A five day Digital Storytelling course was offered to Social Work students, integrating a three day workshop with older adult storytellers who shared stories related to the theme stories of home. A course evaluation was conducted exploring the Digital Storytelling experience and learning in an intergenerational setting. Findings from surveys distributed at the end of the course to students and storytellers revealed that students’ knowledge of and interest in Digital Storytelling and its application was enhanced. The intergenerational component was positive for students and older adults. Students identified the intergenerational component as a highlight of the course which improved their awareness of older adult issues and knowledge of working with aging populations. Older adult participants enjoyed working with the students which increased their understanding of younger generations. This innovative course enhanced students’ learning experiences, meriting consideration for the incorporation of intergenerational learning opportunities and Digital Storytelling into future social service and aging related courses to better prepare students for gerontological practice.
{"title":"Engaging Post-Secondary Students and Older Adults in an Intergenerational Digital Storytelling Course","authors":"Jennifer Hewson, Claire Danbrook, J. Sieppert","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9345","url":null,"abstract":"A five day Digital Storytelling course was offered to Social Work students, integrating a three day workshop with older adult storytellers who shared stories related to the theme stories of home. A course evaluation was conducted exploring the Digital Storytelling experience and learning in an intergenerational setting. Findings from surveys distributed at the end of the course to students and storytellers revealed that students’ knowledge of and interest in Digital Storytelling and its application was enhanced. The intergenerational component was positive for students and older adults. Students identified the intergenerational component as a highlight of the course which improved their awareness of older adult issues and knowledge of working with aging populations. Older adult participants enjoyed working with the students which increased their understanding of younger generations. This innovative course enhanced students’ learning experiences, meriting consideration for the incorporation of intergenerational learning opportunities and Digital Storytelling into future social service and aging related courses to better prepare students for gerontological practice.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"41 1","pages":"135-142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80850936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article discusses hybrid courses and their impact on educational facilities, their students, and instructors. Instructors now have over ten years of data related to hybrid courses and by trial and error have devised different strategies to plan and execute lesson plans via partly online forums. Programs are in place that gives students the opportunity to excel; these types of courses promote a unique balance of guidance by the instructor and acceptance of responsibility by the students. Students have responded in a positive manner in pursuing these types of courses.
{"title":"Benefits Of Hybrid Classes In Community Colleges","authors":"J. Barker","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9343","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses hybrid courses and their impact on educational facilities, their students, and instructors. Instructors now have over ten years of data related to hybrid courses and by trial and error have devised different strategies to plan and execute lesson plans via partly online forums. Programs are in place that gives students the opportunity to excel; these types of courses promote a unique balance of guidance by the instructor and acceptance of responsibility by the students. Students have responded in a positive manner in pursuing these types of courses.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"73 1","pages":"143-146"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85339510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Developing leaders and leadership are key factors to improve learning and teaching in higher education. Despite the abundance of literature concerning developing formal leadership, fewer studies have been conducted with academics in non-formal leadership roles that focus on how they develop their leadership in learning and teaching. Publication and funding metrics are evidence of leadership and success in research. Metrics in learning and teaching exist, but are less well accepted and valued. We undertook a qualitative descriptive study to examine how academics in non-formal leadership roles at an Australian university understood leadership and described their leadership in teaching. Following ethical approval, eight participants were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: leadership is the ability to influence direction; all about the culture; becoming visible and speaking up; and learning leadership together. Participants said leading teaching teams effectively and influencing quality learning experiences for students and colleagues is ‘evidence’ of leadership in learning and teaching. Some said a few research colleagues and formal leaders did not accept such ‘evidence’ and continued to favour leadership of research teams. This paper contributes new strategies as possible ways forward to facilitate cultural change in higher education institutions that include: a need for formal leaders and academics to reach agreement about evidence of effective leadership in learning and teaching; academics sharing innovations to effectively lead teaching teams and to promote quality teaching experiences for students; and mentoring colleagues in learning and teaching.
{"title":"Leadership In Learning And Teaching In Higher Education: Perspectives Of Academics In Non-Formal Leadership Roles","authors":"A. Hofmeyer, B. Sheingold, H. Klopper, J. Warland","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I3.9348","url":null,"abstract":"Developing leaders and leadership are key factors to improve learning and teaching in higher education. Despite the abundance of literature concerning developing formal leadership, fewer studies have been conducted with academics in non-formal leadership roles that focus on how they develop their leadership in learning and teaching. Publication and funding metrics are evidence of leadership and success in research. Metrics in learning and teaching exist, but are less well accepted and valued. We undertook a qualitative descriptive study to examine how academics in non-formal leadership roles at an Australian university understood leadership and described their leadership in teaching. Following ethical approval, eight participants were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: leadership is the ability to influence direction; all about the culture; becoming visible and speaking up; and learning leadership together. Participants said leading teaching teams effectively and influencing quality learning experiences for students and colleagues is ‘evidence’ of leadership in learning and teaching. Some said a few research colleagues and formal leaders did not accept such ‘evidence’ and continued to favour leadership of research teams. This paper contributes new strategies as possible ways forward to facilitate cultural change in higher education institutions that include: a need for formal leaders and academics to reach agreement about evidence of effective leadership in learning and teaching; academics sharing innovations to effectively lead teaching teams and to promote quality teaching experiences for students; and mentoring colleagues in learning and teaching.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"76 1","pages":"181-192"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72533283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Student engagement in High Impact Practices (HIPs) has been gaining the attention of higher education leaders and researchers. When students are actively engaged in the learning process they report greater gains in learning and personal development. Students involved in HIPs show better retention, higher GPA and succeed in graduating college in a timely manner. Less advantaged students benefit even more when they participate in these practices. As university funding models are becoming performance based, HIPs are more important in ensuring students success. The following presents a case-study at a large, regional, comprehensive universityCalifornia State University Fullerton in Southern California. In 2013, the Strategic Plan was implemented at CSUF. The plan contained four goals. Goal number two was to “improve student persistence, increase graduation rates University-wide, and narrow the achievement gap for underrepresented students.” One of the objectives for this goal was to “Increase participation in High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and ensure that 75% of CSUF students participate in at least two HIPs by graduation.” How do you get a university of over 38,000 students to have 75% of the students participating in HIPs? A strategic plan task force was created to define HIPs, create an assessment report on HIP outcomes (focusing on increased retention and graduation rates), and develop a system for creating HIPs on a campus as large as CSUF (a result of the AAC&U experience).This case study describes their preliminary work.
{"title":"Creating a Model for High Impact Practices at a Large, Regional, Comprehensive University: A Case Study.","authors":"S. McMahan","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9144","url":null,"abstract":"Student engagement in High Impact Practices (HIPs) has been gaining the attention of higher education leaders and researchers. When students are actively engaged in the learning process they report greater gains in learning and personal development. Students involved in HIPs show better retention, higher GPA and succeed in graduating college in a timely manner. Less advantaged students benefit even more when they participate in these practices. As university funding models are becoming performance based, HIPs are more important in ensuring students success. The following presents a case-study at a large, regional, comprehensive universityCalifornia State University Fullerton in Southern California. In 2013, the Strategic Plan was implemented at CSUF. The plan contained four goals. Goal number two was to “improve student persistence, increase graduation rates University-wide, and narrow the achievement gap for underrepresented students.” One of the objectives for this goal was to “Increase participation in High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and ensure that 75% of CSUF students participate in at least two HIPs by graduation.” How do you get a university of over 38,000 students to have 75% of the students participating in HIPs? A strategic plan task force was created to define HIPs, create an assessment report on HIP outcomes (focusing on increased retention and graduation rates), and develop a system for creating HIPs on a campus as large as CSUF (a result of the AAC&U experience).This case study describes their preliminary work.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"111-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76501556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Walsh, Patsy J. Casselman, J. Hickey, N. Lee, Harold Pliszka
This article considers the use of participatory action research and Photovoice as a tool for engaging graduate level social work students in research education. Photovoice is an investigative tool that assists people in critically reflecting on the everyday social and political realities of their lives, enriching their understanding of their communities and the issues pertinent to them, while at the same time, giving them a voice from which to educate others on these issues. In the context of a group assignment, 26 social work students, enrolled in an introductory graduate research course, were asked to reflect upon the question, “What does balance look like for you in the MSW program?” Thirty-two photographs with captions were submitted and analyzed by class members for relevant themes. Balance was described as existing along a continuum from balanced to unbalanced and was comprised of four major themes: connection, nurturance, keeping perspective, and disengagement. Although this teaching strategy was not formally assessed, preliminary impressions are that students benefited from participating in the Photovoice activity.
{"title":"Engaged in Research/Achieving Balance: A Case Example of Teaching Research to Masters of Social Work Students.","authors":"C. Walsh, Patsy J. Casselman, J. Hickey, N. Lee, Harold Pliszka","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9142","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers the use of participatory action research and Photovoice as a tool for engaging graduate level social work students in research education. Photovoice is an investigative tool that assists people in critically reflecting on the everyday social and political realities of their lives, enriching their understanding of their communities and the issues pertinent to them, while at the same time, giving them a voice from which to educate others on these issues. In the context of a group assignment, 26 social work students, enrolled in an introductory graduate research course, were asked to reflect upon the question, “What does balance look like for you in the MSW program?” Thirty-two photographs with captions were submitted and analyzed by class members for relevant themes. Balance was described as existing along a continuum from balanced to unbalanced and was comprised of four major themes: connection, nurturance, keeping perspective, and disengagement. Although this teaching strategy was not formally assessed, preliminary impressions are that students benefited from participating in the Photovoice activity.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"15 1","pages":"93-102"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75279070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In New Zealand (NZ) and Japan, despite comprehensive national health and physical education (HPE) curriculums which guide teachers in delivering health education to children in schools, there continue to be significant health issues for children. A qualitative interpretative descriptive research method was used to compare how primary school teachers (5 New Zealanders, 5 Japanese) in both countries delivered HPE and the influence they believed their teaching had on the childrens health. The major child health issue identified by teachers in NZ was obesity/overweightness, while in Japan teachers identified insufficient sleep, inadequate food intake and the polarization between unfit and fit. In New Zealand, there is some freedom in relation to how the school interprets and delivers HPE that enables the schools to address the specific health needs of their community. However, there is disparity in how the curriculum is delivered, particularly between schools in low and high socio-economic areas. In Japan, the government directs what, when, and how HPE is delivered using government-designated textbooks. Therefore, while there is no disparity in the delivery between schools, teachers cannot customize health education according to their students needs. The flexibility of HPE in NZ is both an advantage in that it enables a creative and innovative teaching approach customized to the community in which the school is situated and a disadvantage in that often health education is decided on not according to the needs of the children but according to the available financial resources and teachers enthusiasm. It appears that even low-quality educational lessons could meet the curriculum standards. In Japan, while children do receive education on health issues that may be useful for the future, the HPE curriculum does not address the current health issues the children face. Moreover, it is difficult to teach all the content within the government-designed HPE textbook because of Japans official time designations for health education. This studys results suggest that both countries need to review the delivery and resourcing of their HPE to ensure that children receive education that addresses their current and future health needs and those of their families.
{"title":"Comparative Study of Children's Current Health Conditions and Health Education in New Zealand and Japan.","authors":"Kanae Watanabe, A. Dickinson","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9145","url":null,"abstract":"In New Zealand (NZ) and Japan, despite comprehensive national health and physical education (HPE) curriculums which guide teachers in delivering health education to children in schools, there continue to be significant health issues for children. A qualitative interpretative descriptive research method was used to compare how primary school teachers (5 New Zealanders, 5 Japanese) in both countries delivered HPE and the influence they believed their teaching had on the childrens health. The major child health issue identified by teachers in NZ was obesity/overweightness, while in Japan teachers identified insufficient sleep, inadequate food intake and the polarization between unfit and fit. In New Zealand, there is some freedom in relation to how the school interprets and delivers HPE that enables the schools to address the specific health needs of their community. However, there is disparity in how the curriculum is delivered, particularly between schools in low and high socio-economic areas. In Japan, the government directs what, when, and how HPE is delivered using government-designated textbooks. Therefore, while there is no disparity in the delivery between schools, teachers cannot customize health education according to their students needs. The flexibility of HPE in NZ is both an advantage in that it enables a creative and innovative teaching approach customized to the community in which the school is situated and a disadvantage in that often health education is decided on not according to the needs of the children but according to the available financial resources and teachers enthusiasm. It appears that even low-quality educational lessons could meet the curriculum standards. In Japan, while children do receive education on health issues that may be useful for the future, the HPE curriculum does not address the current health issues the children face. Moreover, it is difficult to teach all the content within the government-designed HPE textbook because of Japans official time designations for health education. This studys results suggest that both countries need to review the delivery and resourcing of their HPE to ensure that children receive education that addresses their current and future health needs and those of their families.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"74 1","pages":"117-122"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80759260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Active academics whose careers span several decades have witnessed a changing landscape for disseminating their research and scholarship. As technology changes, the ability to share research increases exponentially, and the choice of outlets becomes more intricate. This article discusses the role of scholarship in the lives of seasoned college educators, describes some of the major changes in the world of scholarly publication, and speculates about how this evolving environment might change our publishing strategies. Finally, the article offers advice to senior faculty members for playing a more active role in the future of knowledge sharing.
{"title":"Senior Scholars: Is the Brave New World of On-line Publishing for Us?","authors":"Judith A. Laux","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9143","url":null,"abstract":"Active academics whose careers span several decades have witnessed a changing landscape for disseminating their research and scholarship. As technology changes, the ability to share research increases exponentially, and the choice of outlets becomes more intricate. This article discusses the role of scholarship in the lives of seasoned college educators, describes some of the major changes in the world of scholarly publication, and speculates about how this evolving environment might change our publishing strategies. Finally, the article offers advice to senior faculty members for playing a more active role in the future of knowledge sharing.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"90 1","pages":"103-110"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83894336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Competency Framework, introduced by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) details technical competencies, but also places emphasis on the pervasive skills that need to be attained by candidates for them to qualify as chartered accountants (CAs). Thus, an additional onus has been placed on academics to ensure that they use suitable methods to equip aspirant CAs with pervasive skills. The objective of the study is twofold: (a) to determine, using a literature review, whether collaborative learning exercises can effectively develop SAICA’s pervasive skills and (b) to provide evidence, by means of a questionnaire, on the extent to which SAICA-accredited academics use collaborative learning exercises and how effective they view this method to be in transferring pervasive skills to students. The literature review found strong support for collaborative learning exercises being effective in the development of all pervasive skills. However, the empirical work provided evidence that not all academics employ collaborative learning exercises in their academic programmes and not all consider this method effective in attaining SAICA’s pervasive skills. While this apparent shortcoming may exist, there is potential for academics to work in collaboration with each other and SAICA on methods that can result in the transfer of pervasive skills to students.
{"title":"Using Collaborative Learning Exercises To Transfer Pervasive Skills: Some South African Evidence","authors":"Monique Strauss-Keevy","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9141","url":null,"abstract":"The Competency Framework, introduced by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) details technical competencies, but also places emphasis on the pervasive skills that need to be attained by candidates for them to qualify as chartered accountants (CAs). Thus, an additional onus has been placed on academics to ensure that they use suitable methods to equip aspirant CAs with pervasive skills. The objective of the study is twofold: (a) to determine, using a literature review, whether collaborative learning exercises can effectively develop SAICA’s pervasive skills and (b) to provide evidence, by means of a questionnaire, on the extent to which SAICA-accredited academics use collaborative learning exercises and how effective they view this method to be in transferring pervasive skills to students. The literature review found strong support for collaborative learning exercises being effective in the development of all pervasive skills. However, the empirical work provided evidence that not all academics employ collaborative learning exercises in their academic programmes and not all consider this method effective in attaining SAICA’s pervasive skills. While this apparent shortcoming may exist, there is potential for academics to work in collaboration with each other and SAICA on methods that can result in the transfer of pervasive skills to students.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"3 1","pages":"79-92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89731120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faculty assessments are a hot topic in academia. Mostly considered an unproven statistic holding the professor hostage for a good grade, the benefits are still in discussion. At course end, we expect students to have the ability to analyze what we think they should have learned. In reality, most students do not have the maturity to realize correlation for what you put into your education is what you get out. Consensus is that it does not happen the way we plan. Adding to the assessment issue is the clear fact that today most universities are adjunct professor-driven. Given these facts, the authors have statistically studied teaching assessments and associated grade point averages (GPA) representing academic rigor at a major non-profit university over the past three years. The authors’ hypothesis is that there is no correlation between the two statistics. This paper reviews the literature, provides the study methodology, and presents the findings.
{"title":"Grading And Assessments: Correlations Of Variables Affecting Teaching And Course Assessments","authors":"J. L. Ellis, T. J. Francl","doi":"10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/CIER.V8I2.9139","url":null,"abstract":"Faculty assessments are a hot topic in academia. Mostly considered an unproven statistic holding the professor hostage for a good grade, the benefits are still in discussion. At course end, we expect students to have the ability to analyze what we think they should have learned. In reality, most students do not have the maturity to realize correlation for what you put into your education is what you get out. Consensus is that it does not happen the way we plan. Adding to the assessment issue is the clear fact that today most universities are adjunct professor-driven. Given these facts, the authors have statistically studied teaching assessments and associated grade point averages (GPA) representing academic rigor at a major non-profit university over the past three years. The authors’ hypothesis is that there is no correlation between the two statistics. This paper reviews the literature, provides the study methodology, and presents the findings.","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"5 1","pages":"71-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86538586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Malcolm J D'Souza, Richard J Kashmar, Kent Hurst, Frank Fiedler, Catherine E Gross, Jasbir K Deol, Alora Wilson
Wesley College is a private, primarily undergraduate minority-serving institution located in the historic district of Dover, Delaware (DE). The College recently revised its baccalaureate biological chemistry program requirements to include a one-semester Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences course and project-based experiential learning courses using instrumentation, data-collection, data-storage, statistical-modeling analysis, visualization, and computational techniques. In this revised curriculum, students begin with a traditional set of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics major core-requirements, a geographic information systems (GIS) course, a choice of an instrumental analysis course or a statistical analysis systems (SAS) programming course, and then, students can add major-electives that further add depth and value to their future post-graduate specialty areas. Open-sourced georeferenced census, health and health disparity data were coupled with GIS and SAS tools, in a public health surveillance system project, based on US county zip-codes, to develop use-cases for chronic adult obesity where income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, education, and age were categorical variables. Across the 48 contiguous states, obesity rates are found to be directly proportional to high poverty and inversely proportional to median income and educational achievement. For the State of Delaware, age and educational attainment were found to be limiting obesity risk-factors in its adult population. Furthermore, the 2004-2010 obesity trends showed that for two of the less densely populated Delaware counties; Sussex and Kent, the rates of adult obesity were found to be progressing at much higher proportions when compared to the national average.
{"title":"Integrative Biological Chemistry Program Includes The Use Of Informatics Tools, GIS And SAS Software Applications.","authors":"Malcolm J D'Souza, Richard J Kashmar, Kent Hurst, Frank Fiedler, Catherine E Gross, Jasbir K Deol, Alora Wilson","doi":"10.19030/cier.v8i3.9349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v8i3.9349","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wesley College is a private, primarily undergraduate minority-serving institution located in the historic district of Dover, Delaware (DE). The College recently revised its baccalaureate biological chemistry program requirements to include a one-semester Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences course and project-based experiential learning courses using instrumentation, data-collection, data-storage, statistical-modeling analysis, visualization, and computational techniques. In this revised curriculum, students begin with a traditional set of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics major core-requirements, a geographic information systems (GIS) course, a choice of an instrumental analysis course or a statistical analysis systems (SAS) programming course, and then, students can add major-electives that further add depth and value to their future post-graduate specialty areas. Open-sourced georeferenced census, health and health disparity data were coupled with GIS and SAS tools, in a public health surveillance system project, based on US county zip-codes, to develop use-cases for chronic adult obesity where income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, education, and age were categorical variables. Across the 48 contiguous states, obesity rates are found to be directly proportional to high poverty and inversely proportional to median income and educational achievement. For the State of Delaware, age and educational attainment were found to be limiting obesity risk-factors in its adult population. Furthermore, the 2004-2010 obesity trends showed that for two of the less densely populated Delaware counties; Sussex and Kent, the rates of adult obesity were found to be progressing at much higher proportions when compared to the national average.</p>","PeriodicalId":91062,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary issues in education research (Littleton, Colo.)","volume":"8 3","pages":"193-214"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4505611/pdf/nihms684385.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34021306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}