Higher Educations’ Institutional Transparency of General Education Competencies, Assessment Measures, and Analysis of Assessment Data

With general education coursework comprising a significant portion of associate and bachelor degree curriculum, conveying the content and importance of student competencies to stakeholder audiences has never been more important. Accreditation pressure and accountability measures are influencing a focus on improving the presentation of competencies aligned to their assessment measures. This study examines the extent to which institutions publicly and proactively disclose relevant information regarding assessment of the general education curriculum. Examined are websites of 71 higher education institutions, representing a range of public settings in all American regions. Results show variability in the alignment of objective to measure and reveal current themes and emphasis regarding how competencies relate to coursework. Provided are recommendations for improving institutional presentation

Introduction to Medical Coding, Introductory Module

In our increasingly global economy, manufacturers and distributers sending and receiving goods are frustrated by the reality of multiple languages. As an example of corporate coding, proactive management in an automotive company have invented a coding system where each car type has its own identification code with associated words that describe the product. Therefore, they can be confident that anyone referring to ID 4523 is describing a four-door vehicle (4000 level), compact vehicle (500), black color (20) with leather interior (3). This example is analogous to clinical or medical coding

Not too small to be strategic: The state of academic program review guidelines and instrumentation in public institutions

In higher educational settings, the academic program review process allows academic units to solicit feedback, make data-driven decisions regarding effectiveness and sustainability, and report to stakeholders. In order to discover trends and best practices in the current state of academic program review in higher education, examined was a sample of 53 processes representing a range of small-to-large public institutions in the United States in the categories of associate-degree granting, bachelors-degree granting, and masters-degree granting. Using a content analysis methodology, outcomes assessment and the use of data results featured prominently with 86.7% of the sample requiring their incorporation in academic program review, followed closely by judgments of resource adequacy and demonstration of program necessity and efficiency

Investigation of Factors Relating to the Web-based Presentation of Policy and Information on Campus Firearm Policy and Smoking Policy

In order to explore themes of privilege in regard to policy availability, language accessibility, and underlying bias, policies related to two topics of interest to higher education campus visitors, campus firearm carry policy and smoking policy, are explored to determine how Web-based information is presented to various audiences. Implications of policy accessibility are compelling; language barriers can adversely affect access to campus events and educational services. Representative samples of policies of five states that allow some form of open or concealed campus firearm carry were studied to determine possible factors of importance. Representative samples of two additional states in the more restrictive continuum of the campus carry issue were also studied as a control. In addition, policies relating to smoking were examined to determine themes related to overall policy presentation approach. Findings indicate that few Websites facilitate the provision of translated policy, and that few options exist for easy translation of policies into other languages at the point of origin. In addition, this study presents evidence that the recentness of legislative activity and desire to mitigate visitor concerns may be considered as factors impacting policy availability

Perspectives of academic web content managers on the effectiveness of web publishing and web hosting policies

The development of policy to handle the increasingly diverse issues that arise from web content management is becoming a concern for academic institutions. An exploratory investigation that seeks institutional web content manager perspectives from higher educational settings on current web publishing and hosting policy and issues is presented as a mixed-method research design, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, to investigate how field factors influence policy creation. A web-based version of a survey instrument was designed, piloted, and implemented for this investigation, and data is presented, and discussed in relation to current field literature. Findings indicate that web hosting and publishing policies increasingly fall under the purview of institutional Communications or Public Relations departments and that policy elements concerning web content do not yet match field recommendations in several key areas

De novo and rare inherited mutations implicate the transcriptional coregulator TCF20/SPBP in autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are common and have a strong genetic basis, yet the cause of ∼70-80% ASDs remains unknown. By clinical cytogenetic testing, we identified a family in which two brothers had ASD, mild intellectual disability and a chromosome 22 pericentric inversion, not detected in either parent, indicating de novo mutation with parental germinal mosaicism. We hypothesised that the rearrangement was causative of their ASD and localised the chromosome 22 breakpoints. METHODS: The rearrangement was characterised using fluorescence in situ hybridisation, Southern blotting, inverse PCR and dideoxy-sequencing. Open reading frames and intron/exon boundaries of the two physically disrupted genes identified, TCF20 and TNRC6B, were sequenced in 342 families (260 multiplex and 82 simplex) ascertained by the International Molecular Genetic Study of Autism Consortium (IMGSAC). RESULTS: IMGSAC family screening identified a de novo missense mutation of TCF20 in a single case and significant association of a different missense mutation of TCF20 with ASD in three further families. Through exome sequencing in another project, we independently identified a de novo frameshifting mutation of TCF20 in a woman with ASD and moderate intellectual disability. We did not identify a significant association of TNRC6B mutations with ASD. CONCLUSIONS: TCF20 encodes a transcriptional coregulator (also termed SPBP) that is structurally and functionally related to RAI1, the critical dosage-sensitive protein implicated in the behavioural phenotypes of the Smith-Magenis and Potocki-Lupski 17p11.2 deletion/duplication syndromes, in which ASD is frequently diagnosed. This study provides the first evidence that mutations in TCF20 are also associated with ASD

CCL28 Induces Mucosal Homing of HIV-1-Specific IgA-Secreting Plasma Cells in Mice Immunized with HIV-1 Virus-Like Particles

Mucosae-associated epithelial chemokine (MEC or CCL28) binds to CCR3 and CCR10 and recruits IgA-secreting plasma cells (IgA-ASCs) in the mucosal lamina propria. The ability of this chemokine to enhance migration of IgA-ASCs to mucosal sites was assessed in a mouse immunization model using HIV-1IIIB Virus-like particles (VLPs). Mice receiving either HIV-1IIIB VLPs alone, CCL28 alone, or the irrelevant CCL19 chemokine were used as controls. Results showed a significantly increased CCR3 and CCR10 expression on CD19+ splenocytes of HIV-1IIIB VPL-CCL28-treated mice. HIV-1 Env-specific IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-5 production, total IgA, anti-Env IgA as well as gastro-intestinal mucosal IgA-secreting plasma cells were also significantly augmented in these mice. Notably, sera and vaginal secretions from HIV-1IIIB VLP-CCL28-treated mice exhibited an enhanced neutralizing activity against both a HIV-1/B-subtype laboratory strain and a heterologous HIV-1/C-subtype primary isolate. These data suggest that CCL28 could be useful in enhancing the IgA immune response that will likely play a pivotal role in prophylactic HIV vaccines

Higher Education Institutional Transparency of General Education Competencies, Assessment Measures, and Analysis of Assessment Data

With general education coursework making up a significant portion of associate and bachelor\u27s degree curriculum, conveying the content and importance of student competencies to stakeholder audiences has never been more essential. Accreditation pressure and accountability measures are influencing a focus on improving the presentation of competencies aligned to their assessment measures. This study examines the extent to which institutions publicly and proactively disclose relevant information regarding assessment of the general education curriculum, thereby contributing to literature forming robust comparisons of general education assessment practices. It examines the websites of seventy-one higher education institutions, representing a range of public settings in all American regions. Results show variability in the alignment of objectives to measures and reveal current themes and an emphasis regarding how competencies relate to coursework. Recommendations for improving institutional presentation are provided

Web page publishing policy: Developing taxonomy for private higher education settings based on current practice

Web page publishing has expanded rapidly in higher educational settings as administrative, faculty, staff, and student users lobby for server space. Increasingly, web publishing policies are needed to help maintain an institutional brand and insure that civil rights are not violated. Institutions that publish or host individual web pages must grabble with issues concerning web page ownership as well as style and content compliance. An analysis of the Web publishing policies of 59 Pennsylvanian private colleges yielded results which are presented in this paper as taxonomy for web site publishing policies for higher educational institutions

Summer Forum 2020

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