Learning Technology Manager Salary Survey 2010

The salary survey was conducted from 16 to 23 September 2010 with the support of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) by ALT member, Dr. Rich Ranker, at Lancaster University. The purpose of the survey was to determine: 1) The salary ranges of those who report themselves to be managers of learning technology organisations in HE and FE in the UK; and 2) The factors affecting the salary of LT Managers. The survey was initially constructed by the author but, upon consultation, modified, implemented in the web-based survey tool Survey Monkey, and distributed by ALT, with ALT’s assurance that it would protect the identity of the participants. A copy of the request for participation was also distributed by the Heads of eLearning Forum (HeLF). The target population was managers of learning technology units in FE and HE institutions in the UK. The survey consisted of 12 questions and received a total of 75 responses

Is Dance/Movement Therapy an Effective Treatment for Depression in Students?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective evidence-based medicine (EBM) review is to determine whether or not Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is an effective treatment for depression in students. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of three published, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) between 2005 and 2013, all English language DATA SOURCES: Three RCTs analyzing DMT use in depression were found using PudMed OUTCOMES MEASURED: Decrease in depressive symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Scale, a self-rated health questionnaire, and Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL- 90-R) RESULTS: DMT resulted in lessened depressive symptoms for students in all three RCTs. Jeong et al. observed a significant decrease (p=0.001) in depressive symptoms of the DMT group compared to the control group via an F-score analysis of anxiety and depression subscale scores of the SCL-90-R8. An unpaired t-test of post-intervention Beck Depression Scale scores in both the dance intervention and control groups of the Akandere and Demir study also demonstrated significant differences in scores (p=0.004), suggesting greater reduction of depressive symptoms in the dance intervention group9. Finally, Duberg et al. utilized an 88-question self-rated health questionnaire, revealing significant improvement (p CONCLUSIONS: All three studies demonstrated that DMT is an effective therapy treatment for depression in students. Incorporating DMT into the lives of middle school through universityaged students resulted in decreased depressive symptoms and ultimately improved quality of life. Given its versatile and variable nature, DMT can be utilized for many different kinds of patients as either an adjunctive therapy to currently practiced treatments or as monotherapy for mild depression

Program Assessment – Department of Botany

This poster summarizes the initial steps the Department of Botany faculty members at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa completed in developing a program assessment plan for our three undergraduate degrees: BA, Botany; BS, Botany; and BS, Ethnobotany. We first devised explicit and realistic Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for all students completing any of our degrees. We then considered the extent to which our existing classes addressed individual SLOs and scored each class for each SLO in one of 5 overlapping categories: 1) does not address SLO; 2) provides introductory material that relates to SLO; 3) provides learning material that reinforces a subject; 4) provides students with the opportunity to master a subject; and/or 5) provides an assessment of student performance. This scoring process resulted in a curriculum map for each degree. The entire process has caused us to consider revising some courses, eliminating some courses, and designing some entirely new courses. The next step is to develop and implement tools for assessing the success of achieving programmatic learning outcomes

Relationships of policy and place with substance use, alcohol misuse, and other risk behaviors

Substance use has been linked to adverse health and social costs, including morbidity and mortality. Substance use patterns are driven not only by individual-level determinants, but also by social, political and ecological factors. Given this inter-connected web, further exploration into the interactions between individuals and their environments may help inform strategies to intervene and reduce substance use and related risk behaviors. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the dimensions of place in determining an individual’s substance use behaviors. In the first two studies, we explored the policy dimension of an individual’s environment, specifically how the state-level policy environment shapes frequency of alcohol use. We used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) cohort, a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of emerging adults. In the first study, we examined associations between stringency of an individual’s state-level policy environment (as measured via the Alcohol Policy Scale, APS) and past 30-day drinking and binge drinking. We found that 10-unit higher (more stringent) APS score at interview was associated with small reductions in past 30-day drinking (-0.03 drinking days, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) -0.17, 0.11) while associations were null for past 30-day binge drinking (0.004, 95% CI -0.06, 0.06), after adjusting for individual and contextual confounders. Given interest in impacts of policy changes on drinking, we also assessed associations for cross-interview change in APS. The mean interview-to-interview (roughly 1 year) change in APS score was 0.4 (+/- 2.6, range -38.1 to 39.7). In confounder-adjusted models, a 10-unit greater increase in APS change score across an interview interval was associated with -0.15 reduced drinking days (95% CI -0.30, 0.01) while reductions in binge drinking days were smaller (-0.05, 95% CI -0.14, 0.05). For the change in APS analyses, stratification by prior (starting) APS score showed the largest reduction among those in the highest quartile of prior APS (-0.25 drinking days, 95% CI -0.57, 0.07) while those in the lowest quartile of prior APS had the largest reductions in binge drinking (-0.10, 95% CI -0.13, -0.07). Age-based stratification showed the impacts were primarily driven by years when individuals were under age 21 (under legal drinking age). The second study of this dissertation also used data from the NLSY97 cohort, but focused on alcohol use over time rather than drinking at single time points. Specifically, our second study identified sub-groups of longitudinal drinking patterns—or trajectories—across 18 years of follow-up using latent class growth analysis. We then estimated the association between state-level policy score (APS) at baseline and trajectory group membership. For both the past 30-day drinking and past 30-day binge drinking outcomes, distinct trajectories were identified and described. For drinking days, a 5-group solution was the best fitting model. The 5 drinking-days groups were: late escalating (10.8%), normative (19.0%), high frequency (5.6%), low frequency (47.0%) and no/infrequent use (17.7%). A 10-unit higher baseline APS score was associated with slightly higher odds of membership in the late escalating group (adjusted Odd Ratio, aOR = 1.13, 95% CI 0.98, 1.31) and reduced odds of membership in the normative group (aOR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.81, 1.10) compared with membership in the no/infrequent group. In a separate trajectory model, we identified 5 binge drinking-days groups: later onset (10.5%), high frequency (4.4%), once-a-month (34.8%), earlier onset (11.3%), and no/infrequent (39.1%). A 10-unit higher baseline APS score was not associated odds of binge drinking group membership compared to the no/infrequent comparator outcome. For study 2 overall, we found weak associations between state-level APS at approximately age 14 and drinking or binge drinking trajectory membership. However, we also found a consistent, slight decreased odds of membership in the normative drinking days group (compared to both the no/infrequent and low frequency drinking groups) with a more stringent policy environment. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses showed APS score may decrease odds of membership in drinking day trajectory groups typified by earlier initiation of alcohol use. In study 3, we examined a more granular environmental exposure—the neighborhood environment. Using baseline data from participants in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention study who lived in Baltimore, we evaluated the association between neighborhood disorder and substance use behaviors. We compared neighborhood-level disorder at residential address (live/sleep neighborhood) to a more dynamic definition of exposure to neighborhood disorder based on where individuals reported spending their time engaged in specific activities (activity spaces). Using data from a previously collected Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) instrument assessment, we calculated objective neighborhood disorder scores for participants (live/sleep scores and activity-weighted scores). While higher live/sleep neighborhood disorder was associated with higher prevalence of self-reported harmful alcohol use, results were imprecise (adjusted prevalence ratio, PR: 1.14, 95% CI 0.94, 1.37). We found a similar directional relationship between live/sleep disorder and injection drug use in the past 6 months (adjusted prevalence ratio: 1.03, 95% CI 0.88, 1.22). The relationship of live/sleep disorder to injection-related risk behaviors (among those who injected drugs in the past 6 months) was inconsistent. Higher live/sleep neighborhood disorder was associated with reduced prevalence of non-alcohol related treatment (among those with a history of drug use; adjusted prevalence ratio: 0.97, 95% CI 0.89, 1.07). Contrary to our hypothesis, there was little variation in results or model fit between the live/sleep and activity-weighted exposures. However, time spent in live/sleep location modified observed relationships for harmful alcohol use and injection drug use. Understanding exposure to factors such as disorder at a micro-space level (both location and time spent at a location) may help explain risk behaviors and identify priorities for intervention. These three studies highlight state policy and neighborhood as two of the many environmental forces that influence individual substance use behaviors. A better understanding of how state-level policy and neighborhood environments influence behavior is critical to initiatives focused on substance use and related harm reduction. These findings are therefore relevant to policy makers and community advocates at both the state and local-level. These dissertation studies also highlight the complexity inherent in quantifying and assessing the impact of both policy and neighborhood exposures on individuals. Further research is needed to examine critical time periods for the influence of neighborhood and state-level policies on substance use across the life-course

Advancing Program Assessment Beyond the Curriculum Map: Recent Progress in the Department of Botany

In fall 2014 and spring 2015 the Botany faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa devised programmatic Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and linked them to courses via a curriculum map. This poster outlines how the Botany faculty implemented assessment after such steps were taken. A summary of the assessment plan is presented in this poster along with SLOs, a sample rubric, examples of how exams and courses relate to SLOs, and tips for engaging faculty in assessment

Mitochondrial DNA evolution in the Anaxyrus boreas species group

The Anaxyrus boreas species group currently comprises four species in western North America including the broadly distributed A. boreas, and three localized species, Anaxyrus nelsoni, Anaxyrus exsul and Anaxyrus canorus. Phylogenetic analyses of the mtDNA 12S rDNA, cytochrome oxidase I, control region, and restriction sites data, identified three major haplotype clades. The Northwest clade (NW) includes both subspecies of A. boreas and divergent minor clades in the middle Rocky Mountains, coastal, and central regions of the west and Pacific Northwest. The Southwest (SW) clade includes A. exsul, A. nelsoni, and minor clades in southern California. Anaxyrus canorus, previously identified as paraphyletic, has populations in both the NW and SW major clades. The Eastern major clade (E) includes three divergent lineages from southern Utah, the southern Rocky Mountains, and north of the Great Basin at the border of Utah and Nevada. These results identify new genetic variation in the eastern portion of the toad’s range and are consistent with previous regional studies from the west coast. Low levels of control region sequence divergence between major clades (2.2–4.7% uncorrected pair-wise distances) are consistent with Pleistocene divergence and suggest that the phylogeographic history of the group was heavily influenced by dynamic Pleistocene glacial and climatic changes, and especially pluvial changes, in western North America. Results reported here may impact conservation plans in that the current taxonomy does not reflect the diversity in the group

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Enigmatic Malesian Fern Thylacopteris (Polypodiaceae, Polypodiidae)

Thylacopteris is the sister to a diverse clade of polygrammoid ferns that occurs mainly in Southeast Asia and Malesia. The phylogenetic relationships are inferred from DNA sequences of three chloroplast genome regions (rbcL, rps4, rps4‐trnS IGS) for 62 taxa and a fourth cpDNA sequence (trnL‐trnF IGS) for 35 taxa. The results refute previously proposed close relationships to Polypodium s.s. but support suggested relationships to the Southeast Asiatic genus Goniophlebium. In all phylogenetic reconstructions based on more than one cpDNA region, we recovered Thylacopteris as sister to a clade in which Goniophlebium is in turn sister to several lineages, including the genera Lecanopteris, Lepisorus, Microsorum, and their relatives. Goniophlebium and allies comprise a significant component of vascular fern epiphytes in the rain forests of Southeast Asia and Malesia. The relationships of the genus Thylacopteris as at the base of the clade comprising the genera Goniophlebium, Lecanopteris, Lepisorus, Microsorum, and their relatives indicate that this entire lineage arose in Malesia and subsequently dispersed to continental Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and Africa