Nursing students' perception of post-simulation debriefing.

A research study entitled "Nursing Students' Perception of Post-Simulation Debriefing" was conducted at a mid-sized baccalaureate nursing program in the central United States. The survey tool used for this research study, the Debriefing Experience Scale (DES), was developed by Shelly J. Reed (2011). A comprehensive literature review revealed studies were conducted regarding students' and nursing instructors' experience with simulation, but a knowledge gap existed in regards to nursing students' experience with the debriefing phase of simulation. This was a quantitative, descriptive study, with a sample consisting of 46 nursing students. The mean scores indicated all of the students had a positive debriefing experience. The results indicated debriefing enhanced the students' learning and helped them make connections to theory. Results also showed learning was a high priority to all of the students

Who wants to be able to do reference properly and be unemployed? STEM student writing and employer needs

The issue of graduate writing is one that has attracted much focus and debate in higher education, particularly around maintaining ‘academic standards’ at a time of expansion in this sector. The need to develop academic skills, including writing, for higher education study has increasingly been linked to the skills that graduates need to gain employment (Davies et al., 2006). This raises the question of whether the type and purpose of writing within university programmes is different to, and possibly in tension with, writing required for employment after university. This is a point raised by recent research (Day, 2011) which shows that students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) subjects are more confident with oral rather than writing skills. The material discussed in this article is part of a two-year mixed method study looking at literacies, including writing, which undergraduate students develop at university, and the relationship of these literacies to employability. This article focuses on six first-year STEM students studying Forensic Science and Computing Science within the larger study. The qualitative data, gathered through repeat interviews, is discussed in relation to a small sample of employers and alumni working in science-based industries describing writing for transition into work and for on-going employment. The project therefore provides a useful Appleby et al. Who wants to be able to do references properly and be unemployed? student insight into writing, comparing this with employer expectations and the experience of alumni who have made the transition into work. What emerges from our study is the need to see writing at university as part of a wider communicative repertoire supported by a social and cultural approach to situated writing. This approach is more than simply skills based and is one that encourages and develops social as well as academic learning. We argue that such an approach, added to by technical skills support, enables greater engagement and success with learning in addition to enhancing employability

Fuelling the economy : a critical review of liquid fuels regulation in South Africa

This article reviews the regulation of liquid fuels in South Africa over the past decade. We first briefly assess the regulatory regime and how the regulatory functions have been carried out. We then consider the influence of security of supply concerns on regulation and highlight that it has favoured local refining interests rather simply ensuring supply to local fuel customers. The record of price regulation at different levels from refinery to retail is assessed, revealing the margins which had been allowed through the way in which the import parity price calculation had been done, which set prices that were higher than actual import prices would have been. The article further highlights how regulation has failed to take into account the special position of Sasol, notwithstanding the recommendations of the Windfall Tax Task Team and the reasons why the recommendations were not adopted by National Treasury based on expectations of investment. The case of natural gas provides a contrast, being subject to a recent regulatory framework, and we consider whether learnings from regulation in other parts of the value chain have been used in setting out new regulations

An Investigation of the Impact of Research-led Education on Student Learning and Understandings of Research.

This study investigated the impact of two approaches to research-led education on students’ learning and their understandings of research in the context of two university courses in international business involving third year undergraduate and graduate students. One approach involved the lecturer using his research as the basis for a case-study assignment involving an intercultural business negotiation. In the second approach students conducted a research project in which they reviewed the academic literature to identify practical implications for business and theoretical gaps as the basis for future research. A questionnaire was used to explore students’ perceptions of the impacts on their learning and understandings of research. Students’ understandings of research were most informed by the research based learning project which was presented to them as an experience of doing research. Students valued the lecturer using his research in the course because of his enthusiasm and his expertise and mentoring in doing research. However many students developed only limited understandings of research in the subject area, despite their direct experience of the lecturers’ research. The implications for the design of research-led education approaches are explored

Engineering an improved adenovirus packaging cell line

Recombinant human adenovirus (Ad) vectors are being extensively explored for their use in gene therapy and recombinant vaccines. Ad vectors are attractive for many reasons, including the fact that (1) they are relatively safe, based on their use as live oral vaccines, (2) they can accept large transgene inserts, (3) they can infect dividing and postmitotic cells, and (4) they can be produced to high titers. However, there are also a number of major problems associated with Ad vectors, including transient foreign gene expression due to host cellular immune responses, problems with humoral immunity, and the creation of replication competent adenoviruses (RCA). Most Ad vectors contain deletions in the E1 region that allow for insertion of a transgene. However, the E1 gene products are required for replication and thus must be supplied in trans by a helper ceillille that will allow for the growth and packaging of the defective virus. For this purpose the 293 cell line (Graham et al., 1977) is used most often; however, homologous recombination between the vector and the cell line often results in the generation of RCA. The presence of RCA in batches of adenoviral vectors for clinical use is a safety risk because tlley . may result in the mobilization and spread of the replication-defective vector viruses, and in significant tissue damage and pathogenicity. The present research focused on the alteration of the 293 cell line such that RCA formation can be eliminated. The strategy to modify the 293 cells involved the removal of the first 380 bp of the adenovirus genome through the process of homologous recombination. The first step towards this goal involved identifying and cloning the left-end cellular-viral jUl1ction from 293 cells to assemble sequences required for homologous recombination. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to clone the junction, and the clone was verified through sequencing. The plasn1id PAM2 was then constructed, which served as the targeting cassette used to modify the 293 cells. The cassette consisted of (1) the cellular-viral junction as the left-end region of homology, (2) the neo gene to use for positive selection upon tranfection into 293 cells, (3) the adenoviral genome from bp 380 to bp 3438 as the right-end region of homology, and (4) the HSV-tk gene to use for negative selection. The plasmid PAM2 was linearized to produce a double strand break outside the region of homology, and transfected into 293 cells using the calcium-phosphate technique. Cells were first selected for their resistance to the drug G418, and subsequently for their resistance to the drug Gancyclovir (GANC). From 17 transfections, 100 pools of G418f and GANCf cells were picked using cloning lings and expanded for screening. Genomic DNA was isolated from the pools and screened for the presence of the 380 bps using PCR. Ten of the most promising pools were diluted to single cells and expanded in order to isolate homogeneous cell lines. From these, an additional 100 G41Sf and GANef foci were screened. These preliminary screening results appear promising for the detection of the desired cell line. Future work would include further cloning and purification of the promising cell lines that have potentially undergone homologous recombination, in order to isolate a homogeneous cell line of interest

Curriculum decision making in a research university: an interplay between ideologies and influences

This empirical study addresses the need to better understand how academics design undergraduate curricula and the influences that shape their decisions. The study draws on literatures from the perspectives of curriculum and the teaching-research nexus to identify a framework for investigating curriculum decisions that comprises all potential influences in the higher education context, including research. Interviews were held with 20 academics from a range of disciplines who were working at a research university and were both research active and committed to teaching. These participants were selected to represent a group who experienced the dynamics between research and teaching in their curriculum practice. The process of higher education curriculum decision making was found to be an iterative web, with multiple starting points and pathways. The common starting points, in order of frequency, were course content, learning outcomes, and teaching and learning activities. The findings suggest that there is no one best pathway for curriculum design, because the iterative process means that decisions are progressively revisited and refined. Beginning from learning outcomes is helpful for providing a framework for thinking about other curriculum decisions; however a focus on teaching and learning experiences leads to more innovative curriculum approaches. There is widespread awareness that students need to be engaged, and that active learning approaches enhance student learning. Good practices that were less common were using marking criteria to guide students in assessment tasks, and evaluating learning effectiveness. Participants’ beliefs about educational purposes were found to the most important influence shaping their curriculum decisions. Five curriculum orientations were identified that aligned with the following beliefs about educational purposes: (1) inducting students into a discipline, (2) preparing students’ for professional and academic pathways, (3) making learning personally relevant to students, (4) engaging students with social issues and reform, and (5) designing a system for learning. The explicit inclusion of research in this study enabled the identification of the ‘professional and academic curriculum orientation’, which is distinctive from other curriculum studies. In this orientation, research provided a bridge between professional and academic educational purposes for preparing students for professional practice, for future research and for academic learning. Patterns of beliefs suggest that curriculum orientations are informed by participants’ disciplinary knowledge practices, however they also express agency informed by educational ideologies. Engagement with educational professional development was found to develop pedagogical expertise that could lead to transformative curriculum change. Most participants did not explicitly identify influences from the socio-political context as having an impact on their curricula decisions. However they demonstrated that they were responding to changing expectations for including employability skills in curricula, and about teaching and learning. Participants’ curriculum orientations were found to shape their responses to change. This study suggests implications for educational change initiatives and for educational professional development. Academics were found to be responsive to changing their curriculum and teaching practices when they perceive the change to enhance the achievement of their educational purposes, to be aligned with their disciplinary knowledge practices, and to provide benefits that include institutional recognition and reward

Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) indicates limited scientific thinking gains as a result of science and mathematics general education

A number of instruments designed to measure scientific literacy exist, but none has been used to assess improvements in undergraduates’ scientific thinking over their college career. This study utilized the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) in a longitudinal fashion to measure scientific thinking gains of over 800 students from matriculation to graduation at a small liberal arts college. We found the TOSLS to be a useful assessment instrument. Our results indicated rather small benefits of science general education overall, though there were larger improvements for some demographic groups (i.e., women, first-generation college students). STEM majors showed much greater development in their scientific thinking skills than non-STEM majors, although they started at a more advanced level. Suggestions are made to rethink STEM general education, either in terms of content or with regard to pedagogy, in order to improve future citizens’ ability to deal with the scientific challenges society faces