Digital Distractions: Using Action Research to Explore Students’ Behaviors, Motivations, and Perceptions of Cyberslacking in a Suburban High School

Digital technology saturates the personal and educational lives of high school students who are accustomed to continuous connectivity; consequently, students are often distracted by technology in the classroom. When students use technology for non-class related activities during class time, this behavior is commonly known as cyberslacking. The purpose of this action research was to describe students’ understanding of cyberslacking and its academic and social effects in my English 3 Honors and Film Studies classes at Carraway High School. The research took place in the spring semester of 2019 with 59 students in Grades 10 through 12 who were enrolled in my English 3 Honors and Film Studies courses. Both courses integrated technology fully into most aspects of students’ learning, and all students had smartphones and school-issued Apple iPads. In order to describe students’ behaviors, motivations, and perceptions of cyberslacking, three data collection methods were used: observations, surveys, and focus group interviews. Findings showed that students cyberslacked regularly in class, using personal and school-issued devices. Their cyberslacking activities included texting, social media, watching videos, gaming, listening to music, and other types of entertainment. The duration of their cyberslacking sessions depended upon the selected cyberslacking activity, as well as the immediate events happening in class. Students indicated they cyberslacked because of habit, stress, anxiety, a need for connection, their perceived knowledge and comfort level in a course, lack of interest in a subject, and access to devices. However, they also expressed that teachers’ rules, respect for teachers, parental boundaries, and their own personal desire to be successful in school often motivated them not to cyberslack. Furthermore, some students perceived cyberslacking as negative, believing it had a detrimental effect on their academics and personal connections with teachers; others perceived cyberslacking as a positive influence, providing stress relief and brain breaks. This study offered valuable insights into possible root causes of students’ cyberslacking behaviors, including nomophobia, metacognition, perceived multitasking ability, student-teacher relationships, short attention spans, the need for instant gratification, and ability to self-regulate. Recommendations for teachers, students, school, district, and parents are discussed, as well as personal implications and implications for future research

Beyond Defeat : Understanding Educators’ Experiences in the 2018 Oklahoma Walkouts

As a research team, we collected 40 oral history interviews with teachers and support professionals across the state who meaningfully participated in the 2018 Oklahoma education walkouts. The teachers and staff we interviewed are voices not previously cited in local or national news or would be identified readily as prominent or powerful leaders in the strike -- they are everyday folks, like many of the co-authors, whose vision and critical labor made the strike happen. Our collective analysis illuminates the limits in framing the event narrowly in terms of win-lose or as an anomalous event that began overnight with a statewide Facebook group in March and ended April 12th, when schools reopened. Instead, we draw from our interviews to suggest a framing that centers a constructively critical and in-depth understanding of what educators, students, and their communities collectively began and continue to learn and create in preparation for, during, and in the afterlife of the strike. At the same time, we work to understand in our analysis when and how such collective grassroots work was stalled or challenged. Further, we suggest analyses of the historic event should be more discerning of who speaks for the state’s educators and, alternatively, whose voices and perspectives exist only at the margins of the public record, if at all

BOugie or stylet in patients UnderGoing Intubation Emergently (BOUGIE): protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomised clinical trial

Introduction Intubation-related complications are less frequent when intubation is successful on the first attempt. The rate of first attempt success in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) is typically less than 90%. The bougie, a semirigid introducer that can be placed into the trachea to facilitate a Seldinger-like technique of tracheal intubation and is typically reserved for difficult or failed intubations, might improve first attempt success. Evidence supporting its use, however, is from a single academic ED with frequent bougie use. Validation of these findings is needed before widespread implementation.Methods and analysis The BOugie or stylet in patients Undergoing Intubation Emergently trial is a prospective, multicentre, non-blinded randomised trial being conducted in six EDs and six ICUs in the USA. The trial plans to enrol 1106 critically ill adults undergoing orotracheal intubation. Eligible patients are randomised 1:1 for the use of a bougie or use of an endotracheal tube with stylet for the first intubation attempt. The primary outcome is successful intubation on the first attempt. The secondary outcome is severe hypoxaemia, defined as an oxygen saturation less than 80% between induction until 2 min after completion of intubation. Enrolment began on 29 April 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2021.Ethics and dissemination The trial protocol was approved with waiver of informed consent by the Central Institutional Review Board at Vanderbilt University Medical Center or the local institutional review board at an enrolling site. The results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at scientific conferences.Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT03928925)