Putting Everything on the Blackboard for Teacher Candidate

This article represents the results of action research in the implementation of a web-based communication system in teacher education. The author informally recounts his successful experiment using the Blackboard system to facilitate communication with all of the program’s teacher candidates. Qualitative feedback data collected from student users of the system are featured along with responses from the author, leading to continuous improvements to the site based on the data

Faculty Pressures and Professional Self-Esteem: Life in Texas Teacher Education

Studies of the beliefs of teacher educators record high levels of professional self-esteem, but also document the perceived lack of professional regard from colleagues in other areas, informing and redirecting our professional needs assessment. The literature documents that a general disregard for teacher educators as professionals has become a part of the academic culture at many institutions of higher learning in the US. With all of the external pressures on teacher educators, from governmental and accrediting agencies, the public, and professional organizations, perhaps we should address the attitudes of our academic colleagues as one area in which faculty pressures might be lightened

Expanding the Zone of Reflective Capacity: Taking Separate Journeys Together

The Master of Arts in Education program at our college began in 2004 and was designed to help practicing teachers become more effective and insightful teachers through developing both their content and pedagogical knowledge and helping them to incorporate this new knowledge into their daily practices. The program was designed to culminate in a capstone project. Capstone projects have been used in graduate education as a culmination to the learning experience. The capstone course has been found to be instrumental in helping graduate students “connect theory to practice in a meaningful and collaborative way” (Brown & Bensen, 2005, p. 679). The capstone project serves as the conclusion to our master’s degree in the same way as a traditional thesis, and it includes many of the traditional components of a thesis, such as a review of relevant literature, data collection, data analysis, and reflections on the data

PKCδ regulates force signaling during VEGF/CXCL4 induced dissociation of endothelial tubes

Wound healing requires the vasculature to re-establish itself from the severed ends; endothelial cells within capillaries must detach from neighboring cells before they can migrate into the nascent wound bed to initiate angiogenesis. The dissociation of these endothelial capillaries is driven partially by platelets' release of growth factors and cytokines, particularly the chemokine CXCL4/platelet factor-4 (PF4) that increases cell-cell de-adherence. As this retraction is partly mediated by increased transcellular contractility, the protein kinase c-δ/myosin light chain-2 (PKCδ/MLC-2) signaling axis becomes a candidate mechanism to drive endothelial dissociation. We hypothesize that PKCδ activation induces contractility through MLC-2 to promote dissociation of endothelial cords after exposure to platelet-released CXCL4 and VEGF. To investigate this mechanism of contractility, endothelial cells were allowed to form cords following CXCL4 addition to perpetuate cord dissociation. In this study, CXCL4-induced dissociation was reduced by a VEGFR inhibitor (sunitinib malate) and/or PKCδ inhibition. During combined CXCL4+VEGF treatment, increased contractility mediated by MLC-2 that is dependent on PKCδ regulation. As cellular force is transmitted to focal adhesions, zyxin, a focal adhesion protein that is mechano-responsive, was upregulated after PKCδ inhibition. This study suggests that growth factor regulation of PKCδ may be involved in CXCL4-mediated dissociation of endothelial cords. © 2014 Jamison et al

The socio‐genetics of a complex society: female gelada relatedness patterns mirror association patterns in a multilevel society

Multilevel societies with fission–fusion dynamics—arguably the most complex animal societies—are defined by two or more nested levels of organization. The core of these societies are modular social units that regularly fission and fuse with one another. Despite convergent evolution in disparate taxa, we know strikingly little about how such societies form and how fitness benefits operate. Understanding the kinship structure of complex societies could inform us about the origins of the social structure as well as about the potential for individuals in these societies to accrue indirect fitness benefits. Here, we combined genetic and behavioural data on geladas ( T heropithecus gelada ), an Old World Monkey, to complete the most comprehensive socio‐genetic analysis of a multilevel society to date. In geladas, individuals in the core social ‘units’, associate at different frequencies to form ‘teams’, ‘bands’ and, the largest aggregations, ‘communities’. Units were composed of closely related females, and females remained with their close kin during permanent fissions of units. Interestingly, female–female relatedness also significantly predicted between‐unit, between‐team and between‐band association patterns, while male–male relatedness did not. Thus, it is likely that the socio‐genetic structure of gelada society results from females maintaining associations with their female relatives during successive unit fissions—possibly in an attempt to balance the direct and indirect fitness benefits of group living. Overall, the persistence of associations among related females across generations appears to drive the formation of higher levels of gelada society, suggesting that females seek kin for inclusive fitness benefits at multiple levels of gelada society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110016/1/mec12987-sup-0001-TabS1-FigS1-S8.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110016/2/mec12987.pd

Who teaches writing?

Who Teaches Writing is an open teaching and learning resource being used in English Composition classes at Oklahoma State University. It was authored by contributors from Oklahoma State University and also includes invited chapters from other institutions both inside and outside of Oklahoma. Contributors include faculty from various departments, contingent faculty and staff, and graduate instructors. One purpose of the resource is to provide short, relatively jargon-free chapters geared toward undergraduate students taking First-Year Composition. Support for this project was provided in part by OpenOKState and Oklahoma State University Libraries.OpenOKStateOklahoma State University LibrariesLibraryEnglis

Toward High Performance Computing Education

High Performance Computing (HPC) is the ability to process data and perform complex calculations at extremely high speeds. Current HPC platforms can achieve calculations on the order of quadrillions of calculations per second with quintillions on the horizon. The past three decades witnessed a vast increase in the use of HPC across different scientific, engineering and business communities, for example, sequencing the genome, predicting climate changes, designing modern aerodynamics, or establishing customer preferences. Although HPC has been well incorporated into science curricula such as bioinformatics, the same cannot be said for most computing programs. This working group will explore how HPC can make inroads into computer science education, from the undergraduate to postgraduate levels. The group will address research questions designed to investigate topics such as identifying and handling barriers that inhibit the adoption of HPC in educational environments, how to incorporate HPC into various curricula, and how HPC can be leveraged to enhance applied critical thinking and problem solving skills. Four deliverables include: (1) a catalog of core HPC educational concepts, (2) HPC curricula for contemporary computing needs, such as in artificial intelligence, cyberanalytics, data science and engineering, or internet of things, (3) possible infrastructures for implementing HPC coursework, and (4) HPC-related feedback to the CC2020 project

Faculty Pressures and Professional Self-Esteem: Life in Texas Teacher Education

Studies of the beliefs of teacher educators record high levels of professional self-esteem, but also document the perceived lack of professional regard from colleagues in other areas, informing and redirecting our professional needs assessment. The literature documents that a general disregard for teacher educators as professionals has become a part of the academic culture at many institutions of higher learning in the US. With all of the external pressures on teacher educators, from governmental and accrediting agencies, the public, and professional organizations, perhaps we should address the attitudes of our academic colleagues as one area in which faculty pressures might be lightened

Development of highly sensitive, flexible dual L-glutamate and GABA microsensors for in vivo brain sensing

Real-time tracking of neurotransmitter levels in vivo has been technically challenging due to the low spatiotemporal resolution of current methods. Since the imbalance of cortical excitation/inhibition (E:I) ratios are associated with a variety of neurological disorders, accurate monitoring of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter levels is crucial for investigating the underlying neural mechanisms of these conditions. Specifically, levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter L-glutamate, and the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, are assumed to play critical roles in the E:I balance. Therefore, in this work, a flexible electrochemical microsensor is developed for real-time simultaneous detection of L-glutamate and GABA. The flexible polyimide substrate was used for easier handling during implantation and measurement, along with less brain damage. Further, by electrochemically depositing Pt-black nanostructures on the sensor's surface, the active surface area was enhanced for higher sensitivity. This dual neurotransmitter sensor probe was validated under various settings for its performance, including in vitro, ex vivo tests with glutamatergic neuronal cells and in vivo test with anesthetized rats. Additionally, the sensor's performance has been further investigated in terms of longevity and biocompatibility. Overall, our dual L-glutamate:GABA sensor microprobe has its unique features to enable accurate, real-time, and long-term monitoring of the E:I balance in vivo. Thus, this new tool should aid investigations of neural mechanisms of normal brain function and various neurological disorders