MOOCs in language education and professional teacher development: possibilities and potential

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) developed from the traditions of distance and selfaccess learning, and are growing in popularity. As a new and exciting area of education, the potential of MOOCs to transform education by allowing free access to courses for anyone with the access to technology and the internet has potential for teachers and learners to benefit from the courses offered. In this short article, three different perspectives on using MOOCs in educational contexts within Japan are discussed. The first describes a collaborative project in which one of the authors participated in a MOOC alongside a group of language learners. In the next, individual students pursuing self-directed language learning chose MOOCs to meet their various goals of knowledge and skill development as they prepared to study abroad. Finally, this article considers the role of MOOCs in professional teacher development through the reflections from a teacher participant. All three discussions relate their ideas to the themes of possibility and potential, while considering practical issues for language learners and educators

A statistical analysis of the effects of project-based learning on student high school and college outcomes

textThis dissertation research study is an analysis of the effects of project-based learning on a cohort of high school students’ achievement on mathematics and science standardized tests and graduation rates. The study also investigates college enrollment and first year grade point averages (GPA) for students taught solely through project-based instructional methods in high school. In the 21st century, STEM fields dominate our work force, but there is a decline in interest and persistence towards these fields that can be traced back to high school achievement in mathematics. The people that are choosing and prepared for STEM majors and careers are not representative of the US population, as they are lacking ethnic and gender diversity. The underlying premise is that inquiry-based teaching practices engage and motivate students leading to increased learning; however this premise is not currently fully supported with empirical research. This research compares students that attended a high school that teaches all courses through project-based learning with a matched control group of students. I first analyzed the demographic makeup of students that chose to apply to Manor New Tech, a STEM-focused, PBL school. Then, I developed multiple linear regression models that allowed me to determine that students attending the PBL school performed as well as the control group on math standardized exams and significantly better on one of the science standardized exams. Further analysis showed that ethnic and gender achievement gaps on the standardized assessments were maintained when students attended the PBL school. Similarly, students that attended the PBL school as likely to graduate high school. Comparing the PBL school with a more affluent school that also teaches all courses through PBL showed that graduates from the PBL school of focus in this research were significantly more likely to enroll in 2-year institutions of higher education and just as likely to enroll in 4-year and private institutions in Texas as the more affluent school. Finding that attendance at MNTH does not harm students’ standardized test performance or graduation rates could imply that being taught through PBL does not enhance high school and college outcomes. It could also imply that students taught at the PBL school, MNTH, are not experiencing authentic PBL, or conversely that students attending the comparison school, MHS, are receiving instruction through project-based methods as well. Lastly, the standardized assessments used to measure achievement may not be sensitive to some higher order skill development that may occur when taught through inquiry-based methods. Future research plans are to create new achievement measures that will capture more robust learning than traditional standardized tests. Using these instruments, further analysis of difference in students’ performance when they are taught through inquiry methods will be conducted.Curriculum and Instructio

Optimizing Maternal and Tenure Clocks: A Mathematical Proof

This essay shares my journey to solving the problem of timing, specifically as it applies to having a child on my journey towards a career as a mathematician in academia. I share some of the challenges I faced during pregnancy and the first few years of motherhood, which coincided with my first few years as an assistant professor of mathematics

Behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of social subjugation across adolescence and adulthood

BACKGROUND: Social subjugation is a very significant and natural stressor in the animal kingdom. Adult animals defeated and subjugated during establishment of dominance hierarchies or territorial encounters can be highly submissive in future agonistic interactions. While much is know about the biological and behavioral consequences of winning and losing fights in adulthood, little is known about adolescence; a developmental period noted for impulsivity and heightened agonistic behavior. The present studies were undertaken to determine if the behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of social subjugation are comparable in adolescent versus adult Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Male siblings were studied from adolescence into adulthood following exposure to counterbalanced episodes of either a benign stressor, i.e., isolation in a novel cage, or the more severe stressor of social subjugation. RESULTS: As adults, hamsters with a history of social subjugation in adolescence show high levels of aggression toward intruders as compared to siblings subjugated in adulthood. Sibling controls subjugated in adulthood are highly submissive with little or no aggressive behavior. However, when subjugated in adulthood, hamsters with the earlier history of subjugation are no different than their sibling controls, i.e., adult subjugation promotes submissive behavior. Sexual motivation is high in adult hamsters with adolescent subjugation and testosterone levels remained stable over adulthood. In contrast, sibling controls subjugated in adulthood show lower levels of sexual motivation and reduced levels of testosterone. Release of cortisol during agonistic encounters is blunted in animals subjugated in adolescence but not adulthood. Measures of anxiety are reduced in hamsters with adolescent subjugation as compared to their sibling controls. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate a pronounced difference in behavior and neuroendocrinology between adolescent and adult hamsters in their response to social subjugation and suggest adolescence is a resilient period in development

Convenient Scapegoats: Juvenile Confessions and Exculpatory DNA in Cook County, IL

In the Winter of 2011-2012, in two different cases known as the Dixmoor Five and the Englewood Four, nine men were exonerated of rapes and murders based on exculpatory post-conviction DNA testing. Seven of these nine men actually confessed to the crime. This article explores these two cases and how the Cook County law enforcement agencies, including the State\u27s Attorney\u27s Office, dealt with the powerful new DNA results

Convenient Scapegoats: Juvenile Confessions and Exculpatory DNA in Cook County, IL

In the Winter of 2011-2012, in two different cases known as the Dixmoor Five and the Englewood Four, nine men were exonerated of rapes and murders based on exculpatory post-conviction DNA testing. Seven of these nine men actually confessed to the crime. This article explores these two cases and how the Cook County law enforcement agencies, including the State\u27s Attorney\u27s Office, dealt with the powerful new DNA results

Relative effectiveness of robot-assisted and standard laparoscopic prostatectomy as alternatives to open radical prostatectomy for treatment of localised prostate cancer : a systematic review and mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis

© 2013 The Authors. BJU International © 2013 BJU International.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Revisiting Prejudiced Polygons: Adapting a Familiar Activity During a Time of Unknowns

This article describes the design process behind various iterations of Prejudiced Polygons, a Math Circles activity about segregation. In particular, we frame our discussion around two guiding principles from User Experience (UX) Design in thinking about the interconnected components of a Math Circles session, which includes all the people, the physical or virtual setting, the technology, and the world context. Additionally, we describe how we think about developing a “low floor and “high ceiling for math content, social issues content, as well as technology and access

Sirolimus Enhances Cyclosporine A-Induced Cytotoxicity in Human Renal Glomerular Mesangial Cells

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is an ever increasing problem worldwide. However the mechanisms underlying disease progression are not fully elucidated. This work addressed nephrotoxicity induced by the immunosuppressive agents' cyclosporine A (CsA) and sirolimus (SRL). Nephrotoxicity is the major limiting factor in long term use of CsA. SRL causes less nephrotoxicity than CsA. Therefore investigations into the differential effects of these agents may identify potential mechanisms of nephrotoxicity and means to prevent ESRD induced by therapeutic drugs. Using ELISA, Western blotting, quantitative PCR and a reporter gene assay we detailed the differential effects of CsA and SRL in human renal mesangial cells. CsA treatment increased profibrotic TGF-β1 secretion in human mesangial cells whereas SRL did not, indicating a role for TGF-β in CsA toxicity. However we observed a synergistic nephrotoxic effect when CsA and SRL were co-administered. These synergistic alterations may have been due to an increase in CTGF which was not evident when the immunosuppressive drugs were used alone. The CsA/SRL combination therapy significantly enhanced Smad signalling and altered the extracellular matrix regulator matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9). Inhibition of the ERK 1/2 pathway, attenuated these CsA/SRL induced alterations indicating a potentially significant role for this pathway