cells co-cultured with OBs exhibiting varying amounts of Wnt signaling identified CRIM1 as one of the transcripts upregulated under highly invasive conditions. We found CRIM1 overexpression to also promote cell-invasion. These findings suggest that bone-derived Wnt signaling may enhance PC tropism by promoting CRIM1 expression and facilitating cancer cell invasion and adhesion to bone. We concluded that SOST and DKK1 have opposing effects on PC3 cell invasion and that bone-derived Wnt signaling positively contributes to the invasive phenotypes of PC3 cells by activating CRIM1 expression and facilitating PC-OB physical interaction. As such, we investigated the effects of high concentrations of SOST in vivo. We found that PC3-cells overexpressing SOST injected via the tail vein in NSG mice did not readily metastasize, and those injected intrafemorally had significantly reduced osteolysis, suggesting that targeting the molecular bone environment may influence bone metastatic prognosis in clinical settings