Collaborative Online International Learning in an undergraduate genetics course

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is a teaching and learning paradigm that promotes the development of intercultural competence across shared multicultural learning environments. Through the use of internet-based tools and online pedagogies, COIL fosters meaningful exchanges between university-level educators and students with peers in geographically distant locations and from different lingua-cultural backgrounds. In the winter term 2018, the 2nd year undergraduate course at the University of Ottawa will engage with other undergraduate courses in COIL modules to achieve “capstone” experiences by engaging students in the evaluation of topics relating to social, cultural and environmental impacts of genetics. The COIL modules will explore human genetic and reproductive technologies that are rapidly being integrated into our lives and how the uses of these technologies provoke legal, ethical, and social questions. Issues pertaining to the use of genetic medicine, prenatal screening, newborn screening, pharmacogenomics, equal access to genetic services, and genetic discrimination are a few examples that will be explored. The course modules will be designed to be part of a blended learning experience that will include planned videoconference collaborative classes, joint online interactions and assignments, and regular scheduled face-to-face campus classes between each university’s faculty and students. The objective of this session is to elicit interest in COIL and to recruit possible partners to engage in collaborative online international learning opportunities

Designing Advanced Seminar Research Courses in Science

Advanced seminar research courses in sciences provide students with valuable capstone experiences. They impart opportunities to develop practical skills required for entry into scientific careers. While course objectives and learning outcomes may vary across disciplines, educational programs, departments, and institutions, seminar courses encourage students to hone professional competencies for research investigations, scientific literacy, communication, and critical thinking. Students demonstrate these skills via collaborative discussions, peer evaluation, and formulation of integrative reports. Designing and assessing the effectiveness of such courses involves the feedback from students, faculty, and administration. In this session, presenters will discuss two models which are implemented in different academic settings to reveal strategies for the design, delivery, and evaluation of research seminar courses. The presenters will elaborate upon their respective seminar courses. Course outlines (syllabi), lesson planning, student activities, formative and summative assessments, rubrics, and administrative logistics will be discussed

Does group composition impact group scores in two-stage collaborative exams?

Recently, two-stage exams were introduced in two large second year genetic courses (\u3e250 students) at two different universities. The courses follow similar formats and use course learning outcomes, activities, and materials developed by the two instructors. Two-stage exams are those in which students first write an exam individually, followed immediately by a second stage in which they write the same, or similar, exam as part of a small group. Student exam grades comprised 85% individual score and 15% group score. Typically, exam scores improved in the group portion, however, the extent of the improvement varied between groups, and for several group scores were lower than the average of members’ individual scores. The goal of this project is to identify factors that may influence learning and student performance gains (Group Score – Average of Members’ Individual Scores) in the collaborative component. To determine group-composition factors that impact group scores, we compared individual and group scores from midterm and final exams, of fixed (group members stayed the same throughout all 3 exams) and dynamic (composition of group members changed in at least one exam) groups. Preliminary results show that while group composition does not have a significant effect on predicting group score, the average individual performance of students in a group impact student gains (the difference between a group’s score and the average of the members’ individual scores). We hope to use this opportunity to discuss different approaches to assess factors impacting performance on collaborative exams

The influence of science students’ research attitudes on their intentions to use research in their future professional practice.

Research intensive universities educate their students to provide them with the necessary qualifications for careers as professionals in academia and/or for a chosen professional field. Given the objectives of promoting research, research intensive universities place great value in developing curricula and programs that engage student in research activities to cultivate an awareness of research careers and to train students for employment requiring research skills. However, Griffeon (2018) suggests that research competencies are only useful as long as the student has the intention to use them in their future practice. Thus far, there have been few studies that have examined how students’ perceptions of research relate to their intent to apply research competencies in their future profession. The purpose of this study is to describe the relationships between undergraduate science students’ intention to use their research competencies in their future professional practice and their perceptions and attitudes towards research. To study this relationship, a Research Attitudes in Science Education Questionnaire was administered to the undergraduate science student of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Ottawa. The findings show that student’ intentions to use research in their future professional practice correlates highly with their perceptions of and attitudes toward research, while research activities and research context have less of an effect. To increase the functionality of research education and pedagogies into curricula, students’ research attitudes should be considered

Do students’ attitudes toward active learning in science affect buy-in?

Active learning aims to support students’ construction of knowledge and understanding via their direct engagement with activities that support the learning process. It has been well documented that students benefit from active learning; however, students often report disliking this method of learning and disfavour the student-centered approach as it puts them in charge of their learning. Furthermore, little is known about specific attitudes and attributes that may influence engagement with and adoption of these practices. To explore this knowledge gap, we assessed students’ motivation, self-efficacy, introversion/extroversion, science identity and evaluated their relationships with student buy-in to active learning; measured using the exposure-persuasion-identification-commitment (EPIC) process model (Cavanagh et al., 2016). Undergraduate science students (n=123) at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa had 76% of students report engaging with active learning in their science courses. Students engaged with an average of 11 (M = 11.19, SD = 3.29) out of 16 possible activities. Of the active learning activities, 34% of students liked this way of learning while 20% report only doing it because it was required of them. Motivation, self-efficacy, introversion/extroversion, and science identity were positively correlated with persuasion. In line with previous studies, buy-in was positively correlated with students\u27 engagement in active learning behaviours. The relationships identified will allow us to make recommendations to help shape the pedagogical practices of educators and further improve student buy-in to this type of learning. This research has been approved by the research ethics board at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa

Haploinsufficiency for AAGAB causes clinically heterogeneous forms of punctate palmoplantar keratoderma

Palmoplantar keratodermas (PPKs) are a group of disorders that are diagnostically and therapeutically problematic in dermatogenetics(1-3). Punctate PPKs are characterized by circumscribed hyperkeratotic lesions on palms and soles with considerable heterogeneity. In 18 families with autosomal dominant punctate PPK (OMIM #148600), we report heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in AAGAB, encoding alpha- and gamma-adaptin binding protein p34, at a previously linked locus on 15q22. p34, a cytosolic protein with a Rab-like GTPase domain, was shown to bind both clathrin adaptor protein complexes, indicative of a role in membrane traffic. Ultrastucturally, lesional epidermis showed abnormalities in intracellular vesicle biology. Immunohistochemistry showed hyperproliferation within the punctate lesions. Knockdown of p34 in keratinocytes led to increased cell division, which was linked to greatly increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein expression and tyrosine phosphorylation. We hypothesize that p34 deficiency may impair endocytic recycling of growth factor receptors such as EGFR, leading to increased signaling and proliferation

Genome-wide association scan identifies a colorectal cancer susceptibility locus on 11q23 and replicates risk loci at 8q24 and 18q21

In a genome-wide association study to identify loci associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, we genotyped 555,510 SNPs in 1,012 early-onset Scottish CRC cases and 1,012 controls (phase 1). In phase 2, we genotyped the 15,008 highest-ranked SNPs in 2,057 Scottish cases and 2,111 controls. We then genotyped the five highest-ranked SNPs from the joint phase 1 and 2 analysis in 14,500 cases and 13,294 controls from seven populations, and identified a previously unreported association, rs3802842 on 11q23 (OR = 1.1; P = 5.8 10-10), showing population differences in risk. We also replicated and fine-mapped associations at 8q24 (rs7014346; OR = 1.19; P = 8.6 10-26) and 18q21 (rs4939827; OR = 1.2; P = 7.8 10-28). Risk was greater for rectal than for colon cancer for rs3802842 (P < 0.008) and rs4939827 (P < 0.009). Carrying all six possible risk alleles yielded OR = 2.6 (95% CI = 1.75–3.89) for CRC. These findings extend our understanding of the role of common genetic variation in CRC etiology

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used