The Costs and Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing, Student Recruitment and Retention Services in an Online RN-to-BSN Program

ABSTRACT In 2010, the Institute of Medicine advised that by 2020, 80% of working nurses should have at minimum a baccalaureate degree. Across the country, the profession will fall short of that goal. In New Mexico, the numbers of associate degree nurses and baccalaureate degree nurses are nearly equal. As the flagship university for the state, the University of New Mexico has offered a program for baccalaureate degree completion for registered nurses for over 55 years. Wishing to fulfill the IOM mandate, the University of New Mexico, College of Nursing desires to grow its RN-to-BSN program by expanding its marketing, recruitment and retention potential. Consequently, the College is faced with two options for marketing the online degree completion program and retaining students through graduation: outsource the marketing, recruitment and retention of students or perform the same services with in-house staff. Using the COBRAM© calculator, this project analyzes and compares the costs and benefits of in-house management with outsourcing those services to determine the value of a public-private partnership for online academic program management

Pollinator Sharing Between Mimulus ringens and Coflowering Plant Species in Northeastern Ohio

Competition between plants for pollinators can have serious impacts on plant reproduction; these impacts depend on many factors, such as plant abundance, plant diversity, floral abundance, pollinator abundance, and pollinator preference. The way pollinators move among and between coflowering species can tell us more about how these factors affect competition. In this study, we examine the movement patterns of flower visitors to Mimulus ringens and coflowering species in Northeastern Ohio through several types of observations. In addition, we measured the density and diversity of floral units with 20-30 meter transects across each study site. There were six total study sites, including one site where we collected data six times across a one month period. Our results show that Bombus impatiens, our most commonly observed pollinator, was the species most likely to make inter-species movements between flowers and that in total, pollinators make movements between separate species about 6% of the time. We observed a wide range of specializations, with several species of pollinators showing a tendency to visit one species of flower over the others. Lastly, the types of quantity and type of flowers at each site affected availability and pollinator preference differed at each site accordingly

Towards A Rhetoric of Architecture: A Framework for Understanding Cities

In order to articulate meaning in cities and architecture, I propose a framework of enacted architecture that considers the built environment in everyday spatial practices. Building on Henri Lefebvre's work, we know architecture in terms of conceptual space, perceived space, and lived-in space, which supplies multiple levels of meaning. As we use a city, we enact spatial narratives, myths, and metaphors that weave our lives and experiences into a place. Through spatial practices, we gain a sense of identity, a sense of power, and a sense of publicness, which are analyzed in three extended examples: the new town of Seaside, Florida, the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site at Ground Zero, and the National Mall in Washington D.C., respectively. While a city reflects society as a deeply cultivated symbol system, we are constituted by and reciprocally shape the city and architecture

Environmental Mental Models of College Students

Primary and secondary students in the United States are provided environmental education in their curricula due in part to national legislation, but higher education, for many U.S. citizens, is the last opportunity to educate young adults about the environment and humans’ role in it in a formalized setting. Pre-college education and other life experiences or ways of learning can shape a student’s mental model of the environment. While some previous research has focused on understanding environmental mental models of primary and secondary students, only one study to date has evaluated models of college students. Further, no study has evaluated potential shifts in mental models because of taking a course or what specific factors shape these models prior to college. The objectives of this study were to assess environmental models of college students and determine whether a course on “Environmental Conservation” reinforces or influences students’ mental models by the end of the course. We compared environmental metal models at the start and end of our course using the Environments Task tool. Students were asked to provide pictorial and written descriptions of their mental models at both time periods. Additionally, photographs were used to explore student beliefs on environmental representations and questions were used to assess sources of prior environmental knowledge of students at the start of the semester. Results show that pictorial and written mental models differed from one another at the beginning as well as the end of the semester. More students identified humans as a part of the environment in their pictures by the end of the semester compared to the beginning, but no such shifts were noted in the written description. Students identified secondary school courses, life experiences such as growing up on a farm or ranch or hunting and fishing, and their family members as their primary sources of environmental information prior to taking the course. In total, these results indicate that mental models remain underdeveloped after this specific 16-week course and that these models may be more fixed by earlier educational experiences than previously believed. Recommendations for future environmental education are also provided

Gape:Body Size Relationship for Smallmouth Bass

The types and sizes of prey fishes consumed by predatory fish often are limited by gape dimensions of the predator (Slaughter and Jacobson 2008). In general, the size of prey consumed is positively related to predator size when prey are available across a wide range of sizes (Werner and Hall 1974). Opportunistic predators with large gape dimensions, such as smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), may consume a wide range of prey types and sizes, thereby exerting top-down influences on prey population dynamics and potentially restructuring aquatic communities (e.g., Werner and Hall 1974, Jackson 2002). Although feeding ecology of smallmouth bass varies with location and prey availability, they typically undergo several ontogenetic diet shifts throughout their development. After yolk sac depletion and as smallmouth bass increase in size from larvae to juveniles (~50 mm total length; TL), targeted prey typically proceeds from microcrustaceans (e.g., copepods) to larger zooplankters (e.g., cladocerans) to macroinvertebrates (e.g., ephemeropterans; Brown et al. 2009). Opportunistic feeding behaviors become more apparent during the juvenile stage (TL \u3e 50 mm) when smallmouth bass begin to consume readily available aquatic macroinvertebrates and prey fishes (Clady 1974, Easton and Orth 1992). Studies evaluating adult feeding ecology highlight the importance of crayfish (Gangl et al. 1997, Liao et al. 2002, Bacula 2009) but also reveal the piscivorous nature of smallmouth bass in some locations (e.g., Jackson 2002, Liao et al. 2002, Bacula 2009, Wuellner et al. 2010)

Channel Catfish Diets Include Substantial Vegetation in a Missouri River Reservoir

Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are native to Lake Sharpe, a Missouri River mainstem reservoir, and are common in angler catches. Channel catfish growth has declined since the formation of the reservoir in 1963. Mean lengths at time of capture for channel catfish ages 9, 10, II, and 12 have decreased by 69, 55, 115, and 21S mm, respectively, since impoundment. The objective of this study was to document monthly food habits of channel catfish throughout the growing season (May-August) in Lake Sharpe to assess potential effects of diet on growth. Although channel catfish consumed both macro invertebrates and fishes as expected, they also consumed large quantities of submergent aquatic vegetation. Consumed vegetation contributed 3S-73% of the diet by weight over 2 channel catfish length groups «2S0 mm and ~2S0 mm total length) during the 4 months sampled. Consumption of substantial amounts of vegetation should be considered a suboptimal diet for channel catfish growth. Consequently, diets of channel catfish in Lake Sharpe could be a factor contributing to the observed slow growth of older catfish in this population

Depth and Littoral Habitat Association of Age-0 Yellow Perch in Two South Dakota Glacial Lakes

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) are a recreationally important species and represent a key ecological component of glacial lake littoral fish assemblages (Stone 1996, Blackwell et al. 1999). Research has shown a generalized pattern of juvenile (age-0) yellow perch spatial distribution wherein larvae hatch in near-shore areas, migrate to limnetic areas where they remain for approximately 40 d, and then return to demersal behaviors and within near-shore littoral habitats (Noble 1975, Whiteside et al. 1985). However, anomalous distribution and habitat use by age-0 yellow perch has been observed in South Dakota glacial lakes (Fisher and Willis 1997) and the spatial distribution and habitat association of post-larval (\u3e25 mm) age-0 perch is largely unverified in northern Great Plains glacial lakes. Herein, we report the depth distribution and near-shore (0–2 m depth) habitat association of post-larval, age-0 yellow perch (hereafter referred to as age-0 yellow perch) in two northeastern South Dakota glacial lakes

You Can’t Teach Wildlife and Fisheries Online, Can You? A Comparison of Student Learning and Satisfaction in Two Online and Face-to-Face Courses

Criticisms of online science courses are rooted in the lack to of hands-on learning experiences only available in the face-to-face (f2f) environment. Very few studies have compared student learning outcomes (e.g., assignment, exam, and final grades; level of learning achieved) and student satisfaction between online and f2f courses in the science curriculum, and none of these studies has been done for applied natural resources courses. We are currently conducting a quasi-experiment to compare student learning outcomes and satisfaction for online and f2f versions of two introductory wildlife and fisheries sciences course at South Dakota State University (WL 220: Introduction to Wildlife and Fisheries and WL 230: Wildlife and Fisheries Techniques). To date, we have documented demographic differences between online and face-to-face students in the two courses. Online students tend to be older, have full-time employment, be more experienced in the online environment, and identify themselves more as visual learners than f2f students. Some differences in learning outcomes have been associated with time spent in learning activities within each environment. In the online WL 230 course, the average time spent per week on course tasks was positively associated with overall course grade and individual scores received on assignments related to applying, analyzing, and evaluating information. Time spent outside of class was negatively related to overall course grade in the f2f environment, but class attendance was positively related to course grade and scores on individual assignments that emphasized applying, analyzing, and evaluating information. Insights gleaned from this study may be used to improve and expand online applied natural resources courses. Expansion of these courses may be vital as applied natural resources curricula have been lost nationwide, but these types of knowledge are still very much in demand

Student and Instructor Perceptions of Online Teaching Related to COVID-19: The Need for Reflective Practices

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here. Although online learning has been in existence for over 20 years, not all instructors have been trained to teach online or had the desire to teach online. The recent COVID-19 pandemic quickly changed typical face-to-face instruction and disrupted the current educational system by requiring all college courses be delivered online, either asynchronous or synchronous using various software platforms. This paper investigated both instructors’ and students’ perceptions of faculty online teaching preparedness as well as their thoughts related to various technological resources and issues that arose during this time period. Results indicated fairly high satisfaction rates of faculty’s thoughts on preparedness and access to technological resources and tools. Students were fairly satisfied with the transition to online teaching and learning using quantitative measures; however, qualitative comments indicated otherwise. The need to use more reflective and metacognitive strategies to better online pedagogy as well as communicate more with students through a virtual environment was discovered