Implementation of a One-to-One iPod Touch Program in a Middle School

The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of a whole school one-to-one iPod Touch project in a middle school in the southeastern United States. While some focused studies have been undertaken in this new field of learning, there has been little research to date that documents activity within a whole school implementation (Chen, Kao, & Sheu, 2003; Conti-Ramsden, Durkin, & Simkin, 2010). Using Rogers\u27 (1963, 2003) theory of diffusion of innovation as a lens for this research, we gathered data from observations, focus groups, and interviews. Our findings indicated that teachers focused on internet-based research activities, formative assessment, innovative practices, and remediation, but they often had difficulty finding appropriate applications. Teachers and students were both positive and critical regarding efficacy of this device in middle schools. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.

Learner-centered social support: enhancing online distance education for underserved rural high school students in the United States

Over the past decade, federal programs in the United States have largely addressed the well-documented problem of differences in basic access to technology between rural schools and their suburban and urban counterparts. Consequently, rural schools are better able to prepare their students for post-secondary education and the workplace where digital literacy is essential. As technology access improves, online distance education (ODE) is seen as a solution to significant challenges faced by rural schools, including a lack of highly-qualified teachers and declining population. However, ODE has high attrition rates, partly because participants’ social needs are often neglected. Additionally, students' success depends on their abilities to engage in self-regulated learning, effective time management and self-reflection, skills that many high school students are still developing. This paper describes an experimental research study funded by the U.S. Department of Education, currently underway in rural high schools across the U.S. The research adds to a growing body of work that attempts to expand understanding of the digital divide. Increasingly, schools realise that this is no longer an issue of mere access to equipment; education technology projects should incorporate strategies that ensure the success of previously marginalised communities. Our intervention, based on the APA’s Learner- Centered Principles, involves training on-site facilitators to provide social support for students involved in ODE. Preliminary findings indicate that the intervention group has a significantly lower dropout rate

Computational Propaganda: Targeted Advertising and the Perception of Truth

Social media has become an effective medium for the execution of cyberpsychological threats by adopting language to influence perceptions based on personal interests and behaviours. Targeted messages can be refined for maximum effect and have been implicated in changing the outcome of democratic elections and the decreasing uptake of vaccinations. However, computational propaganda and cyberpsychological threats are not well understood within the cybersecurity community. To address this, we adopt the theoretical model of the illusory truth effect to posit that how information is presented online, may solidify views in an \u27undecided\u27 group with \u27some\u27 knowledge of an argument. We test this hypothesis by employing an explanatory sequential design. We first analyse a dataset containing adverts related to Brexit to determine influential terms using the corpus linguistics method. Analysing term frequencies, collocational and concordance information, the results of our quantitative analysis indicate that function words such as the personal pronouns ‘we’ or the definite article ‘the’ play a significant role in the construction of computational propaganda language. We then conducta qualitative analysis of a Facebook ad related to Brexit to further understand how the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ elements are realised in computational propaganda language, that is, who is targeted and what is the underlying message. We found that understanding these, one can gain insights into a threat actor’s motivation, opportunity and capability and, thus, allows a defensive response to be put into place. In turn, how an audience responds, may provide insight on the impact of the threat

Student multimedia autobiographies: the roles of technology, personal narrative, and signifying practices

In 2009, the Parsons StoryCorps qualitative case study was designed to closely observe the complexity of youth engagement with digital media for self-presentation in an afterschool digital storytelling project designed to provide students with rich, varied uses of technology in a urban middle school in North Carolina. Several frameworks were utilized to analyze student work and the interactions among teacher, students, and curriculum that affected the construction of students' digital autobiographies. These included theories on self-presentation and autobiography and critical social theory about representation, articulation, and visual culture. Multimodal discourse analysis was employed to analyze data that included: field notes, interviews, and participants' digital stories. Findings suggest that teacher expectations, recruitment, and family involvement play a large role in framing the kinds of stories that young people tell, and challenges other findings that suggest digital storytelling projects provide the freedom for students to tell whatever stories they want. Findings also confirm theories on autobiography and personal narrative that argues autobiographical storytelling is never static and always co-constructed by author and audience. Students' use of multiple media displayed sophisticated digital literacy skills although these were not overtly supported in the curriculum. Recommendations for future curricula directly address issues of representation and provide concrete examples of how to engage students in learning the necessary digital literacy skills to become producers and critical consumers in our technology-mediated culture

Effects of Chronic Wasting Disease on Reproduction and Fawn Harvest Vulnerability in Wisconsin White-Tailed Deer

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that affects free-ranging and captive North American cervids. Although the impacts of CWD on cervid survival have been documented, little is known about the disease impacts on reproduction and recruitment. We used genetic methods and harvest data (2002–04) to reconstruct parentage for a cohort of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns born in spring 2002 and evaluate the effects of CWD infection on reproduction and fawn harvest vulnerability. There was no difference between CWD-positive and CWD-negative male deer in the probability of being a parent. However, CWD-positive females were more likely to be parents than CWD-negative females. Because our results are based on harvested animals, we evaluated the hypothesis that higher parentage rates occurred because fawns with CWD-positive mothers were more vulnerable to harvest. Male fawns with CWD-positive mothers were harvested earlier (.1 mo relative to their mother’s date of harvest) and farther away from their mothers than male fawns with CWDnegative mothers. Male fawns with CWD-positive mothers were also harvested much earlier and farther away than female fawns from CWD-positive mothers. Most female fawns (86%) with CWD-positive mothers were harvested from the same section as their mothers, while almost half of male and female fawns with CWD-negative mothers were farther away. We conclude that preclinical stages of CWD infection do not prohibit white-tailed deer from successfully reproducing. However, apparently higher harvest vulnerability of male fawns with CWD-positive mothers suggests that CWD infection may make females less capable of providing adequate parental care to ensure the survival and recruitment of their fawns

Supporting Online Learning for Advanced Placement Students in Small Rural Schools: Conceptual Foundations and Intervention Components of the Facilitator Preparation Program

This paper examines the need for interventions to support students who are taking advanced placement courses in small rural districts and describes the Facilitator Preparation Program (FPP) as a strategy to address this need. Issues in the delivery of Online Distance Education (ODE) in small rural schools are summarized and the conceptual foundations and service delivery considerations of the FPP are outlined. Future research needs are also considered

The Distribution and Abundance of Elasmobranch Fish in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays in 2018-2019

Surveys of skates and rays were undertaken in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays in north Kerry during 2018 and 2019. The area was previously shown, from angling records and more recent shore surveys of egg cases, to support a high diversity of these species some of which are critically endangered in Ireland, the Atlantic or globally. Twelve species were recorded in the area and their geographic and seasonal distribution is described in this report. Their relative abundance in the surveys confirms their presence in the Tralee Bay area and the importance of that area as a refuge for them. Three of the species recorded, angel shark, blue skate and flapper skate are critically endangered globally. White skate was not recorded in the surveys but a single individual was captured separately in commercial tangle nets in 2018 in the area. This species is critically endangered in the Atlantic. Data from other broad scale fisheries surveys and fisheries sampling at sea, not reported here, confirm that these species are rarely found elsewhere. In addition, and in order of abundance, thornback ray, painted ray, sting ray, undulate ray, blonde ray, spotted ray, spurdog, tope and greater spotted dogfish were recorded. Endangered species of skates and rays are listed on various species red lists internationally and are prohibited species (from being landed) under Common Fisheries Policy regulations. The main source of mortality is from fishing. The current regulations, however, do not necessarily remove this source of impact because accidental by-catch and mortality can still occur. Populations that are at critically low levels locally are unlikely to be able to sustain this additional mortality and there is an ongoing risk of local extinction. Effective protection and restoration will need to consider additional measures such as marine protected areas or other mitigations of the effects of fisheries where they pose a high risk to the viability of local populations. Waters off north Kerry are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate.European Maritime Fisheries Fun

Living with a diagnosis of behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia: The person’s experience.

YesResearch investigating behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia has concentrated on identifying and quantifying people’s difficulties; yet few studies have considered how people with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia make sense of their difficulties. Five participants were interviewed and interpretive phenomenological analysis used to analyse the data. Two superordinate themes emerged: ‘Bewilderment’ and ‘Relationships with others’. ‘Bewilderment’ reflected the feelings of the participants from the start of their dementia, and was divided into two main themes (1) ‘Awareness of change: What’s the problem? and (2) Threats to self: This is not me. The superordinate theme, ‘Relationships with others’, reflected difficulties with social relationships and comprised two main themes (1) ‘Family and friends: Things haven’t changed… but do I say anything wrong?’ and (2) Coping with threats to self: Blame others or just avoid them. The themes were discussed in relation to literature evaluating the difficulties associated with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia together with implications for clinical practice

Consumption of bushmeat around a major mine, and matched communities, in Madagascar

Mining can have serious biodiversity consequences and many mining operations take steps to mitigate their impacts. Evaluating their success poses a significant challenge because appropriate counterfactuals (what would have happened in the absence of the mine) are often unavailable. We aimed to estimate the effects of education and enforcement measures carried out by a large mine in eastern Madagascar on local consumption of illegal bushmeat. We adopt a quasi-experimental approach and use an interview technique designed to reduce sensitivity biases to compare levels of consumption amongst mine employees and people living within the mine�s intervention area with those of statistically matched control groups, and to relate differences to respondents� knowledge of relevant wildlife laws. Consumption was lower, and awareness of the law higher, amongst mine employees and those living in the mine�s intervention area. However caution should be applied in interpreting these results as evidence of the effectiveness of anti-bushmeat efforts by the mine due to potential confounding factors: for example abundance of bushmeat species may vary between the study areas, and our method may not have completely removed the sensitivity of questions about illegal consumption. This illustrates the challenges of evaluating conservation impacts. We highlight the low level of understanding of wildlife laws, including among mine employees, and suggest better communication of these laws, as part of an education programme, could be a useful first step towards reducing illegal hunting