STUDENT EVALUATION OF COURSES: PERCEPTIONS, ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Live lectures and frequent, clear communications are key factors for keeping students engaged and motivated in online courses (Brew, 2008; Dixson, 2015; Murphy & Stewart, 2017). One area that has received less attention is that of inviting students to be partners in learning: of asking their opinions on the course and actively responding to this feedback during the teaching period to improve their online learning experience. This project aims to investigate how students perceive being asked for feedback in an online course and if this intervention increases their engagement with the course. Taking a phenomenographic approach to investigating students’ experiences and perceptions of giving feedback, a cohort of first-year chemistry students at The University of New South Wales were asked to evaluate their course twice during the teaching period via online questionnaires, with feedback summarised for lecturers to make course improvements. Qualitative questions on perceptions of evaluation and engagement were built into the questionnaires. At the end of the term, students were invited to participate in interviews to further understand their experiences of evaluating courses and being engaged as learning partners. Preliminary results from this study will be presented, with a focus on students’ understanding of engagement and evaluation, and their perceptions of how this intervention affected their engagement with an online course. REFERENCES Murphy, C. A., & Stewart, J. C. (2017). On-campus students taking online courses: Factors associated with unsuccessful course completion. Internet and Higher Education, 34, 1-9. Dixson, M. D. (2015). Measuring Student Engagement in the Online Course: The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE). 2015, 19(4). doi:10.24059/olj.v19i4.561 Brew, L. S. (2008). The role of student feedback in evaluating and revising a blended learning course. The Internet and Higher Education, 11(2), 98-105

WHEN WRITING THE ASSESSMENT BECOMES THE ASSESSMENT

Some of the most sophisticated demonstrations of deep student understanding are the creation and evaluation of information, tasks that require developed cognitive and metacognitive skills (Herscovitz, Kaberman, Saar & Dori, 2012; Kay, Hardy & Galloway, 2020). In an approach to construct a deeper, more authentic assessment and challenge students to consider the wider context of theory, we designed an iterative assessment process in a first-year undergraduate chemistry course. Students authored practice questions and marking guides and provided and used peer feedback to improve these questions. An online, collaborative question-writing application, StudentQuiz, was used to facilitate the implementation of these activities in a HyFlex course. Working within a constructivist framework, students’ draft and final questions, as well as guided reflections on the assessment process, were collected and thematically analysed using grounded theory to investigate: 1) The level of sophistication to which students were able to formulate and critique chemical questions. 2) How students think about their learning during the question-writing process. 3) How students format feedback on other students’ questions and how this impacts their reflections on their own attempts. Emerging themes from this analysis will be presented with a focus on significant features of the artefacts produced and students’ metacognitive experience of formulating questions. REFERENCES Herscovitz, O., Kaberman, Z., Saar, L. & Dori, Y. J. (2012). The relationship between metacognition and the ability to pose questions in chemical education. In Zohar, A. & Dori, Y. J. (Eds.), Metacognition in Science Education: Trends in Current Research (pp. 165-195). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Kay, A. E., Hardy, J., & Galloway, R. K. (2020). Student use of PeerWise: A multi-institutional, multidisciplinary evaluation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(1), 23-35

CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF THE SHIFT TO ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

There have been major disruptions to all parts of everyday life due to the impact of the illness COVID 19. This was especially true for students and staff at universities in the first half of 2020. The sudden shift to remote teaching and learning meant that classes never intended for the digital space (e.g. labs and tutorials) had to be reimagined and redesigned. Students were left facing diminished peer interaction and a need to adapt their study strategies on the fly. This study follows the experiences of first year chemistry students who favour in-person attendance for classes, from three different institutions. Three online interviews were conducted with the students across the teaching period. A qualitative thematic review of student experiences revealed that first-year students use face-to-face lectures to provide a structure to their study plans during a week. This was now missing. Students were struggling to keep to a study plan when the material was presented only online – synchronously or asynchronously. Moreover, students were conscious that they did not form the social connections with their peers that they would have done in a face-to-face setting. This research emphasises the need for online courses to be scaffolded to provide students with a structured study plan, which facilitates online social interactions between students (Salmon, 2002; Seery, 2012). REFERENCES Salmon, G., (2002). E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning. London; Kogan Page Limited. Seery, M. K. (2012) Moving an in-class module online: a case study for chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13(1), 39-46

How should we follow athletes after a concussion?

Athletes sustaining a concussion should be held from contact activities a minimum of 7 days; they must be asymptomatic and their coordination and neuropsychological tests should have returned to their pre-injury baseline (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, based on multiple prospective cohort studies). High-risk athletes (eg, those with a history of previous concussion, high- school age or younger, or female) may need to avoid contact even after all these criteria are met (SOR: C, expert opinion)

oPOSSUM: identification of over-represented transcription factor binding sites in co-expressed genes

Targeted transcript profiling studies can identify sets of co-expressed genes; however, identification of the underlying functional mechanism(s) is a significant challenge. Established methods for the analysis of gene annotations, particularly those based on the Gene Ontology, can identify functional linkages between genes. Similar methods for the identification of over-represented transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) have been successful in yeast, but extension to human genomics has largely proved ineffective. Creation of a system for the efficient identification of common regulatory mechanisms in a subset of co-expressed human genes promises to break a roadblock in functional genomics research. We have developed an integrated system that searches for evidence of co-regulation by one or more transcription factors (TFs). oPOSSUM combines a pre-computed database of conserved TFBSs in human and mouse promoters with statistical methods for identification of sites over-represented in a set of co-expressed genes. The algorithm successfully identified mediating TFs in control sets of tissue-specific genes and in sets of co-expressed genes from three transcript profiling studies. Simulation studies indicate that oPOSSUM produces few false positives using empirically defined thresholds and can tolerate up to 50% noise in a set of co-expressed genes

The Association of Virulence Factors with Genomic Islands

Background: It has been noted that many bacterial virulence factor genes are located within genomic islands (GIs; clusters of genes in a prokaryotic genome of probable horizontal origin). However, such studies have been limited to single genera or isolated observations. We have performed the first large-scale analysis of multiple diverse pathogens to examine this association. We additionally identified genes found predominantly in pathogens, but not non-pathogens, across multiple genera using 631 complete bacterial genomes, and we identified common trends in virulence for genes in GIs. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between GIs and clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) proposed to confer resistance to phage. Methodology/Principal Findings: We show quantitatively that GIs disproportionately contain more virulence factors than the rest of a given genome (p,1E-40 using three GI datasets) and that CRISPRs are also over-represented in GIs. Virulence factors in GIs and pathogen-associated virulence factors are enriched for proteins having more ‘‘offensive’ ’ functions, e.g. active invasion of the host, and are disproportionately components of type III/IV secretion systems or toxins. Numerous hypothetical pathogen-associated genes were identified, meriting further study. Conclusions/Significance: This is the first systematic analysis across diverse genera indicating that virulence factors are disproportionately associated with GIs. ‘‘Offensive’ ’ virulence factors, as opposed to host-interaction factors, may more ofte

The CD38/NAD/SIRTUIN1/EZH2 Axis Mitigates Cytotoxic CD8 T Cell Function and Identifies Patients with SLE Prone to Infections

Summary: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) suffer frequent infections that account for significant morbidity and mortality. T cell cytotoxic responses are decreased in patients with SLE, yet the responsible molecular events are largely unknown. We find an expanded CD8CD38high T cell subset in a subgroup of patients with increased rates of infections. CD8CD38high T cells from healthy subjects and patients with SLE display decreased cytotoxic capacity, degranulation, and expression of granzymes A and B and perforin. The key cytotoxicity-related transcription factors T-bet, RUNX3, and EOMES are decreased in CD8CD38high T cells. CD38 leads to increased acetylated EZH2 through inhibition of the deacetylase Sirtuin1. Acetylated EZH2 represses RUNX3 expression, whereas inhibition of EZH2 restores CD8 T cell cytotoxic responses. We propose that high levels of CD38 lead to decreased CD8 T cell-mediated cytotoxicity and increased propensity to infections in patients with SLE, a process that can be reversed pharmacologically. : Katsuyama et al. find that an expanded CD8CD38high T cell population in SLE patients is linked to infections. CD8CD38high T cells display decreased cytotoxic capacity by suppressing the expression of related molecules through an NAD+/Sirtuin1/EZH2 pathway. EZH2 inhibitors increase cytotoxicity offering a means to mitigate infection rates in SLE. Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus, patients, CD8 T cell, CD38, cytotoxicity, infection, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, Sirtuin1, EZH

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Genome Database and PseudoCAP: facilitating community-based, continually updated, genome annotation

Using the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Genome Project as a test case, we have developed a database and submission system to facilitate a community-based approach to continually updated genome annotation (http://www.pseudomonas.com). Researchers submit proposed annotation updates through one of three web-based form options which are then subjected to review, and if accepted, entered into both the database and log file of updates with author acknowledgement. In addition, a coordinator continually reviews literature for suitable updates, as we have found such reviews to be the most efficient. Both the annotations database and updates-log database have Boolean search capability with the ability to sort results and download all data or search results as tab-delimited files. To complement this peer-reviewed genome annotation, we also provide a linked GBrowse view which displays alternate annotations. Additional tools and analyses are also integrated, including PseudoCyc, and knockout mutant information. We propose that this database system, with its focus on facilitating flexible queries of the data and providing access to both peer-reviewed annotations as well as alternate annotation information, may be a suitable model for other genome projects wishing to use a continually updated, community-based annotation approach. The source code is freely available under GNU General Public Licence

Mesoniviruses are mosquito-specific viruses with extensive geographic distribution and host range

Background: The family Mesoniviridae (order Nidovirales) comprises of a group of positive-sense, single-stranded RNA ([+]ssRNA) viruses isolated from mosquitoes. Findings: Thirteen novel insect-specific virus isolates were obtained from mosquitoes collected in Indonesia, Thailand and the USA. By electron microscopy, the virions appeared as spherical particles with a diameter of ~50 nm. Their 20,129 nt to 20,777 nt genomes consist of positive-sense, single-stranded RNA with a poly-A tail. Four isolates from Houston, Texas, and one isolate from Java, Indonesia, were identified as variants of the species Alphamesonivirus-1 which also includes Nam Dinh virus (NDiV) from Vietnam and Cavally virus (CavV) from Côte d’Ivoire. The eight other isolates were identified as variants of three new mesoniviruses, based on genome organization and pairwise evolutionary distances: Karang Sari virus (KSaV) from Java, Bontag Baru virus (BBaV) from Java and Kalimantan, and Kamphaeng Phet virus (KPhV) from Thailand. In comparison with NDiV, the three new mesoniviruses each contained a long insertion (180 – 588 nt) of unknown function in the 5’ region of ORF1a, which accounted for much of the difference in genome size. The insertions contained various short imperfect repeats and may have arisen by recombination or sequence duplication. Conclusions: In summary, based on their genome organizations and phylogenetic relationships, thirteen new viruses were identified as members of the family Mesoniviridae, order Nidovirales. Species demarcation criteria employed previously for mesoniviruses would place five of these isolates in the same species as NDiV and CavV (Alphamesonivirus-1) and the other eight isolates would represent three new mesonivirus species (Alphamesonivirus-5, Alphamesonivirus-6 and Alphamesonivirus-7). The observed spatiotemporal distribution over widespread geographic regions and broad species host range in mosquitoes suggests that mesoniviruses may be common in mosquito populations worldwide