Acceptance of Distance Learning Programs at the Graduate Level A Pilot Study

The number of Americans seeking college degrees is expanding at a rapid pace. To meet the challenge of the non-traditional student, one, who because of other commitments, cannot attend courses in a traditional campus setting, colleges and universities have instituted distance learning programs. There is little disagreement on the value of these programs in providing a service to students who cannot attend traditional classes. But at locations where students do have an option of attending a traditional course, or taking one through a distance learning approach, which will a student select? The study expanded the perceptions of the traditional versus distance learning approach to higher education, and the choice students would make if given the option. The results of the study revealed that students would significantly favor courses utilizing the traditional delivery approach versus a distance learning approach. The study also found that students at a university which does not have a distance learning program favor this approach to a significantly higher degree than students at a university which has a distance learning program. The study also found that students are almost equally divided on the perception of quality of the distance learning delivery approach, versus a traditional delivery approach

Perceptions on the Differences Between the Socratic and Experiential Teaching Methodologies

There are numerous technological advances which are readily available for us in the university classroom. While the use of computers, on-line data bases, video networking, etc. will serve to greatly enhance the understanding and dissemination of information to the students, the instructor must not neglect a fundamental necessity for any class - the delivery system. This research focused on two of the common delivery methodologies utilized in higher education, the Socratic and Experiential delivery systems. The research hypothesis stated that there will be a significant difference in the perceptions of students when evaluating the Socratic and Experiential teaching delivery methodologies. Students, especially at the graduate level, will perceive the need to become more involved in their educational experience. Because of this students will be significantly more receptive to the Experiential than the Socratic methology. The null hypothesis stated that there will be no significant differences in the perceptions of students when evaluating the Socratic and Experiential teaching delivery system when evaluated at the a= .05 level of significance. The results revealed the students significantly preferred the Experiential methodology when compared to the Socratic approach. The data revealed that 82.5 % favored the Experiential methodology, while only 17.5 % favored the Socratic approach. While the results of the Chi Square tests supported the research hypothesis, it should not be assumed that the Socratic methodology is not a useful highly successful delivery system. However for these particular courses, which were highly behavioral in design and content, the Experiential approach, as perceived by the students was significantly favored over the Socratic method

A Pilot Study to Assess the Effects of Humor in Relationship to Teaching Effectiveness

In a 1968 work entitled, A Teacher is Many Things , Drs. Earl Pullias and James Young elaborated on the many qualities or roles often required by an instructor at the college/university level. A litany of these roles include qualities such as: guide, teacher, searcher, counsellor, creator, evaluator, knowledge . authority, emancipator, learner, facer of reality, and culminator, to name a few. Two of the roles mentioned in their book, storyteller and actor , might appear to be unnecessary, or even questionable in their suitability for such a list. How does storytelling and acting relate to being an effective teacher? According to Pullias and Young, storytelling provides the student with a sense of place and identity and the ability to discover ... how others have solved problems similar to their own, .. .learn to appreciate their own lives ... feel inferior ... superior ... be repelled or inspired (1968, p. 161). As an actor, the individual plays the role of a teacher, developing ways to carefully stage the learning moment for the class, a role the individual maintains throughout the time he/she is on stage before his/her students. Thus, the classroom professor assumes the role of an edutainer (Zemke, 1991). The professor functions both as an educator and entertainer on the learning stage

Plagiarism: Why Didn\u27t Anyone Tell Me...?

Plagiarism, the use of the work of another author without proper credit is prevalent throughout society. In some instances a double standard exists: in academia students and educators alike are severely censured if there is the slightest indication of plagiarism. But in other areas of society, the use of compensated ghostwriters is the accepted norm. How educators must explore this dichotomy with their students, and help them to internalize their own value system, is a topic of discussion in this paper. Along with the issue of intentional plagiarism, unintentional plagiarism, due primarily to the author\u27s lack of knowledge on how to document properly, is also covered by way of documentation guidelines. As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that our students are provided with sufficient knowledge on the concept of plagiarism, and its correlation, proper documentation. By failing to provide this information we expose our students to possible lawsuits and embarrassment, as well as the possibility of the loss of a job or promotion

Identification of supraoptimal temperatures in juvenile blueback herring (\u3cem\u3eAlosa aestivalis\u3c/em\u3e) using survival, growth rate and scaled energy reserves

For young fishes, growth of somatic tissues and energy reserves are critical steps for survival and progressing to subsequent life stages. When thermal regimes become supraoptimal, routine metabolic rates increase and leave less energy for young fish to maintain fitness-based activities and, in the case of anadromous fishes, less energy to prepare for emigration to coastal habitats. Thus, understanding how energy allocation strategies are affected by thermal regimes in young anadromous fish will help to inform climate-ready management of vulnerable species and their habitat. Blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) are an anadromous fish species that remain at historically low population levels and are undergoing southern edge-range contraction, possibly due to climate change. We examined the effects of temperature (21°C, 24°C, 27°C, 30°C, 33°C) on survival, growth rate and energy reserves of juveniles collected from the mid-geographic range of the species. We identified a strong negative relationship between temperature and growth rate, resulting in smaller juveniles at high temperatures. We observed reduced survival at both 21°C and 33°C, increased fat and lean mass-at-length at high temperatures, but no difference in energy density. Juveniles were both smaller and contained greater scaled energy reserves at higher temperatures, indicating growth in length is more sensitive to temperature than growth of energy reserves. Currently, mid-geographic range juvenile blueback herring populations may be well suited for local thermal regimes, but continued warming could decrease survival and growth rates. Blueback herring populations may benefit from mitigation actions that maximize juvenile energy resources by increasing the availability of cold refugia and food-rich habitats, as well as reducing other stressors such as hypoxic zones

Reduced swimming performance repeatedly evolves on loss of migration in landlocked populations of alewife

Author Posting. © University of Chicago, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of University of Chicago Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 91 (2018):814–825, doi:10.1086/696877.Whole-organism performance tasks are accomplished by the integration of morphological traits and physiological functions. Understanding how evolutionary change in morphology and physiology influences whole-organism performance will yield insight into the factors that shape its own evolution. We demonstrate that nonmigratory populations of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) have evolved reduced swimming performance in parallel, compared with their migratory ancestor. In contrast to theoretically and empirically based predictions, poor swimming among nonmigratory populations is unrelated to the evolution of osmoregulation and occurs despite the fact that nonmigratory alewives have a more fusiform (torpedo-like) body shape than their ancestor. Our results suggest that elimination of long-distance migration from the life cycle has shaped performance more than changes in body shape and physiological regulatory capacity.Funding was provided by the University of Connecticut’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and El Muy Viejo.2019-01-3

Reduced swimming performance repeatedly evolves on loss of migration in landlocked populations of alewife

Author Posting. © University of Chicago, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of University of Chicago Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 91 (2018):814–825, doi:10.1086/696877.Whole-organism performance tasks are accomplished by the integration of morphological traits and physiological functions. Understanding how evolutionary change in morphology and physiology influences whole-organism performance will yield insight into the factors that shape its own evolution. We demonstrate that nonmigratory populations of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) have evolved reduced swimming performance in parallel, compared with their migratory ancestor. In contrast to theoretically and empirically based predictions, poor swimming among nonmigratory populations is unrelated to the evolution of osmoregulation and occurs despite the fact that nonmigratory alewives have a more fusiform (torpedo-like) body shape than their ancestor. Our results suggest that elimination of long-distance migration from the life cycle has shaped performance more than changes in body shape and physiological regulatory capacity.Funding was provided by the University of Connecticut’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and El Muy Viejo.2019-01-3

Barro's fertility equations: the robustness of the role of female education and income

Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) find that real per-capita GDP and both male and female education have important effects on fertility in their cross-country empirical studies. In order to assess the robustness of their results, their estimated models are subjected to specification and diagnostic testing, the effects on the model of using the improved Barro and Lee (1996) cross-country data on educational attainment of the population aged 15 and over are examined, and the different specifications used by Barro and Lee and by Barro and Sala-i-Martin compared. The results obtained suggest that their fertility equations do not perform well in terms of diagnostic testing, and are very sensitive to the use of different vintages of the educational attainment proxies and of the Summers-Heston cross-country income data. A robust explanation of fertility, to link with empirical growth equations, has, therefore, not yet been found; further work is required in this area