Using e-learning to support international students' dissertation preparation

Purpose: A research paper on the design and implementation of an e-learning resource responding to the globalisation of education. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the challenges presented in learning and teaching on how to support international postgraduate (PG) students undertaking the specific task of a dissertation. Design/methodology/approach: Using findings from 250 PG students, 40 supervisors and two module tutors the research identified the content and language issues faced by students and recognised the need to design an enabler supporting the latter as independent learners and the academic staff delivering support. Findings: The e-learning tool provides an independent learning tool which addresses student concerns relating to the process and content of structuring a dissertation and the function of language. Initial responses have been positive from both staff and students in respect to providing a source of student support and feedback. Originality/value: The research shows how the Dissertation Game Model (DGM), evolved into an e-learning resource supporting student understanding of the content, structure, planning and writing of a dissertation. The e-learning tool focuses on helping international students understand what the generic contents of each chapter of a dissertation should contain and supports them in engaging in research as a transferable skill

James Comey to Teach at Columbia Law

Columbia Law School has landed a big name to teach next semester: Former FBI Director James Comey, who will teach a spring semester seminar called Lawyers and Leaders as a Leader in Residence at the law school

Shifts in Practice Based on Rapid Re-Housing for Rural Homelessness: An Exploratory Study of Micropolitan Homeless Service Provision

Based on interviews with rural homeless service providers, the authors examine in this practice note how policy has created shifts in practice for organizations serving homeless populations. Homeless individuals find a decreasing opportunity for assistance while awaiting Rapid Re-Housing. Some organizations, dependent on Rapid Re-Housing monies, are facing a lack of funding to pay for general homeless care provision. Organizations are creating care networks to address requirements of the new policy in addition to pooling resources in underserved areas

The value of initial condition large ensembles to robust adaptation decision-making

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Mankin, J. S., Lehner, F., Coats, S., & McKinnon, K. A. The value of initial condition large ensembles to robust adaptation decision-making. Earth's Future, 8(10), (2020): e2012EF001610, doi:10.1029/2020EF001610.The origins of uncertainty in climate projections have major consequences for the scientific and policy decisions made in response to climate change. Internal climate variability, for example, is an inherent uncertainty in the climate system that is undersampled by the multimodel ensembles used in most climate impacts research. Because of this, decision makers are left with the question of whether the range of climate projections across models is due to structural model choices, thus requiring more scientific investment to constrain, or instead is a set of equally plausible outcomes consistent with the same warming world. Similarly, many questions faced by scientists require a clear separation of model uncertainty and that arising from internal variability. With this as motivation and the renewed attention to large ensembles given planning for Phase 7 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP7), we illustrate the scientific and policy value of the attribution and quantification of uncertainty from initial condition large ensembles, particularly when analyzed in conjunction with multimodel ensembles. We focus on how large ensembles can support regional‐scale robust adaptation decision‐making in ways multimodel ensembles alone cannot. We also acknowledge several recently identified problems associated with large ensembles, namely, that they are (1) resource intensive, (2) redundant, and (3) biased. Despite these challenges, we show, using examples from hydroclimate, how large ensembles provide unique information for the scientific and policy communities and can be analyzed appropriately for regional‐scale climate impacts research to help inform risk management in a warming world.F. L. has been supported by the Swiss NSF (grant no. PZ00P2_174128), the NSF Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (grant no. AGS‐0856145, Amendment 87), and the Regional and Global Model Analysis (RGMA) component of the Earth and Environmental System Modeling Program of the U.S.Department of Energy’s Office of Biological & Environmental Research (BER) via NSF IA 1844590. This is SOEST publication no. 11115

Shifts in Practice Based on Rapid Re-Housing for Rural Homelessness: An Exploratory Study of Micropolitan Homeless Service Provision

Based on interviews with rural homeless service providers, the authors examine in this practice note how policy has created shifts in practice for organizations serving homeless populations. Homeless individuals find a decreasing opportunity for assistance while awaiting Rapid Re-Housing. Some organizations, dependent on Rapid Re-Housing monies, are facing a lack of funding to pay for general homeless care provision. Organizations are creating care networks to address requirements of the new policy in addition to pooling resources in underserved areas