Tool Tip: Using Google Docs to Encourage Collaborative Learning Outside of Class

How many times have we, as teachers, waded through a stack of grading, working to provide valuable feedback on homework assignments, only to have students give our comments a cursory glance before stuffing it into their already crammed backpacks? I have seen this time and again in my own classes, always thinking that there has to be a better, more effective way to encourage students to become more reflective about their work. I began to reflect on the assignments I was giving, and the lines of communication between teacher and student that develop through the homework. In the traditional method of pen-on-paper assignments, teachers create the activity as a way to elicit specific practice of a particular skill, opening the dialogue. Then each student completes the work and submits the assignment, thus responding to the initial questions from the teacher. The final step in this communication cycle comes with the teacher providing feedback on the student’s work, thus ending the dialogue. In this structure, the student is responding only to the teacher, attempting to give the teacher the correct answer to the question

Conceptualizing University Education Abroad Programs Using a Mutualistic Process: A Community Perspective

In the growing trend of education abroad, students in higher education are expected to become global citizens. While the literature supports the notion that students can positively benefit from the process of international education, yet little research exists in determining the community’s roles and perspectives and to evaluate mutually beneficial outcomes. This study identifies the three phases of international education, pre-immersion, immersion and post-immersion and overlays the biological concepts of symbiosis to capture the community voice to create mutualistic programs in education abroad. The results indicate that not only is there a role for communities, but that communities need to be included in all three phases of education abroad to help dictate mutualistic outcomes

Beaver Movements On Managed Land In The Southeastern United States

I studied movement characteristics and vegetative resources effects on home range size of beavers at Redstone Arsenal (RSA) in north central Alabama, USA. Beavers were captured and radio tagged from 11 wetlands during winter and spring of 2011. I monitored movements of radio-tagged beavers using radio telemetry from May 2011–April 2012. Beavers moved faster, presumably more favorable to central place foraging, in wetland as they proceeded farther away from the central place, but did not in upland. Additionally, distributions of hourly distances from lodges were bimodal. Home range, core areas, and distance from lodge did not differ between age classes. Home range sizes increased with increasing habitat productivity and resource dispersion, whereas home ranges decreased with temporal variation in resources throughout the year. Quantity and spatial distribution of resources and patterns of foraging behavior influence movements and home ranges of central place foragers

School Leadership and Change: Bank Street Graduates and Their Approaches to Change Within Public, Independent, and Alternative School Settings

Follows three principals who are graduates of Bank Street College of Education\u27s leadership program

Synthetic Heterosynaptic Plasticity Enhances the Versatility of Memristive Systems Emulating Bio-synapse Structure and Function

Memristive systems occur in nature and are hallmarked via pinched hysteresis, the difference in the forward and reverse pathways for a given phenomenon. For example, neurons of the human brain are composed of synapses which apply the properties of memristance for neuronal communication, learning, and memory consolidation. Modern technology has much to gain from the characteristics of memristive systems, including lower power operation, on-chip memory, and bio-inspired computing. What is more, a relationship between memristive systems and synaptic plasticity exists and can be investigated focusing on homosynaptic and heterosynaptic plasticity. Where homosynaptic plasticity applies to interactions between neurons at a synapse, heterosynaptic plasticity applies to an interneuron, a neuron that is not a part of the synapse, that modulates the neuronal interactions of synapses located elsewhere. Here, a synthetic synapse was used to study the heterosynaptic modulatory effects of osmotic stress via macromolecular crowding in the aqueous environment, membrane defects introduced from pH-sensitive secondary membrane species, and oxidative stress via oxidation of lipid species present in the membrane. Osmotic stress lowers the voltage threshold for alamethicin ion channels via depletion interactions and transmembrane water gradients. Secondary membrane species lowered the voltage threshold for alamethicin and lower pH environments enhanced the self-interaction between alamethicin monomers in a pore upon dissolution from the membrane. Oxidative stress created lipid species that compete for space in the polar-apolar interface of the lipid bilayer, leading to pore formation extending cell-free gene expression reactions. These findings help reveal how to environmentally modulate the synthetic synapse. Harnessing the power of memristive systems to create a biological computer enables the creation of new computers capable of adaptation, self-repair, and low-power operation while maintaining powerful computing and memory storage schemes

Empowering Students with Autism: An Investigation of School Practices Through the Lens of the Special Education Administrator

Author\u27s abstract: This qualitative study explored the perspectives of special education administrators employed in three school districts in Georgia regarding the empowerment of students with autism spectrum disorders. Participants were first given a screening survey and later interviewed via telephone in reference to empowering practices present in their individual districts. Participants were given the options to be included in the telephone survey. This study draws on the research from the National Research Council\u27s findings published in as Educating Children with Autism (2001) and other leaders in the field of educational interventions. This study provides an analysis of their responses and recommendations for districts to increase the empowerment of students with autism. The results of this study are based on both the survey and interview questions. Responses indicate that administrators consistently agree that teachers and staff who support students with autism need more specialized and intense training than other special education teachers. Participant also agreed that students on the autism spectrum need specialized social skills instruction. Another recommendation from the study is that students with autism need an increased level of support to increase in their ability to function in their environment. There was a single administrator who consistently reported a lack of support for students in her district. It was obvious to the researcher that this administrator was, nonetheless aware of their need; however, she lacked the ability to implement practices she felt would provide benefits to the students. The findings of this study show that in order to empower students with autism districts should invest in training opportunities for both staff and students, incorporate a social skills instruction program, and support their ability to function in their environment. These recommendations may require additional staff, additional planning time, and/or additional financial resources for full implementation. These conclusions as well as others are presented, along with implications for future research in the area of empowerment of students with autism