The Effects of an Alternative Spring Break Program on Student Development

This study examined the potential impact of a week-long cocurricular community service-learning (CSL) program on undergraduate students’ psychosocial development. Participants in the Alternative Spring Break program and a matched control group completed surveys assessing a number of psychosocial variables immediately before and after the program, as well as 8 months later. Findings suggest that cocurricular CSL programs such as alternative breaks may positively impact students in 2 important ways: increasing personal growth and increasing personal effectiveness. Further research with larger samples is necessary; however, results from this study indicate that cocurricular CSL can be a powerful tool for supporting positive student development

Developing the Intercultural Competence of Graduate Students

This study explores how teaching development programs may facilitate the development of intercultural competence in graduate students and prepare them for communicating effectively in the global workplace after graduation. First, we describe the concept of intercultural teaching competence and examine the skills that graduate students may need to cultivate in order to communicate effectively in culturally diverse settings. Then, we discuss the findings of our qualitative study on the impact of teaching development programs enhanced with intercultural communication components. As a result of training, participants became more aware of cultural and disciplinary differences in communication, were able to adapt their communication style to audiences with different levels of background knowledge, and felt more prepared for interpersonal interactions across cultures with undergraduates. Finally, participants were able to transfer the skills learned to other areas of graduate study and used effective intercultural communication strategies when interacting with globally diverse peers and faculty supervisors

Bridging the Gap: The impact of the Teaching in the Canadian Classroom Program on the Teaching Effectiveness of International Teaching Assistants

Program helps international graduate teaching assistants manage pedagogical culture clash Graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) are a staple of university education in Canada. Plentiful among them – particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines – are international students from other countries and cultures where higher education is primarily teacher-centered and where students treat professors with deference and respect. Coming to Canadian universities as both graduate students and teaching assistants, they encounter a very different environment that is more learner-centered and where students feel free to interrupt and challenge their instructors on everything from course content to grades. Helping international TAs manage this pedagogical culture clash is the focus of a new study commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). Bridging the Gap: The Impact of the ‘Teaching in the Canadian Classroom’ Program on the Teaching Effectiveness of International Teaching Assistants looked at TA training programs at Western University and found that a program enhanced with significant intercultural components has a positive impact on the development of international graduate students – not only as teachers, but also as graduate students. Project Description The study examined two TA training programs – one with substantial intercultural content and designed expressly for international TAs, the other a general program with limited intercultural content – to determine their impact on the transition of international graduate students to Canadian higher education. Both programs include “microteaching sessions” where TAs receive detailed feedback on a ten-minute lesson that they teach and modules on effective teaching techniques. The intercultural program also addresses such issues as cultural differences in the role of instructors and students, expectations for student engagement and strategies to help international students bridge cultural differences in communication styles with their students and supervisors. Students from a variety of disciplines who enrolled in both programs between January 2011 and January 2012 participated in the study. At the beginning and end of each program, participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires and some also participated in follow-up focus groups. Canadian TAs participating in the general program were included in the research as a comparison group. Findings The international TAs who participated in the intercultural program made greater gains in their overall teaching effectiveness in the microteaching session, although other analyses found no significant differences between the three groups. However, the focus group interviews, which took place four to seven months after the programs, revealed considerable differences between the two training programs in terms of long-term impact. Participants in the intercultural program evidenced a shift towards more student-centered approaches to teaching and an increased ability to achieve active learning in their classrooms. As the authors note, these students “saw themselves as facilitators of learning rather than transmitters of information.” Several TAs also said they noticed both effective and ineffective teaching techniques by their professors more keenly. Given that differences between the two program outcomes were more evident in the focus group discussions conducted several months later, the authors suggest that the impact on effective teaching is long-term and may emerge several months after program completion. The authors also note that participants in the intercultural program were, on average, somewhat older and had more prior teaching experience, whereas participants in the general program were mostly novice teachers. Further research/policy implications The report encourages colleagues at other institutions to consider replicating the research with their own related programs, and notes that future research should examine such programs for long-term changes in teacher behaviours. Universities should invest in enhanced intercultural training for their international TAs, according to the report. “Given the large number of international graduate students who are teaching in our undergraduate programs, we feel it is essential that these students receive training in teaching, both for the students they will teach, and for their own academic success…The competencies that [these students] develop in the program are necessary in a global society – competencies that would also be a valuable skill for Canadian graduate students,” the authors say. “If resources allow, universities may consider developing a graduate student development program enhanced with intercultural communication components for all of their teaching assistants.

Evaluating the Differential Impact of Teaching Assistant Training Programs on International Graduate Student Teaching

In this study, we compared the effects of a traditional teaching assistant (TA) training program to those of a specialized program, with a substantial intercultural component, for international graduate students. We expected both programs to result in an increase in international graduate students’ teaching self-efficacy, observed teaching effectiveness, and adoption of student-centred approaches to teaching, and we anticipated a greater degree of change for the participants in the specialized program. We found the expected increases for graduate students in both programs, with a larger increase in observed teaching effectiveness for students in the specialized program. We discuss the implications of tailoring TA training programs for international graduate students and of providing time and learning activities for the development of student-centred teaching and reflective practice

A Needs-Driven and Responsive Approach to Supporting the Research Endeavours of Academic Librarians

In this article, the authors describe a grassroots model for research support and explore the success and evolving directions of this model based on three iterative needs assessments administered by the Librarian and Archivist Research Support Network (LARSN) Steering Committee at The University of Western Ontario. Needs assessments were identified as a critical tool to ensure that LARSN programming is relevant to librarians’ and archivists’ changing research needs. In the first four years of LARSN, three needs assessments were administered: in fall 2007, fall 2009, and spring 2011. The iterative needs assessments aimed to capture how the environment and research needs were evolving over time and the ways in which LARSN might continue to support a healthy and productive research environment. LARSN is faced with challenges that include a diversity of needs within its community, inconsistent participation levels in LARSN initiatives, and the inability to be all things to all people at all times. Still, LARSN is well received overall and rated positively by its community members. This is, in large part, because it has stayed true to its original mission to be needs-driven and responsive

Teaching Culture Indicators: Enhancing Quality Teaching

Canadian postsecondary institutions are committed to providing students with high quality teaching and learning experiences. In recent years, provincial and institutional stakeholders have shifted their focus toward better supporting this effort and enhancing an evolving, teaching- and learning-centred institutional culture. As Cox, McIntosh, Reason, and Terenzini (2011) note, a culture with improved teaching quality is likely to lead to improved student engagement and learning. Researchers in the United States, Europe, and Australia have investigated institutional culture and its relationship to high quality teaching over the last 20 years (Aitken & Sorcinelli, 1994; Cox et al., 2011; Hodge, Nadler, Shore, & Taylor, 2011; Gosling, 2013; Harvey & Stensaker, 2008; Kallioinen, 2013; Hunt, 2013, Prosser, 2013); however, to date, there is little, if any, research done in this area in the Canadian context.https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlreports/1004/thumbnail.jp

2013 WSES guidelines for management of intra-abdominal infections

Peer reviewe

Investigation of hospital discharge cases and SARS-CoV-2 introduction into Lothian care homes

Background The first epidemic wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Scotland resulted in high case numbers and mortality in care homes. In Lothian, over one-third of care homes reported an outbreak, while there was limited testing of hospital patients discharged to care homes. Aim To investigate patients discharged from hospitals as a source of SARS-CoV-2 introduction into care homes during the first epidemic wave. Methods A clinical review was performed for all patients discharges from hospitals to care homes from 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2020. Episodes were ruled out based on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test history, clinical assessment at discharge, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data and an infectious period of 14 days. Clinical samples were processed for WGS, and consensus genomes generated were used for analysis using Cluster Investigation and Virus Epidemiological Tool software. Patient timelines were obtained using electronic hospital records. Findings In total, 787 patients discharged from hospitals to care homes were identified. Of these, 776 (99%) were ruled out for subsequent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes. However, for 10 episodes, the results were inconclusive as there was low genomic diversity in consensus genomes or no sequencing data were available. Only one discharge episode had a genomic, time and location link to positive cases during hospital admission, leading to 10 positive cases in their care home. Conclusion The majority of patients discharged from hospitals were ruled out for introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into care homes, highlighting the importance of screening all new admissions when faced with a novel emerging virus and no available vaccine

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid mutations in spike, half of which lie within the receptor-binding domain. Here we demonstrate substantial evasion of neutralization by Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in vitro using sera from individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273. These data were mirrored by a substantial reduction in real-world vaccine effectiveness that was partially restored by booster vaccination. The Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 did not induce cell syncytia in vitro and favoured a TMPRSS2-independent endosomal entry pathway, these phenotypes mapping to distinct regions of the spike protein. Impaired cell fusion was determined by the receptor-binding domain, while endosomal entry mapped to the S2 domain. Such marked changes in antigenicity and replicative biology may underlie the rapid global spread and altered pathogenicity of the Omicron variant