Teaching How to Find Facts in a Post-Truth World

As the connection between expertise and authority has eroded and radical skepticism caused by the “fake news” phenomenon endangers the sense of common good, students need strategies for discerning truth to help them both achieve learning goals and re-establish trust in democratic institutions. The presenter will share a semester-long sequence of activities designed to help students do just that. Attendees will participate in a web literacy activity and discuss how the sequence might be adapted for other contexts

Father Conmee\u27s Dublin : the urban pastoral of Wandering Rocks

This paper has two theses: the first is that Jonathan Swift\u27s A Description of the Morning is a source for the Wandering Rocks chapter in Ulysses; the second is that the pastoral convention used in the poem manifests itself in Wandering Rocks through Father Conmee and reveals his inability to comprehend the problems of working-class Dublin. The introduction defines terms and methodologies used to construct the argument; two central concepts are what has historically constituted the pastoral and Louis Althusser\u27s definitions of ideology and interpellation in his essay, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. The introduction also establishes a foundation for the relationship between Swift and Joyce with support such as previous scholarship, Joyce\u27s notes in Swift\u27s biography, and thematic links between their texts. Chapter one is a close textual comparison between A Description of the Morning and Wandering Rocks. I argue that there are four effects that Joyce borrowed from the poem: a mechanic simultaneity of action; an objective rendering of detail that misleads readers; images and characters that Joyce develops into scenarios; and the repetition of particular sound effects. Evidence from both texts is offered in support of al claims and culminates in perhaps the most significant affinity between the two works: the paralysis of the city. Chapter two argues that Swift and Joyce restore the element of social protest to pastoral that had been excised in the Renaissance. For example, the incongruity between form and content in the poem makes evident that sentimentalizing the lives of poor people only dismisses real hardship. In Joyce\u27s chapter Father Conmee views the unemployment and poverty of Dublin through a pastoral perspective that renders them idyllic. Using Althusser\u27s conception of ideology and interpellation, I argue that Conmee maintains his ideologically dominant position through the interpellations of other Dubliners and Joyce\u27s text, and Dubliner’s defer to Father Conmee because he is in a position to define them

Literacies of Membership: The Nineteenth-Century Politics of Access

This project responds to the discourse of crisis in literacy and large-scale literacy assessment by demonstrating how unexamined deployments of literacy erase the complexity of literate acts. Utilizing archives of nineteenth-century student writing as well as disciplinary and institutional histories, this study recovers student writing as material social practice, foregrounding, rather than effacing, cultural contradictions at three institutional sites. Drawing on scholarship in literary, cultural, and New Literacy Studies, this project returns to the literacy crisis at nineteenth-century Harvard and asks the critical question: what were Harvard examiners reading when they were reading illiteracy? Harvard scholars A. S. Hill, Barrett Wendell, and LeBaron Russell Briggs evaluated student writing according to its literary value, identifying two key elements of style—commonplaceness and sentimentality—as indicators of subliteracy that signified dependence. The exclusionary effects of these unexamined assumptions are brought into relief by then examining, as primary texts, student compositions at Illinois Industrial University and Radcliffe College. My reading of the coursework done by two populations previously excluded from higher education, farmers and women, indicates that they appropriated local discourses and negotiated the contradictions of their own institutional sites in order to enact independent subjectivities.While literary appreciation does not currently carry the same kind of weight in assessing literacy, I find that the conflation of literacy and republican independence functions to efface the complexity of literacy and disguises what Brian Street calls ideological models of literacy as autonomous. As deeply political decisions regarding access and placement constitute so much of our work, this project suggests that all of us in English studies reevaluate how our own construction of value and our large-scale assessment practices may function to reinforce, rather than complicate, autonomous models of literacy

“Partnering to Understand Undergraduate Research and Writing Longitudinally”

In her longitudinal case study of a single undergraduate, College Writing and Beyond (2007), Anne Beaufort investigates several knowledge domains contributing to students’ development as writers. As a team of librarians and writing faculty in research and teaching partnership, we hope to build on Beaufort’s work by examining and elaborating the role of research with respect to writing development by sharing findings from our own longitudinal study of undergraduates’ development as writer-researchers. Specifically, we are interested in the ways in which undergraduates’ research interfaces with their writing practices as they advance through their general education coursework and various disciplines. How do students perceive and articulate their understanding of writing and research, respectively and/or in interaction with one another? Have students’ understandings of writing and research changed since their first year? How so? To what do students attribute their shaping influences? To what extent, for example, are students’ understanding of writing and research influenced by the faculty with whom they study? In this panel, we present findings associated with a set of student case studies based on collaboratively coded and analyzed student interviews, triangulated with student process and literacy narratives as well as faculty interviews. Findings to date concern the unexpected role of students’ work with primary data (e.g., interviews) as well as differences among students’ reading practices, understandings of source authority, and dispositions. These findings have implications for students’ research and writing as well as for how faculty and librarians might teach research, including in response to certain challenges posed by information literacy in the digital age

Test@work texts: Mobile phone messaging to increase awareness of HIV and HIV testing in UK construction employees during the COVID-19 pandemic

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: HIV poses a threat to global health. With effective treatment options available, education and testing strategies are essential in preventing transmission. Text messaging is an effective tool for health promotion and can be used to target higher risk populations. This study reports on the design, delivery and testing of a mobile text messaging SMS intervention for HIV prevention and awareness, aimed at adults in the construction industry and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Participants were recruited at Test@Work workplace health promotion events (21 sites, n = 464 employees), including health checks with HIV testing. Message development was based on a participatory design and included a focus group (n = 9) and message fidelity testing (n = 291) with assessment of intervention uptake, reach, acceptability, and engagement. Barriers to HIV testing were identified and mapped to the COM-B behavioural model. 23 one-way push SMS messages (19 included short web links) were generated and fidelity tested, then sent via automated SMS to two employee cohorts over a 10-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Engagement metrics measured were: opt-outs, SMS delivered/read, number of clicks per web link, four two-way pull messages exploring repeat HIV testing, learning new information, perceived usefulness and behaviour change. Results: 291 people participated (68.3% of eligible attendees). A total of 7726 messages were sent between March and June 2020, with 91.6% successfully delivered (100% read). 12.4% of participants opted out over 10 weeks. Of delivered messages, links were clicked an average of 14.4% times, max 24.1% for HIV related links. The number of clicks on web links declined over time (r = −6.24, p = 0.01). Response rate for two-way pull messages was 13.7% of participants. Since the workplace HIV test offer at recruitment, 21.6% reported having taken a further HIV test. Qualitative replies indicated behavioural influence of messaging on exercise, lifestyle behaviours and intention to HIV test. Conclusions: SMS messaging for HIV prevention and awareness is acceptable to adults in the construction industry, has high uptake, low attrition and good engagement with message content, when delivered during a global pandemic. Data collection methods may need refinement for audience, and effect of COVID-19 on results is yet to be understood

Do American Dippers Obtain a Survival Benefit from Altitudinal Migration?

Studies of partial migrants provide an opportunity to assess the cost and benefits of migration. Previous work has demonstrated that sedentary American dippers (residents) have higher annual productivity than altitudinal migrants that move to higher elevations to breed. Here we use a ten-year (30 period) mark-recapture dataset to evaluate whether migrants offset their lower productivity with higher survival during the migration-breeding period when they occupy different habitat, or early and late-winter periods when they coexist with residents. Mark-recapture models provide no evidence that apparent monthly survival of migrants is higher than that of residents at any time of the year. The best-supported model suggests that monthly survival is higher in the migration-breeding period than winter periods. Another well-supported model suggested that residency conferred a survival benefit, and annual apparent survival (calculated from model weighted monthly apparent survival estimates using the Delta method) of residents (0.511 ± 0.038SE) was slightly higher than that of migrants (0.487 ± 0.032). Winter survival of American dippers was influenced by environmental conditions; monthly apparent survival increased as maximum daily flow rates increased and declined as winter temperatures became colder. However, we found no evidence that environmental conditions altered differences in winter survival of residents and migrants. Since migratory American dippers have lower productivity and slightly lower survival than residents our data suggests that partial migration is likely an outcome of competition for limited nest sites at low elevations, with less competitive individuals being forced to migrate to higher elevations in order to breed

Obesity and diet predict attitudes towards health promotion in pre-registered nurses and midwives

Nurses and midwives are integral to public health promotion; in the UK, they are advised to act as role models by their governing body, but overweight or obesity rates are high. We explored whether obesity and dietary habits are related to attitudes towards healthy role modelling and health promotion practice. A total of 346 pre-registered UK nurses and midwives (92.6% female; 18–53 years) completed an online survey. Items included body composition, dietary habits assessed by the Lifestyle Behaviour Questionnaire (LBQ), attitudes towards being role models for health (RA: role attitudes) and attitudes toward health promotion practice (ATHPP): 33.8% of the sample self-reported as overweight or obese; 67.6% did not consume 5-a-day portions of fruit/veg; 31.5% reported a healthy diet; and 89.6% believed their diet could be healthier. Positive RA was significantly linked to health promotion engagement (HP) (ß = 0.33, p < 0.001). Positive ATHPP was significantly predicted by lower BMI (ß = −0.08, p = 0.078), positive RA (ß = 0.67, p < 0.001), lower HP (ß = −0.25, p < 0.001) and male gender (ß = 0.09, p = 0.02). Greater confidence in patients valuing healthcare professional’s advice was predicted by healthier diet (ß = 0.11, p = 0.03), lower BMI (ß = −0. 16, p < 0.01), more positive RA (ß = 0.14, p < 0.01) as well as HP engagement during training (ß = 0.20, p < 0.01). One’s own motivation to promote health, similarly to ATHPP, was predicted by RA (ß = 0.17, p = 0.001) and previous HP engagement (ß = 0.39, p < 0.001). Findings show that overweight and obesity are prevalent in pre-registered nurses and midwives; the majority did not consume a healthy diet. Individual’s body composition, diet and attitudes towards role modelling are positively associated with their attitudes towards, and confidence in, health promotion practice. Experiences of health promotion practice during training can have either a positive or a negative influence on attitudes. Mentors and educators could actively promote healthy lifestyles for pre-registered nurses and midwives and facilitate more opportunities for health promotion practice during placements, which includes time for reflection

Test@Work Texts: Mobile Phone Messaging to Increase Awareness of HIV and HIV Testing in UK Construction Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: HIV poses a threat to global health. With effective treatment options available, education and testing strategies are essential in preventing transmission. Text messaging is an effective tool for health promotion and can be used to target higher risk populations. This study reports on the design, delivery and testing of a mobile text messaging SMS intervention for HIV prevention and awareness, aimed at adults in the construction industry and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Participants were recruited at Test@Work workplace health promotion events (21 sites, n=464 employees), including health checks with HIV testing. Message development was based on a participatory design and included a focus group (n=9) and message fidelity testing (n=291) with assessment of intervention uptake, reach, acceptability, and engagement. Barriers to HIV testing were identified and mapped to the COM-B behavioural model. 23 one-way push SMS messages (19 included short web links) were generated and fidelity tested, then sent via automated SMS to two employee cohorts over a 10-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Engagement metrics measured were; opt-outs, SMS delivered/read, number of clicks per web link, and four two-way pull messages exploring repeat HIV testing, learning new information, perceived usefulness and behaviour change. Results: 291 people participated (68.3% of eligible attendees). A total of 7,726 messages were sent between March and June 2020, with 91.6% successfully delivered (100% read). 12.4% of participants opted out over 10 weeks. Of delivered messages, links were clicked an average of 14.4%, max 24.1% for HIV related links. The number of clicks on web links declined over time (r= -6.24, p=0.01). Response rate for two-way pull messages was 13.7% of participants. Since the workplace HIV test offer at recruitment, 21.6% reported having taken a further HIV test. Qualitative replies indicated behavioural influence of messaging on exercise, lifestyle behaviours and intention to HIV test. Conclusion: SMS messaging for HIV prevention and awareness is acceptable to adults in the construction industry, has high uptake, low attrition and good engagement with message content, when delivered during a global pandemic. Data collection methods may need refinement for audience and effect of COVID-19 on results is yet to be understood

Test@work: evaluation of workplace HIV testing for construction workers using the RE-AIM framework

Background: Community testing for HIV can reach previously untested populations but is rarely offered in workplaces. Targeting the construction sector could reach workers from high risk populations. Methods: The RE-AIM framework was used to evaluate Test@Work, a workplace HIV testing intervention for construction workers implemented at 21 events (10 companies) in the UK. Test@Work had three components: 1) an online health toolkit to inform managers about health screening and HIV testing; 2) general health checks; and 3) opt-in HIV consultation and testing. Quantitative data were collected using registration and exit questionnaires with workers (n= 426) and pre/post-event questionnaires with managers (n= 15), with qualitative analysis of free text responses. Results: Reach 426 individuals had health checks. Participants were broadly representative of the UK construction workforce, but with a higher proportion of permanent workers. Most workers reported being in good health but also believed their work had an adverse impact on their health. Effectiveness: 97% of health check participants opted to have a consultation about sexual health (n= 413) and 82% had an HIV test (n= 348), of whom 78% had not previously been tested. All HIV tests were non-reactive. HIV testing at work was considered acceptable by most participants. Participants reported learning new things about their health (74%), said they would make changes as a result (70%) and felt confident of success (median score 8/10). Adoption: Recruitment of companies was challenging and time consuming. Seven of the participating companies were very large, employing over 1000 workers, which is atypical of construction generally. Implementation: All events were completed as planned and were considered successful by all parties. Maintenance: All managers would arrange further events if they were offered them. Six managers incorporated sexual health awareness into their health programmes, but this was not possible for many as health agendas were set centrally by their organisations. Conclusions: Opt-in HIV testing, when embedded within a general health check, has high uptake and acceptability in the UK construction sector, and reaches individuals at risk for HIV who may not otherwise attend for testing. Cost-effectiveness of this approach is yet to be determined. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04292002