COVID-19 Crisis: Exploring Community of Inquiry in Online Learning for Sub-Degree Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a tremendous impact on the pedagogy and learning experience of students in sub-degree education sector of Hong Kong. Online learning has become the “sole” solution to deal with student learning challenges during this chaotic period. In this study, we explore online learning for sub-degree students by using a community of inquiry (CoI). As such, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on survey data gathered from 287 sub-degree students from the business and engineering disciplines. Results indicated that the network speed for online education determines the perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students, whereas gender and academic disciplines of students are not moderating factors that create a significant difference in perceived cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence of students. Our study findings for creating and sustaining a purposeful online learning community are highlighted

Farming, foreign holidays, and vitamin D in Orkney

Orkney, north of mainland Scotland, has the world's highest prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS); vitamin D deficiency, a marker of low UV exposure, is also common in Scotland. Strong associations have been identified between vitamin D deficiency and MS, and between UV exposure and MS independent of vitamin D, although causal relationships remain to be confirmed. We aimed to compare plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in Orkney and mainland Scotland, and establish the determinants of vitamin D status in Orkney. We compared mean vitamin D and prevalence of deficiency in cross-sectional study data from participants in the Orkney Complex Disease Study (ORCADES) and controls in the Scottish Colorectal Cancer Study (SOCCS). We used multivariable regression to identify factors associated with vitamin D levels in Orkney. Mean (standard deviation) vitamin D was significantly higher among ORCADES than SOCCS participants (35.3 (18.0) and 31.7 (21.2), respectively). Prevalence of severe vitamin D deficiency was lower in ORCADES than SOCCS participants (6.6% to 16.2% p = 1.1 x 10(-15)). Older age, farming occupations and foreign holidays were significantly associated with higher vitamin D in Orkney. Although mean vitamin D levels are higher in Orkney than mainland Scotland, this masks variation within the Orkney population which may influence MS risk

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Anti-Corruption Policy: China's Tiger Hunt and India's Demonetization

10.1080/01900692.2020.1739071International Journal of Public Administration43111000 - 101

Effective online education under COVID-19: Perspectives from teachers and students

10.1080/15236803.2022.2110749Journal of Public Affairs Education284422-43

Effective online education under COVID-19: Perspectives from teachers and students

Journal of Public Affairs Education284422-43

Effective online education under COVID-19: Perspectives from teachers and students

Journal of Public Affairs Education284422-43

Effective online education engagement under COVID-19: perspectives from teachers and students in Hong Kong

Effective online education is a policy priority in the higher education (HE) sector since the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in 2020. Based on an online survey and qualitative interviews, we examine experiences of HE students and teachers in Hong Kong, and provide recommendations that can enable countries to leverage on the good practices of online education to rejuvenate HE in the post-COVID era. We find a need for greater institutional support beyond its current availability. Students’ perception of online education is less optimistic than what their labelling as ‘digital natives’ suggests. However, with time, online education is viewed more positively. Teachers find online education workload to be higher. More female teachers cite difficulties in balancing work and life, while older teachers report more technological difficulties. Since many respondents come from public affairs programs, which emphasize interaction in the classroom, the findings suggest a rethinking of pedagogical strategies of public affairs education

When public administration education switches online: student perceptions during COVID-19

Public administration education is traditionally known for its emphasis on interaction, discussion and experiential-learning, which require effective in-person instructions. With COVID-19 pushing many programmes across the globe to be delivered online rather than inperson, how this shift has affected student experience in public administration programs has been a pertinent and important inquiry. This paper addresses the question through two surveys of 147 students in total, at a graduate-level public policy school in Singapore. Two distinctive waves of data collection allow us to capture a nuanced picture of student perceptions both when online teaching was introduced as an emergency response and when it was planned as a deliberate strategy later on. Our findings suggest that students consistently reported a decline in participation and interaction in an online setting, compared with a face-to-face setting. Our study fills a critical gap in the literature related to online public administration education in Asia, while the immediate constraints it highlights and lessons it offers on maintaining a highly interactive and engaging public administration education are likely to apply for educators elsewhere both during and beyond the COVID-19 era