Community college success: a multi-site program evaluation of postsecondary career and technical education

Postsecondary career and technical institutions are required to follow a set list of performance indicators in order to receive federal Carl Perkins funding (Perkins IV Accountability, 2009). Within those indicators includes measuring technical skills attainment, which the state of Mississippi chooses to utilize program-specific standardized assessments known as the MS- CPAS2 assessment. The purpose of this multi-site program evaluation was to determine which programs are meeting the assessment passing requirements and to determine how they are achieving success. The rationale for this study was to evaluate the components inherent in successful programs in order to aid other programs who may not be performing as well in the assessment reach the minimum requirements in order to secure federal funding. Qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized for both raw data provided by the RCU and survey data collected by the researcher from the faculty and administrator participants of the selected programs. Results of this study indicated components of successful programs, perceptions of the assessment by the participants, and student factors that influence the assessment scores. Components included small class sizes, having necessary equipment, program-specific software, computers, providing a well-rounded instructional environment, aligning materials with curriculum, the use of hands-on activities, participation in clubs/organizations, and integrating program-specific certifications. Perceptions included a need for instructor participation in the update process of the MS-CPAS2 assessment, student accountability by offering student preparatory courses, and student recognition for outstanding scores. Student factors that affected assessment scores included ethnicity and student rating. Recommendations were made by the researcher from the results of the analysis that included multiple program improvement plans that can be utilized as a how-to guide by faculty and administrators, and assessment improvement plans for the RCU as provided by the participants’ responses from the survey data

Professional Blend XII

Artist Statement My name is Miranda Tynes and I am a multiple medium artist. I have enjoyed painting, ceramics, and woodworking so far. These disciplines are very different from each other, but it is nice to work a different part of the brain, eye, or hands to create in these different mediums. With painting I work my brain and eyes for color and composition, with ceramics my hands and eyes for form and movement, and with woodworking my brain and hands for the process, physical work and attention to detail. I also like experimenting with adding separate materials to each process. Some contemporary artists who inspire me include Jessica Stoller, Malcolm Smith, and Angela Wang . As for Stoller, we do not share visuals, but I do share concepts with her and the way she speaks about feminist issues in her interviews really hits home. As for Smith, I am inspired by the movement and combination of line and curve in Smith’s works, and how he can tell a really important story. As for Wang, she is an illustrator whose religious imagery inspires me greatly, and the delicate, yet intricate, detail is beautiful and something I wish to add to my work. While I wish for my work to be beautiful, I also use my work as a way to express things that I would usually have difficulty expressing to people verbally. My work is a form of expression and communication about my views. Outside of the art world, I have always been a very spiritual person, have loved learning about religions, and been fascinated by divine beings. Other influences can be seen in the loose representations of florals in the Art Nouveau period, the intricate delicate beauty of the Victorian period, the rich heaviness of the design of many old cathedrals, the vague slightly mysterious and strange beauty of cubism, and the absurdity hidden in surrealism. These things may not all seem to connect immediately, but I like that they all have some sort of fascinating aspect. They all have that thing about them that just makes you have to keep looking, and keep exploring it, and it stays with you. You never forget it because it has touched your soul in some way. I have so many influences from a time when people could devote their entire lives to creating beautiful works. They had a way to make things intricate with ethereal beauty and did their best to perfect each piece. I hope someday I will be able to do the same, I hope to create something intensely beautiful, so wonderful it can surprise the viewer and they forget the world around them and are fascinated by something\u27s beauty even if for only a few moments of their life. I hope to bring a few moments of wonder to someone, and make a memory they will cherish, and can remember as one of the reasons to keep going. This world is very hard to live in, so I hope to one day have at least one work that, like the many great artists of the past, can bring someone peaceful wonder for a few moments, and let them remember there are some things that make life worth living.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art399/1145/thumbnail.jp

The Diffusion of Telehealth: System-Level Conditions for Successful Adoption

Telehealth is a promising advancement in health care, though there are certain conditions under which telehealth has a greater chance of success. This research sought to further the understanding of what conditions compel the success of telehealth adoption at the systems level applying Diffusion of Innovations (DoI) theory. System-level indicators were selected to represent four components of DoI theory (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, and observability) and regressed on 5 types of Telehealth (Teleradiology, Teledermatology, Telepathology, Telepsychology, and Remote Monitoring) using multiple logistic regression. Analyses included data from 84 states leveraging data from the World Health Organization, World Bank, ICT Index, and HDI Index. The analyses supported relative advantage and compatibility as the strongest influencers of telehealth adoption. These findings help to quantitatively clarify the factors influencing the adoption of innovation and advance the ability to make recommendations on the viability of state telehealth adoption. In addition, results indicate when DoI theory is most applicable to the understanding of telehealth diffusion. Ultimately, this research may contribute to more focused allocation of scarce health care resources through consideration of existing state conditions available to foster innovation

The Essence of Introspection: Miranda Tynes

Artist Statement My name is Miranda Tynes and I am a multiple medium artist. I have enjoyed painting, ceramics, and woodworking so far. These disciplines are very different from each other, but it is nice to work a different part of the brain, eye, or hands to create in these different mediums. With painting I work my brain and eyes for color and composition, with ceramics my hands and eyes for form and movement, and with woodworking my brain and hands for the process, physical work and attention to detail. I also like experimenting with adding separate materials to each process. Some contemporary artists who inspire me include Jessica Stoller, Malcolm Smith, and Angela Wang . As for Stoller, we do not share visuals, but I do share concepts with her and the way she speaks about feminist issues in her interviews really hits home. As for Smith, I am inspired by the movement and combination of line and curve in Smith’s works, and how he can tell a really important story. As for Wang, she is an illustrator whose religious imagery inspires me greatly, and the delicate, yet intricate, detail is beautiful and something I wish to add to my work. While I wish for my work to be beautiful, I also use my work as a way to express things that I would usually have difficulty expressing to people verbally. My work is a form of expression and communication about my views. This show is about issues revolving around femininity, self love in spite of the world and doing what is right for you, gender expectations, and how it feels to be pressured by them. On the other hand, the show is also about the gruesome nature of menstruation and playing on the topic of women being “mean” or “angry” when menstruating, but also taking that emotion and turning it around into vengeance for women who have experienced abuse. Outside of the art world, I have always been a very spiritual person, have loved learning about religions, and been fascinated by divine beings. Other influences can be seen in the loose representations of florals in the Art Nouveau period, the intricate delicate beauty of the Victorian period, the rich heaviness of the design of many old cathedrals, the vague slightly mysterious and strange beauty of cubism, and the absurdity hidden in surrealism. These things may not all seem to connect immediately, but I like that they all have some sort of fascinating aspect. They all have that thing about them that just makes you have to keep looking, and keep exploring it, and it stays with you. You never forget it because it has touched your soul in some way. I have so many influences from a time when people could devote their entire lives to creating beautiful works. They had a way to make things intricate with ethereal beauty and did their best to perfect each piece. I hope someday I will be able to do the same, I hope to create something intensely beautiful, so wonderful it can surprise the viewer and they forget the world around them and are fascinated by something\u27s beauty even if for only a few moments of their life. I hope to bring a few moments of wonder to someone, and make a memory they will cherish, and can remember as one of the reasons to keep going. This world is very hard to live in, so I hope to one day have at least one work that, like the many great artists of the past, can bring someone peaceful wonder for a few moments, and let them remember there are some things that make life worth living.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/1075/thumbnail.jp

The Effect of Exercise on Mechanical Pressure Pain Threshold in the Presence and Absence of Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness

Research has shown decreased pain sensitivity (hypoalgesia) during and following maximal and sub-maximal isometric exercise (Koltyn, 2002). Research on fibromyalgia patients however has shown the same exercises increase pain sensitivity (hyperalgesia) (Staud, Robinson, & Price, 2005; Kosek, Ekholm, & Hansson, 1996). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of exercise on pressure pain thresholds (PPT) in the presence and absence of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) within the ipsilateral (contracting) and contralateral quadriceps muscle and plurisegmental finger. Data were collected using twenty-five male participants (aged 18-29) over five testing days: two days of familiarization, one day of baseline (no DOMS) testing, one day of eccentric exercise to induce DOMS, and one day of testing in the presence of DOMS. Testing consisted of participants holding 25% of maximum voluntary contraction strength (MVC) till fatigue, defined as a drop in force of 25%. Pressure pain threshold was taken in each thigh every 30 seconds during exercise, 2-minutes post, and 15-minutes post exercise, as well as before and after exercise in the right index finger. Eccentric exercise was used to induce DOMS with subsequent repeated measures testing performed 48 hours later. Pressure pain threshold increased in both the ipsilateral and contralateral thigh during exercise for both conditions. Pressure pain threshold after exercise remained elevated only in the ipsilateral thigh, while the contralateral thigh returned to baseline. It is concluded that sub-maximal isometric exercise to fatigue in the presence and absence of DOMS increases pressure pain threshold in the ipsilateral thigh and contralateral thigh during exercise, however increases only remain elevated after exercise within the ipsilateral thigh

Trick Rider

Trick Rider is a book-length poem in four sections, which uses characteristics of the epic and gothic, as well as strategies of chance operations, to explore the compositional process in relation to time, how time is experienced during the writing process and is communicated through the text as an object and through the process of reading. The polyphonic speaker of Trick Rider is a stunt double and experiences doubling, being both representative of and an outsider to the community she channels; this tension is simultaneously cause and effect of the text

Supervisors\u27 Perceptions of Staff Development Needs of Urban Vocational Teachers

The purpose of this study was to determine vocational supervisors\u27 perceptions of staff development needs of urban vocational teachers. The population for this study consisted of the vocational education supervisors in the urban areas of Virginia with a population of 50,000 or more. The Delphi technique was employed to gather the data from the supervisors. The first research goal of this study was to determine the most pressing staff development need of urban vocational teachers as perceived by their supervisors. The results showed that the supervisors perceived the most pressing staff development need to be Projection of a positive image of vocational education programs; promotion of programs. This need received a mean score of 4.63 out of a possible five points. The second research goal of this study was to determine additional staff development needs of urban vocational teachers as perceived by their supervisors. Marketing vocational programs to students, parents, the community, and school administrators; improving the image of vocational classes and teachers received the highest group mean score among additional staff development needs. The data indicated that the supervisors perceived improving the image of vocational education to be an important staff development need in that it was the most pressing staff development need as well as the need with the highest mean score among additional staff development needs. Clearly, this was an important finding. The third research goal of this study was to determine how the supervisors believed their perceptions would differ from those of the teachers they supervise. In every instance, more of the supervisors agreed than disagreed that their teachers would believe each of the statements was a staff development need. This was an important aspect of the study since it revealed how the supervisors believed their perceptions would differ from those of the teachers they supervise. These findings should be helpful to urban school systems in Virginia contemplating staff development activities for their vocational teachers. They would be beneficial in determining the content to be covered. The Department of Education should also find this information useful in planning staff development activities for urban vocational teachers