Perceptions of Non-university Affiliated Dietetic Internship Program Directors Regarding Education Requirements to Obtain a Master’s Degree as an Entry-level Dietitian

Purpose: The Commission on Dietetic Registration announced that entry-level eligibility requirements to become a registered dietitian would increase to include obtaining a Master’s degree. The objective of this study was to explore perceptions of non-university affiliated dietetic internship program directors regarding proposed education requirements. Methods: Directors participated in a phone survey of structured questions related to the topic. The population of focus was non-university affiliated dietetic internship program directors. Results: Program directors expressed viewpoints of positive, negative, and mixed regarding the increase in education requirements. Diversity and autonomy were among concerns expressed by program directors. Conclusion: The research found that this subset of stake holders remains conflicted with the decision by the Commission on Dietetic Registration that a Master’s degree would be the entry-level requirement to become a registered dietitian

Online Mathematics Homework Increases Student Achievement

In a randomized field trial with 2,850 seventh-grade mathematics students, we evaluated whether an educational technology intervention increased mathematics learning. Assigning homework is common yet sometimes controversial. Building on prior research on formative assessment and adaptive teaching, we predicted that combining an online homework tool with teacher training could increase learning. The online tool ASSISTments (a) provides timely feedback and hints to students as they do homework and (b) gives teachers timely, organized information about students’ work. To test this prediction, we analyzed data from 43 schools that participated in a random assignment experiment in Maine, a state that provides every seventh-grade student with a laptop to take home. Results showed that the intervention significantly increased student scores on an end-of-the-year standardized mathematics assessment as compared with a control group that continued with existing homework practices. Students with low prior mathematics achievement benefited most. The intervention has potential for wider adoption

Weight Changes Post-Phentermine Use

Purpose: Evaluate weight maintenance in subjects who lost weight while taking phentermine (PTM). Methods: This study was conducted by utilizing a validated survey to collect self-reported data about weight changes post-PTM use. The survey was sent to 19,986 email addresses of current and former patients of a PTM-based outpatient clinic, located in Chicago, IL; 546 participants completed the survey. Results were analyzed using a variety of techniques. Results: At the time of the survey, 42% of responders maintained all the weight lost while on PTM, and 25.2% had maintained a weight loss of at least 10% of their body weight. The average weight lost and maintained at the time of the survey was 3.75% ± 13.8% of body weight or 8.74 lbs ± 27.45 lbs. Nineteen responders had no net weight change. Fifty-nine responders reported a net weight gain, ranging from 2 to 70 lbs with a mean net weight gain of 16.07 lbs ± 13.87 lbs. The duration of time since discontinuing PTM use had a significant correlation with weight maintenance: r = 0.340, p value = .000. There was no significant correlation between duration of time using PTM and weight maintenance. No correlations were identified between education, income, or ethnicity and weight maintenance. A correlation was identified between weight maintenance and current exercise level: r = 0.218, p value = .000. Conclusions: Although more research is needed, with the results of this study, the investigators suggest that post-PTM use, weight regain is not significantly higher than weight regain through other weight loss programs. In order to achieve long-term weight loss maintenance, it may behoove patients to receive professional guidance about behavior modifications to maintain weight lost, particularly related to exercise and dietary changes. The investigators of this study suggest greater emphasis on behavior modification in patients taking PTM is indicated

From multiple perspectives to shared understanding

The aim of this study was to explore how learners operating in a small group reach shared understanding as they work out joint research questions and build a theoretical framework and to identify the resources and tools they used in the process. The learners’ own interpretations of their group activities and learning were also taken into account. The data, consisting of group discussions and the documents produced by the group, were subjected to a qualitative content analysis. The group members employed a variety of resources and tools to exchange their individual perspectives and achieve shared understanding. Summaries of relevant literature laid a foundation for the group’s theoretical discussions. Reflective comparisons between their book knowledge and their personal experiences of online interaction and collaboration were frequent, suggesting that such juxtapositions may have enhanced their learning by intertwining the content to be mastered and the activities entailed by this particular content

创新教学报告2015 —探索教学、学习与评价的新形式 [Innovating Pedagogy 2015]

本报告提出了在教学应用方面呈现端倪的“十大创新教学法”，包括跨界学习、论证学习、随机 学习、基于情境的学习、计算思维、利用远程实验室在科学实验中学习、具身学习、适应性教学、情绪分析 和隐性评价，预期这些方法有可能在教育实践中，尤其是在学校后继续教育中引发重大变革

Analytic frameworks for assessing dialogic argumentation in online learning environments

Over the last decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online learning environments to support students engaging in argumentation. This review first considers the range of functionalities incorporated within these online environments. The review then presents five categories of analytic frameworks focusing on (1) formal argumentation structure, (2) normative quality, (3) nature and function of contributions within the dialog, (4) epistemic nature of reasoning, and (5) patterns and trajectories of participant interaction. Example analytic frameworks from each category are presented in detail rich enough to illustrate their nature and structure. This rich detail is intended to facilitate researchers’ identification of possible frameworks to draw upon in developing or adopting analytic methods for their own work. Each framework is applied to a shared segment of student dialog to facilitate this illustration and comparison process. Synthetic discussions of each category consider the frameworks in light of the underlying theoretical perspectives on argumentation, pedagogical goals, and online environmental structures. Ultimately the review underscores the diversity of perspectives represented in this research, the importance of clearly specifying theoretical and environmental commitments throughout the process of developing or adopting an analytic framework, and the role of analytic frameworks in the future development of online learning environments for argumentation

A Pilot Study with a Novel Setup for Collaborative Play of the Humanoid Robot KASPAR with children with autism

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article describes a pilot study in which a novel experimental setup, involving an autonomous humanoid robot, KASPAR, participating in a collaborative, dyadic video game, was implemented and tested with children with autism, all of whom had impairments in playing socially and communicating with others. The children alternated between playing the collaborative video game with a neurotypical adult and playing the same game with the humanoid robot, being exposed to each condition twice. The equipment and experimental setup were designed to observe whether the children would engage in more collaborative behaviours while playing the video game and interacting with the adult than performing the same activities with the humanoid robot. The article describes the development of the experimental setup and its first evaluation in a small-scale exploratory pilot study. The purpose of the study was to gain experience with the operational limits of the robot as well as the dyadic video game, to determine what changes should be made to the systems, and to gain experience with analyzing the data from this study in order to conduct a more extensive evaluation in the future. Based on our observations of the childrens’ experiences in playing the cooperative game, we determined that while the children enjoyed both playing the game and interacting with the robot, the game should be made simpler to play as well as more explicitly collaborative in its mechanics. Also, the robot should be more explicit in its speech as well as more structured in its interactions. Results show that the children found the activity to be more entertaining, appeared more engaged in playing, and displayed better collaborative behaviours with their partners (For the purposes of this article, ‘partner’ refers to the human/robotic agent which interacts with the children with autism. We are not using the term’s other meanings that refer to specific relationships or emotional involvement between two individuals.) in the second sessions of playing with human adults than during their first sessions. One way of explaining these findings is that the children’s intermediary play session with the humanoid robot impacted their subsequent play session with the human adult. However, another longer and more thorough study would have to be conducted in order to better re-interpret these findings. Furthermore, although the children with autism were more interested in and entertained by the robotic partner, the children showed more examples of collaborative play and cooperation while playing with the human adult.Peer reviewe

A Tailorable Collaborative Learning System That Combines OGSA Grid Services and IMS-LD Scripting

This paper presents Gridcole, a new collaborative learning system that can be easily tailored by educators in order to support their own CSCL scenarios, using computing services provided by third parties in the form of OGSA grid services. Educators employ scripts in order to describe the sequence of learning activities and required tools, with standard IMS-LD notation. Thus, through the integration of coarse-grained tools, that may even offer supercomputing capabilities or use specific hardware resources, educators do not depend on software developers to easily configure a suitable environment in order to support a broad range of collaborative scenarios. An example of a learning scenario for a Computer Architecture course is described to illustrate the capabilities of Gridcole