The Challenge of Providing High-Quality Feedback Online: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement in an Online Course for Adult Learners

Scholars of online learning have acknowledged the additional challenges an online format poses to relationship building and providing effective feedback. This article describes the authors’ experiences providing feedback to adult learners in an online educational leadership course, the challenges they encountered in providing this feedback in a timeframe and manner to which students were receptive, and their research into how to build a culture of continuous improvement in an online course for adult learners. The authors conclude that effective online feedback occurs when course projects are sequenced to provide opportunities for students to receive and engage with feedback formatively, when instructors set clear expectations about feedback timelines, and when instructors take advantage of the variety of feedback mechanisms online environments can provide, including peer and instructor feedback, as well as self-reflection

How State Education Agencies Can Support College and Career Ready Standards

As states continue to implement college and career ready standards, state education agencies (SEAs) are providing professional development and curricular resources to help districts and teachers understand the standards. Because all states have adopted college and career ready standards, and most states continue to implement some version of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), many SEAs can now share resources with each other and draw on materials from the numerous organizations providing CCSS resources. However, little is known about the resources SEAs endorse, the states and/or organizations sponsoring these resources, and how states and organizations are connected. For example, SEAs may provide resources created within the state, or by other SEAs, literacy organizations, CCSS organizations, or some combination of these approaches. Understanding the landscape of possible approaches to supporting state standards allows SEAs to make intentional choices about how to best select and disseminate resources to districts and teachers

Group F: Cell Phone Forearm Holder

Design a forearm device that stores cell phones while traveling and provides an easy access apparatus for one handed use on the go. A compression sleeve will be the main feature as it will be the way in which our device will stay on the users arm. An adjustable apparatus that securely holsters the cellphone will be another feature so that our device will be viable for cellphones of varying dimensions. A swivel apparatus that will allow users to select horizontal or vertical viewing of the cellphone while connected to our device. A track system that allows for the movement of the cellphone from different positions on our device

Genetic risk factors for the development of allergic disease identified by genome-wide association

An increasing proportion of the worldwide population is affected by allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis (AR), atopic dermatitis (AD) and allergic asthma and improved treatment options are needed particularly for severe, refractory disease. Allergic diseases are complex and development involves both environmental and genetic factors. Although the existence of a genetic component for allergy was first described almost 100 years ago, progress in gene identification has been hindered by lack of high throughput technologies to investigate genetic variation in large numbers of subjects. The development of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), a hypothesis-free method of interrogating large numbers of common variants spanning the entire genome in disease and non-disease subjects has revolutionised our understanding of the genetics of allergic disease. Susceptibility genes for asthma, AR and AD have now been identified with confidence, suggesting there are common and distinct genetic loci associated with these diseases, providing novel insights into potential disease pathways and mechanisms. Genes involved in both adaptive and innate immune mechanisms have been identified, notably including multiple genes involved in epithelial function/secretion, suggesting that the airway epithelium may be particularly important in asthma. Interestingly, concordance/discordance between the genetic factors driving allergic traits such as IgE levels and disease states such as asthma have further supported the accumulating evidence for heterogeneity in these diseases. While GWAS have been useful and continue to identify novel genes for allergic diseases through increased sample sizes and phenotype refinement, future approaches will integrate analyses of rare variants, epigenetic mechanisms and eQTL approaches, leading to greater insight into the genetic basis of these diseases. Gene identification will improve our understanding of disease mechanisms and generate potential therapeutic opportunities

Explainable persuasion for interactive design: The case of online gambling.

Persuasive technology refers to digital means that influence attitude behaviour, and decisions. While the professional design of persuasive interfaces considers user interests and freedom of choice a primary requirement, principles and methods to achieve it are yet to be introduced. In the design of persuasive interfaces, fulfilling conditions of informed consent can help establish transparency and address such ethical issues. This paper defined explainable persuasion, its potential form, and benefits and explored whether explainable persuasion is a user requirement on demand. This paper further examined explainable persuasion design from the user’s perspective and reported on acceptance and rejection factors, as well as possible design tensions and solutions. In this study, we took online gambling as a case study. A total of 250 UK-based users of gambling platforms (age range 18 – 75, 18–75, 127 female) completed our online survey based on principles of persuasion and explainability. Findings showed that players were aware of the use, persuasive intent, and potential harm of various persuasive design techniques used in online gambling platforms (e.g., the use of in-game rewards, reminders, and praise to encourage further gambling). Despite this awareness, they agreed that explainable persuasion can still help users stay in control of their online experience, increase their positive attitude towards the online system, and keep them reminded of the potential side effects of persuasive interfaces. Future research is required to enhance the design and implementation of explainable persuasion in persuasive interfaces

Defining the inflammatory signature of human lung explant tissue in the presence and absence of glucocorticoid

Background: Airway inflammation is a feature of many respiratory diseases and there is a need for newer, more effective anti-inflammatory compounds. The aim of this study was to develop an ex vivo human lung explant model which can be used to help study the mechanisms underlying inflammatory responses and which can provide a tool to aid drug discovery for inflammatory respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD. Method: Parenchymal lung tissue from 6 individual donors was dissected and cultured with two pro-inflammatory stimuli, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (1 µg/ml) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) (10 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of dexamethasone (1 µM). Inflammatory responses were assessed using Luminex analysis of tissue culture supernatants to measure levels of 21 chemokines, growth factors and cytokines. Results: A robust and reproducible inflammatory signal was detected across all donors for 12 of the analytes measured following LPS stimulation with a modest fold increase (4-fold in CCL3, CCL4, GM-CSF, IL-10, TNF-α and IL-1β. The inflammatory signal induced by IL-1β stimulation was less than that observed with LPS but resulted in elevated levels of 7 analytes (CXCL8, CCL3, CCL4, GM-CSF, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α). The inflammatory responses induced by both stimulations was supressed by dexamethasone for the majority of analytes. Conclusions: These data provide proof of concept that this ex vivo human lung explant model is responsive to inflammatory signals and could be used to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of existing and novel compounds. In addition this model could be used to help define the mechanisms and pathways involved in development of inflammatory airway disease