The Impact of Writing Strategies on Student Proficiency and Confidence Levels in an Advanced Placement Human Geography Course

This action research project investigated the impacts of writing strategy instruction on proficiency and confidence levels of students in an Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography course. Participants included forty-eight 10th to 12th-grade AP Human Geography students in a rural, midwestern high school. Students utilized collaboration, peer feedback, and organizational tools. In the midst of teaching during various learning models (online, hybrid, and face-to-face) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, data was collected using a pre- and post-assessment, and questionnaires to gauge student confidence levels and writing proficiency. In addition, the researcher gathered observations, student feedback, and sample student responses. The data collected showed inconclusive results with regard to improving student writing proficiency. However, 60% of the students reported an increase in their overall confidence level. The data collected suggests that further research is needed and would benefit from being collected during a traditional school year when the education system is not responding to a global health crisis

ASSESSING ASSESSMENTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THREE ASSESSMENTS OF INQUIRY SKILLS IN TENTH GRADE HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS

Inquiry is an educational technique where students develop scientific knowledge and understanding through processes similar to those used by scientist. One of the obstacles to implementing the techniques is the need for teachers to self-evaluate their teaching and determine the effectiveness of inquiry-based teaching techniques with respect to developing higher-order thinking (HOT) skills in students. Feedback from an assessment permits teachers to adjust their curriculum to incorporate the most effective inquiry-base lessons. This report considers three short assessments of inquiry that were modified for use in the high school biology classroom. First there three assessments were compared against one another for equality and applicability. Then, each of these three assessments were compared to a longer performance-based assessment for the application to evaluate HOT skills. The purpose of comparing these three assessment to the performance-based assessment was to determine the degree to which each assessment measured HOT skills. Two assessment tools were determined to conform to the requirements of being equally accessible to all students, applicable to being realistic and manageable to use in the classroom and able to evaluate HOT skills

Attention to Detail, Attention to Value: Building Additional Repository Assessment Tools for In-House Reporting

With the bepress repository management software comes some of the most in-depth tools for value assessment among platforms, these include automatically populated data on downloads, metadata page hits, works posted, readership distribution, and referrers. Recent integration with PlumX has allowed for even more granular opportunities for assessing the value of the repository. However, this left us at Kennesaw State University longing for some additional metrics of success. We are housed in the University Library System, where monthly and annual reports are limited to data used to satisfy accreditation needs, such as quantitative reporting on instruction, one-on-one consultations, and brief qualitative narratives. The Team at the Digital Commons at Kennesaw State University created a more in-depth, in-house mechanism for monitoring monthly repository growth in areas not collected automatically by the bepress platform. These data will then be used for monthly in-house reporting to library administration. We have used 2018 as a case study and will present our initial findings in the hopes that other repository managers will find value in our system and that developers may create more comprehensive reporting tools

Generational Differences in Consumer Decision-Making Constructs

Reference groups supply the individual with a sense of group membership, and thereby social identity. In the consumer behavior literature, reference groups have been shown to impact not only individual purchases, the decision-making process, and attitude formation towards brands and products. Generational cohort theory argues that people who experience major life events during a similar point in time possess synonymous values, characteristics, and preferences that are manifested through individual behaviors. The goal of this study is to extend prior research by examining generational differences in various consumer decision-making constructs. The results were mixed as are discussed

Implementation of an Outpatient, Pharmacist-Directed Clinic for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective: To describe development and challenges of implementing a pharmacist-led chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) clinic in the primary care setting. Methods: Starting in October 2014, patients scoring 10-30 on the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) were assigned to the intervention or control group. Intervention patients met with a pharmacist, who provided medication and lifestyle counseling and therapy recommendations to the patients’ primary provider per protocol. Control patients were encouraged to make an appointment with their primary provider for standard care. Two months following the initial CAT administration, the survey was administered again to both study groups by phone. The primary outcome was a comparison of change in CAT scores from baseline between the groups. Secondary outcomes included an analysis of medications, smoking status, vaccination status, hospital stays, visit attendance, and self-evaluation of disease progression. Results: Of the 163 patients contacted, 29 were enrolled. Ninety-one percent of the patients screened with the CAT were eligible based on the CAT requirement with an average baseline CAT score of 18.75. The primary outcome, change in follow up CAT scores, were similar for intervention patients (n=18) versus control patients (n=11), +0.8 versus +0.7 respectively. Four of the intervention patients attended their clinic visit resulting in a 22% show rate. Conclusion: Although our study was underpowered to detect between group differences, the elevated baseline CAT scores support the need for therapy optimization in patients with COPD. Pharmacists are well qualified to meet this need by providing medication counseling, smoking cessation, and therapy management. Additional randomized controlled studies are needed to support improved outcomes for patients with COPD when pharmacists are part of the clinical patient care team

Developing the External Engagement Process in Higher Education through Effective Change and Technology

Engagement with external organisations and enterprises is increasingly part of the higher education mission and the contribution of universities to local and regional economic and social development remains an important, but difficult to evidence, metric for Higher Education Institutions (HEI). This paper explores the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to support external engagement and to build business intelligence in one higher education institution in Ireland. Building on the findings of the Roadmap for Employment-Academic Partnership (REAP) project, through a structured process towards a professional case management approach to interactions this project focuses on the introduction of a CRM system in Cork Institute of Technology as a supporting and reporting mechanism which allows the collation of information on current and previous interactions with external organisations. When in place, the system will provide the HEI with a full overview of the current interactions at any point in time with an external organisation as well as providing valuable information to the strategic planning process. The work reported on in this paper and the work of the REAP project generally, was supported by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) under the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)

Developing the External Engagement Process in Higher Education through Effective Change and Technology

Engagement with external organisations and enterprises is increasingly part of the higher education mission and the contribution of universities to local and regional economic and social development remains an important, but difficult to evidence, metric for Higher Education Institutions (HEI). This paper explores the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to support external engagement and to build business intelligence in one higher education institution in Ireland. Building on the findings of the Roadmap for Employment-Academic Partnership (REAP) project, through a structured process towards a professional case management approach to interactions this project focuses on the introduction of a CRM system in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) as a supporting and reporting mechanism which allows the collation of information on current and previous interactions with external organisations. When in place, the system will provide the HEI with a full overview of the current interactions at any point in time with an external organisation as well as providing valuable information to the strategic planning process. The work reported on in this paper and the work of the REAP project generally, was supported by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) under the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)

Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase–3 (TIMP-3) induces FAS dependent apoptosis in human vascular smooth muscle cells

Over expression of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) induces apoptosis and reduces neointima formation occurring after saphenous vein interposition grafting or coronary stenting. In studies to address the mechanism of TIMP-3-driven apoptosis in human VSMCs we find that TIMP-3 increased activation of caspase-8 and apoptosis was inhibited by expression of Cytokine response modifier A (CrmA) and dominant negative FAS-Associated protein with Death Domain (FADD). TIMP-3 induced apoptosis did not cause mitochondrial depolarisation, increase activation of caspase-9 and was not inhibited by over-expression of B-cell Lymphoma 2 (Bcl2), indicating a mitochondrial independent/type-I death receptor pathway. TIMP-3 increased levels of the First Apoptosis Signal receptor (FAS) and depletion of FAS with shRNA showed TIMP-3-induced apoptosis was FAS dependent. TIMP-3 induced formation of the Death-Inducing Signalling Complex (DISC), as detected by immunoprecipitation and by immunofluorescence. Cellular-FADD-like IL-1 converting enzyme-Like Inhibitory Protein (c-FLIP) localised with FAS at the cell periphery in the absence of TIMP-3 and this localisation was lost on TIMP-3 expression with c-FLIP adopting a perinuclear localisation. Although TIMP-3 inhibited FAS shedding, this did not increase total surface levels of FAS but instead increased FAS levels within localised regions at the cell surface. A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) is inhibited by TIMP-3 and depletion of ADAM17 with shRNA significantly decreased FAS shedding. However ADAM17 depletion did not induce apoptosis or replicate the effects of TIMP-3 by increasing localised clustering of cell surface FAS. ADAM17-depleted cells could activate caspase-3 when expressing levels of TIMP-3 that were otherwise sub-apoptotic, suggesting a partial role for ADAM17 mediated ectodomain shedding in TIMP-3 mediated apoptosis. We conclude that TIMP-3 induced apoptosis in VSMCs is highly dependent on FAS and is associated with changes in FAS and c-FLIP localisation, but is not solely dependent on shedding of the FAS ectodomain