Classroom Approaches and Japanese College Students\u27 Intercultural Competence

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students\u27 questioning of assumptions and beliefs regarding different cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices might influence Japanese college students\u27 self-reported development of intercultural competence, and (b) to investigate whether or not the students developed their potential for intercultural competence. Mezirow\u27s transformative learning theory informed this study. Archival qualitative data were from 137 Japanese undergraduate students\u27 journals from a course with approaches designed to facilitate questioning their assumptions and beliefs. Multilevel coding was used to support thematic analysis. Archival quantitative data of students\u27 pretest and posttest scores on the Intercultural Adaptation Potential Scale (ICAPS) were too few for meaningful analysis. Limited trend interpretations of the quantitative data helped support the qualitative data findings. Key findings included students identifying the importance of opportunities to discuss conflicting cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices; several questioned their assumptions and enhanced their intercultural competence. Expanded research into the challenge of enhancing cultural competence is needed. Positive social change is possible when intercultural competence and understanding the importance of dealing with cultural conflicts in an informed manner are enhanced. Students who expand their comfort levels and understandings will gain membership into multiple societies, reflect critically on their worldviews, and be able to take positive actions during conflicts

Improving Japanese EFL Learners' Writing Performance Through Self-Regulated Strategy Development

This study examines the use and effectiveness of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD), a writing instructional model, in helping Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at the university level develop skills and strategies that will improve their writing skills and performance. A pretest and posttest rated by two raters, with SRSD instruction over a 5-week period in between for the experimental group, suggested that the participants who received the treatment could significantly improve their opinion-writing outcomes. This study suggests that instructors could assist language learners develop self-regulated strategies to improve their writing outcomes

Define Tomorrow to Set Our Course Initiative_ Request for Ideas

A request for ideas for revenue enhancements, cost reductions, program revisions, and reorganization options as part of the University of Maine\u27s Define Tomorrow initiative created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative was developed by the Define Tomorrow Steering Committee led by Faye Gilbert, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, University of Maine. Includes a screenshot of the webpage regarding the Initiative and a copy of the call for ideas letter

Designing Adaptive Instruction for Teams: a Meta-Analysis

The goal of this research was the development of a practical architecture for the computer-based tutoring of teams. This article examines the relationship of team behaviors as antecedents to successful team performance and learning during adaptive instruction guided by Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). Adaptive instruction is a training or educational experience tailored by artificially-intelligent, computer-based tutors with the goal of optimizing learner outcomes (e.g., knowledge and skill acquisition, performance, enhanced retention, accelerated learning, or transfer of skills from instructional environments to work environments). The core contribution of this research was the identification of behavioral markers associated with the antecedents of team performance and learning thus enabling the development and refinement of teamwork models in ITS architectures. Teamwork focuses on the coordination, cooperation, and communication among individuals to achieve a shared goal. For ITSs to optimally tailor team instruction, tutors must have key insights about both the team and the learners on that team. To aid the modeling of teams, we examined the literature to evaluate the relationship of teamwork behaviors (e.g., communication, cooperation, coordination, cognition, leadership/coaching, and conflict) with team outcomes (learning, performance, satisfaction, and viability) as part of a large-scale meta-analysis of the ITS, team training, and team performance literature. While ITSs have been used infrequently to instruct teams, the goal of this meta-analysis make team tutoring more ubiquitous by: identifying significant relationships between team behaviors and effective performance and learning outcomes; developing instructional guidelines for team tutoring based on these relationships; and applying these team tutoring guidelines to the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), an open source architecture for authoring, delivering, managing, and evaluating adaptive instructional tools and methods. In doing this, we have designed a domain-independent framework for the adaptive instruction of teams

Editorial: Advances in the Understanding of the Commensal Eukaryota and Viruses of the Herbivore Gut

Herbivores play an important role in the survival of humanity, contributing food and textiles, as well as social and economic value. For decades, optimizing the productivity, health, welfare, and environmental footprint of herbivorous animals, particularly ruminant livestock, has been the subject of an extensive, global research effort. Much of this research effort has focused on the herbivore gut. The specialized nature of the herbivore digestive tract and its resident microbes enables the breakdown of highly fibrous plant materials, which are unable to be utilized by omnivores and carnivores. In recent years, the bacteria and methanogenic archaea have been the major focus of research efforts, with the other gut microbes being understudied in comparison

Mind the gap: a comparative study of migratory behavior in social amoebae

Social amoebae aggregate to form a multicellular slug that migrates some distance. Most species produce a stalk during migration, but some do not. We show that Dictyostelium giganteum, a species that produces stalk during migration, is able to traverse small gaps and utilize bacterial resources following gap traversal by shedding live cells. In contrast, we found that Dictyostelium discoideum, a species that does not produce stalk during migration, can traverse gaps only when in the presence of other species’ stalks or other thin filaments. These findings suggest that production of stalk during migration allows traversal of gaps that commonly occurs in soil and leaf litter. Considering the functional consequences of a stalked migration may be important for explaining the evolutionary maintenance or loss of a stalked migration

Linking the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register to Hospital Episode Statistics: Methods and challenges

Background Linking national disease and congenital anomaly registers to other routinely collected data could provide multiple benefits. It could allow researchers to examine long-term outcomes for people with registered conditions and to explore synergies between services that are provided in different sectors, such as health and education. Linkage could also allow for the quality of diagnostic codes in electronic health records to be assessed using the national registers coverage and, conversely, for coverage of the national registers to be assessed using diagnostic codes. Objectives To demonstrate the feasibility and value of creating a linked data resource to support research on health, social and educational services and outcomes for children with Down’s Syndrome. Methods We are currently linking the National Down’s Syndrome Cytogenetic Register (NDSCR), which includes all births with Down’s syndrome from 1989 to 2014 in England and Wales, to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for England and ONS Mortality data, and to the National Pupil Database (NPD). This requires a complex sequence of new linkages: (1) linkage  of mothers to babies in HES, (2) linkage of mother-baby pairs to the NDSCR to identify a population cohort, (3) linkage of the cohort to the Personal Demographic Service to update address histories, and (4) linkage of updated cohort to NPD. Findings Establishment of this linked data resource has met with significant challenges. The main administrative challenge has been incompatible accreditation of information governance across government departments. Technical challenges have included overcoming issues with the internal linkage of contributing datasets, requiring additional linkage steps to be added, and the propagation of error and uncertainty across multiple linkages, which involves complex data structures that require novel ethods for analysis. Conclusions We hope this project will demonstrate that while the challenges to intersectoral data linkage are great, they are surmountable and the benefits outweigh the costs

Prospectus, July 20, 1989

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1989/1015/thumbnail.jp