Double strength, maximum gain: optimising student learning via collaborative partnerships @ QUT

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) demonstrates a commitment to lifelong learning and strives to foster graduates who can function as competent professionals. In response, the University identifies a number of generic capabilities which all students should gain during the course of their study, the development of which has been undertaken as a shared responsibility by teaching staff and centralised academic-related support staff. It is within this context that QUT's teaching and learning support services (TALSS) and the library assumes responsibility for facilitating the development of information literacy and technology literacy. TALSS and the library have collaboratively developed and implemented a range of teaching and learning strategies and initiatives. This paper highlights a number of these initiatives. These initiatives are also supported by a network of specialists such as liaison librarians, student computing advisors, a transition officer and an information literacy coordinator

The Motivation of an Obliger, Upholder, Questioner, and Rebel: How Tailored Academic Planning Can Suit Unique Student Tendencies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the tendency of humans to meet or resist inner and outer expectations and uncover how these tendencies influence academic performance. Past research has primarily focused on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, revealing what may ultimately motivate us to behave, but little research has been done to investigate how we act based on what is expected of us. The framework of expectation styles created by Gretchen Rubin was chiefly drawn upon to explore the four different tendencies regarding expectations: Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, and Rebel (2017). Our study involved student participants who were given a questionnaire to assess their academic habits, motivation, and personality traits. They were also asked to take The Four Tendencies Quiz to identify their tendency regarding how they react to expectations (Rubin, 2017). They were then asked to select a small academic plan to carry out each week; there were plans designed for each tendency. It was hypothesized that these small, individual plans would help students perform better academically. The hypothesis was supported using feedback from participants. This research reveals that understanding one’s own tendency towards meeting or resisting expectations is beneficial in shaping plans to enhance academic performance. Furthermore, it suggests that we may be able to mold our environment for better productivity. Har

The fast contribution of visual-proprioceptive discrepancy to reach aftereffects and proprioceptive recalibration

Adapting reaches to altered visual feedback not only leads to motor changes, but also to shifts in perceived hand location; “proprioceptive recalibration”. These changes are robust to many task variations and can occur quite rapidly. For instance, our previous study found both motor and sensory shifts arise in as few as 6 rotated-cursor training trials. The aim of this study is to investigate one of the training signals that contribute to these rapid sensory and motor changes. We do this by removing the visuomotor error signals associated with classic visuomotor rotation training; and provide only experience with a visual-proprioceptive discrepancy for training. While a force channel constrains reach direction 30o away from the target, the cursor representing the hand unerringly moves straight to the target. The resulting visual-proprioceptive discrepancy drives significant and rapid changes in no-cursor reaches and felt hand position, again within only 6 training trials. The extent of the sensory change is unexpectedly larger following the visual-proprioceptive discrepancy training. Not surprisingly the size of the reach aftereffects is substantially smaller than following classic visuomotor rotation training. However, the time course by which both changes emerge is similar in the two training types. These results suggest that even the mere exposure to a discrepancy between felt and seen hand location is a sufficient training signal to drive robust motor and sensory plasticity.York University Librarie

Occupational Stress and Burnout in K-2 Educators Postpandemic: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe occupational stress and burnout as experienced by K–2 elementary educators in central Pennsylvania postpandemic. The theories guiding this study were Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress and coping and Lazarus’s cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion, which provided a framework for understanding how educators process occupational stress. The central research question guiding this qualitative phenomenological study was: What is the lived experience of K–2 elementary school educators postpandemic? The sample consisted of 12 to 15 K–2 educators from across three school districts in central Pennsylvania. Data were collected using journal entries, semistructured individual interviews, and focus group sessions. Data were analyzed using open coding to identify themes. Phenomenological reduction and imaginative variation were used to create textural descriptions of the essence of the experience of occupational stress for K–2 educators. The findings of the study demonstrate that varying needs of students and staffing shortages contribute to occupational stress and burnout in K–2 educators

Women and Feminism in Higher Education Scholarship: An Analysis of Three Core Journals

Today, more women than ever before are active participants in higher education. For example, more than 50% of all undergraduate students are women and the numbers of women graduate, professional, and doctoral-degree recipients and faculty are increasing (“The nation,” 2003). In fact, for the first time, American women have earned more doctorates than American men have (Smallwood, 2003). Given this shifting postsecondary climate, more scholarship by women and about women, as well as an increase in feminist scholarship from previous generations, should be part of the discourse. Thus, the purpose of this article is to investigate the academic literature in the field of higher education, using gender and feminism as lenses due, in part, to the increased presence of women in the academy. By analyzing data collected from three leading journals in higher education, The Journal of Higher Education (JHE), The Review of Higher Education (RHE), and Research in Higher Education (ResHE), I hope to better understand how feminist scholarship and how women are treated in the scholarly work contained in these journals

Isolation and characterization of genes belonging to developmental regulatory gene classes in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Although plant growth is an important topic, the regulation of genes involved in growth is poorly understood. To contribute to current information about plant growth regulation, an early tuberization cDNA library from Solanum tuberosum L., expected to contain genes involved in cell proliferation, was screened for members of developmental regulatory gene families. The two objectives of this study were to isolate genes that might be involved in plant growth regulation, and to characterize the RNA accumulation patterns of these genes to gain insight into their function. The AAA-protein superfamily ATPase POTATP1 and the homeobox gene POTH1 were isolated to accomplish the first of these objectives. To accomplish the second objective, in situ hybridization analysis was performed on various organs of the potato plant with the homeobox gene POTH1 and the previously identified MADS-box gene POTM1;POTH1 was shown to be a class I homeobox gene which differed substantially in both sequence and transcript accumulation pattern from other genes of its class. Its RNA accumulation pattern is widespread, including actively growing cells from both determinate and indeterminate, differentiated and undifferentiated tissues. Similarly, POTM1 transcript accumulation patterns are more widespread than those of other genes in the SQUA-like class of MADS-box genes, including both vegetative and reproductive tissues. POTM1 was expressed in inflorescent and floral meristems, in petal, stamen, and carpel primordia, and later in developing stamens and carpel interiors. Like POTH1 transcripts, POTM1 mRNA was shown to accumulate in vegetative shoot apical meristems, leafprimordia, and in actively growing cells of new leaves, leaflets, and stem vascular tissue. The common theme uniting these two genes is that both are preferentially expressed at the RNA level in actively growing cells of both indeterminate and differentiated tissue, indicating that POTH1 and POTM1 may be involved in regulating aspects of cell growth independent of differentiation level and determinacy status. These genes are good candidates for further study in both applied and basic research

Experiential Education: The Impact of Learning by Doing

There is a large emphasis on keeping students engaged as they learn and grow and the importance of connecting them to opportunities that provide real world applications. Experiential education is an alternative pedagogy in which the student engages with the broader community and collaborates with the educator who guides them through the experience, observations, and reflection process. This capstone project was an online professional development workshop designed for new and experienced educators. It is centered on teaching youth and young adults the relevance, components, and impact of incorporating experiential learning as part of their education. The agenda offered support, research and resources on how to work with youth to help them explore and define their beliefs so they can frame their purpose as it relates to taking action towards transformative change in their communities and society at large. A mixed method research strategy was utilized through the workshop introductions and icebreakers, activities and debriefs, and post workshop evaluation surveys. The qualitative and quantitative responses from participants were analyzed as to what they got out of the workshop. Post workshop evaluation data resulted in a high level of interest in learning more about experiential education and the positive outcomes it produces within students\u27 academic and personal lives to further engagement and success within their community. The implications of not pursuing more training on this topic could lead to less engaged learners and unempowered educators that do not see the societal and personal benefit of becoming engaged, activists of change within their communities

The Early Life Influences on Male Reproductive Health

Increasing concern exists regarding male reproductive health worldwide. This is due to the appearance of medical reports outlining apparent adverse trends, such as a worldwide decline in total fertility rate, and an increase in testicular disorders such as testicular cancer, cryptorchidism—in parallel with a probable decline in semen quality. This is of particular concern as there is evidence to suggest that a poor sperm count is potentially associated with overall lifelong morbidity and mortality, and is effectively a predictor of lifelong health risk. This chapter examines the evidence for this decline and its potential early life causes, from in-utero exposures to childhood development