The relationship between socioeconomic status, course delivery method, and student success at a state college: A single institution analysis

In an effort to improve instruction and better accommodate the needs of students, community colleges are offering courses delivered in a variety of delivery formats that require students to have some level of technology fluency to be successful in the course. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between student socioeconomic status (SES), course delivery method, and course type on enrollment, final course grades, course completion status, and course passing status at a state college. ^ A dataset for 20,456 students of low and not low SES enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) course types delivered using traditional, online, blended, and web enhanced course delivery formats at Miami Dade College, a large open access 4-year state college located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, was analyzed. A factorial ANOVA using course type, course delivery method, and student SES found no significant differences in final course grades when used to determine if course delivery methods were equally effective for students of low and not low SES taking STEM course types. Additionally, three chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were used to investigate for differences in enrollment, course completion and course passing status by SES, course type, and course delivery method. The findings of the chi-square tests indicated that: (a) there were significant differences in enrollment by SES and course delivery methods for the Engineering/Technology, Math, and overall course types but not for the Natural Science course type and (b) there were no significant differences in course completion status and course passing status by SES and course types overall and SES and course delivery methods overall. However, there were statistically significant but weak relationships between course passing status, SES and the math course type as well as between course passing status, SES, and online and traditional course delivery methods. ^ The mixed findings in the study indicate that strides have been made in closing the theoretical gap in education and technology skills that may exist for students of different SES levels. MDC's course delivery and student support models may assist other institutions address student success in courses that necessitate students having some level of technology fluency. ^

Development of a work-based learning MSc course which incorporates the development and demonstration of professional engineering competence standards

UK engineering standards are regulated by the Engineering Council (EC) using a set of generic threshold competence standards which all professionally registered Chartered Engineers in the UK must demonstrate, underpinned by a separate academic qualification at Masters Level. As part of an EC-led national project for the development of work-based learning (WBL) courses leading to Chartered Engineer registration, Aston University has started an MSc Professional Engineering programme, a development of a model originally designed by Kingston University, and build around a set of generic modules which map onto the competence standards. The learning pedagogy of these modules conforms to a widely recognised experiential learning model, with refinements incorporated from a number of other learning models. In particular, the use of workplace mentoring to support the development of critical reflection and to overcome barriers to learning is being incorporated into the learning space. This discussion paper explains the work that was done in collaboration with the EC and a number of Professional Engineering Institutions, to design a course structure and curricular framework that optimises the engineering learning process for engineers already working across a wide range of industries, and to address issues of engineering sustainability. It also explains the thinking behind the work that has been started to provide an international version of the course, built around a set of globalised engineering competences. © 2010 W J Glew, E F Elsworth.

Essays on the Economics of Higher Education

At least since the seminal works of Jacob Mincer, labor economists have sought to understand how students make higher education investment decisions. Mincer’s original work seeks to understand how students decide how much education to accrue; subsequent work by various authors seeks to understand how students choose where to attend college, what field to major in, and whether to drop out of college.

Broadly speaking, this rich sub-field of literature contributes to society in two ways: First, it provides a better understanding of important social behaviors. Second, it helps policymakers anticipate the responses of students when evaluating various policy reforms.

While research on the higher education investment decisions of students has had an enormous impact on our understanding of society and has shaped countless education policies, students are only one interested party in the higher education landscape. In the jargon of economists, students represent only the `demand side’ of higher education---customers who are choosing options from a set of available alternatives. Opposite students are instructors and administrators who represent the `supply side’ of higher education---those who decide which options are available to students.

For similar reasons, it is also important to understand how individuals on the supply side of education make decisions: First, this provides a deeper understanding of the behaviors of important social institutions. Second, it helps policymakers anticipate the responses of instructors and administrators when evaluating various reforms. However, while there is substantial literature understanding decisions made on the demand side of education, there is far less attention paid to decisions on the supply side of education.

This dissertation uses empirical evidence to better understand how instructors and administrators make decisions and the implications of these decisions for students.

In the first chapter, I use data from Duke University and a Bayesian model of correlated learning to measure the signal quality of grades across academic fields. The correlated feature of the model allows grades in one academic field to signal ability in all other fields allowing me to measure both ‘own category' signal quality and ‘spillover' signal quality. Estimates reveal a clear division between information rich Science, Engineering, and Economics grades and less informative Humanities and Social Science grades. In many specifications, information spillovers are so powerful that precise Science, Engineering, and Economics grades are more informative about Humanities and Social Science abilities than Humanities and Social Science grades. This suggests students who take engineering courses during their Freshman year make more informed specialization decisions later in college.

In the second chapter, I use data from the University of Central Arkansas to understand how universities decide which courses to offer and how much to spend on instructors for these courses. Course offerings and instructor characteristics directly affect the courses students choose and the value they receive from these choices. This chapter reveals the university preferences over these student outcomes which best explain observed course offerings and instructors. This allows me to assess whether university incentives are aligned with students, to determine what alternative university choices would be preferred by students, and to illustrate how a revenue neutral tax/subsidy policy can induce a university to make these student-best decisions.

In the third chapter, co-authored with Thomas Ahn, Peter Arcidiacono, and Amy Hopson, we use data from the University of Kentucky to understand how instructors choose grading policies. In this chapter, we estimate an equilibrium model in which instructors choose grading policies and students choose courses and study effort given grading policies. In this model, instructors set both a grading intercept and a return on ability and effort. This builds a rich link between the grading policy decisions of instructors and the course choices of students. We use estimates of this model to infer what preference parameters best explain why instructors chose estimated grading policies. To illustrate the importance of these supply side decisions, we show changing grading policies can substantially reduce the gender gap in STEM enrollment.

TENDENCIA THATCHERITIS OR ENGLISHNESS REMADE: The Fictions of Julian Barnes, Hanif Kureishi and Pat Barker

Julian Barnes, Pat Barker, and Hanif Kureishi are all canonical authors whose fictions are widely believed to reflect the cultural and political state of a nation that is post-war, post-imperial and post-modern. While much has been written on how Barker’s and Kureishi’s early works in particular respond to and intervene in the presiding political narrative of the 1980s – Thatcherism – treatment of how revenants of Thatcherism have shaped these writers’ works from 1990 on has remained cursory. Thatcherism is more than an obvious historical reference point for Barker, Barnes, and Kureishi; their works demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how Thatcher’s reworkings of the repertoires of Englishness – a representational as well as political and cultural endeavour – persist beyond her time in office. Barnes, Barker, and Kureishi seem to have reached the same conclusion as political and cultural critics: Thatcher and Thatcherism have remade not only the contemporary political and cultural landscapes but also the electorate and consequently the English themselves. Tony Blair’s conception of the New Britain proved less than satisfactory because contemporary repertoires of Englishness repeat and rework historical and not incidentally imperial formulations of England and Englishness rather than envision civic and populist formulations of renewal. Barnes’s England, England and Arthur & George confront the discourse of inevitability that has come to be attached to contemporary formulations of both political and cultural Englishness – both in terms of its predictable demise and its belated celebration. Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia and “The Body” speak to an alteration that has taken place in which historical Englishness and Thatcherism have become complementary rather than contrasting discourses. What Barker’s Border Crossing and Double Vision offer against this backdrop is a subtle interrogation of how renewal itself comes to be a presiding mode of cultural reflection that absorbs revolutionary possibility.

Exploring the Success of Student Experiential Learning through Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Academic literature has increasingly recognized the value of non-traditional higher education learning environments that emphasize action-orientated experiential learning for the study of entrepreneurship (Gibb, 2002; Jones & English, 2004). Many entrepreneurship educators have accordingly adopted approaches based on Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle to develop a dynamic, holistic model of an experience-based learning process. Jones and Iredale (2010) suggested that entrepreneurship education requires experiential learning styles and creative problem solving to effectively engage students. Support has also been expressed for learning-by-doing activities in group or network contexts (Rasmussen and Sorheim, 2006), and for student-led approaches (Fiet, 2001). This study will build on previous works by exploring the use of experiential learning in an applied setting to develop entrepreneurial attitudes and traits in students. Based on the above literature, a British higher education institution (HEI) implemented a new, entrepreneurially-focused curriculum during the 2013/14 academic year designed to support and develop students’ entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions. The approach actively involved students in small scale entrepreneurship activities by providing scaffolded opportunities for students to design and enact their own entrepreneurial concepts. Students were provided with the necessary resources and training to run small entrepreneurial ventures in three different working environments. During the course of the year, three applied entrepreneurial opportunities were provided for students, increasing in complexity, length, and profitability as the year progressed. For the first undertaking, the class was divided into small groups, and each group was given a time slot and venue to run a pop-up shop in a busy commercial shopping centre. Each group of students was supported by lectures and dedicated class time for group work, while receiving a set of objectives and recommended resources. For the second venture, groups of students were given the opportunity to utilize an on-campus bar/club for an evening and were asked to organize and run a profitable event, acting as an outside promoter. Students were supported with lectures and seminars, and groups were given a £250 budget to develop, plan, and market their unique event. The final event was optional and required initiative on the part of the students. Students were given the opportunity to develop and put forward business plans to be judged by the HEI and the supporting organizations, which selected the winning plan. The authors of the winning business plan received a £2000 budget and a six-week lease to a commercial retail unit within a shopping centre to run their business. Students received additional academic support upon request from the instructor, and one of the supporting organizations provided a training course offering advice on creating a budget and a business plan. Data from students taking part in each of the events was collected, in order to ascertain the learning benefits of the experiential learning, along with the successes and difficulties they faced. These responses have been collected and analyzed and will be presented at the conference along with the instructor’s conclusions and recommendations for the use of such programs in higher educations.

Sesamoids of the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe: a sistematic review

Abstract: The first metatarsal sesamoid bones are not always taken into consideration when making a diagnosis, in pathologies that affect the region of the first metatarsal head. This is due to the insufficient knowledge of all the pathologies that can affect the sesamoids and the relative little incidence that they have. With the increment of sports activities, in particular the running, increasingly affects of the symptoms concerning this region are observed. Methods: A literature search was performed in 5 databases (Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library and BUCEA). The terms included in the search were: sesamoids, anatomy, biomechanics, sesamoids review and sesamoids pathology. In the initial search articles with no more than 10 years, only humans and revision texts are considered. Results: 24 articles were selected and include different pathologies with diagnosis using imaging tests and treatments, both conservative and surgical; as well as aspects from the biomechanics of the metatarsal-sesamoid joint. Conclusion: Sesamoids due of his anatomy, topography and function can be involved in a lot of pathologies; with similar signs and symptoms that can confuse the podiatry when he has to make a correct diagnosis or treatment.

The Sugar Factory

Luke Banas is a young video artist who lives illegally in the disused Domino sugar refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While his art is an attempt to fully record and share his own life story, developers want to tear down the building where he works; a building that’s a monument to his hip neighborhood’s industrial past. The novel’s narrator, Lila Fairfax, is a journalist writing her first feature article about Luke and the fate of the factory. Observant and astute, she soon realizes that, despite his obsessive self-revelation, Luke is hiding a secret. Lila’s rational, detached approach to life is disrupted as, in the course of her reporting, she falls in love with Luke and as a result, learns far more than she anticipated. Though primarily a love story, The Sugar Factory is also an investigation of art, and art’s interaction with commerce, history, and new technology.

Contrasts: Quartets and Art Songs of the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth-century Romantic era saw the development and expansion of many vocal and instrumental forms that had originated in the Classical era. In particular, the German lied and French mélodie matured as art forms, and they found a kind of equilibrium between piano and vocal lines. Similarly, the nineteenth-century piano quartet came into its own as a form of true chamber music in which all instruments participated equally in the texture. Composers such as Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Gabriel Fauré offer particularly successful examples of both art song and piano quartets that represent these genres at their highest level of artistic complexity. Their works have become the cornerstones of the modern collaborative pianist’s repertoire. My dissertation explored both the art songs and the piano quartets of these three composers and studied the different skills needed by a pianist performing both types of works. This project included the following art song cycles: Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Gabriel Fauré’s Poème d’un Jour, and Johannes Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder. I also performed Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47, Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25. My collaborators included: Zachariah Matteson, violin and viola; Kristin Bakkegard, violin; Molly Jones, cello; Geoffrey Manyin, cello; Karl Mitze, viola; Emily Riggs, soprano, and Matthew Hill, tenor. This repertoire was presented over the course of three recitals on February 13, 2015, December 11, 2015, March 25, 2016 at the University of Maryland’s Gildenhorn Recital Hall. These recitals can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

Beethoven's Violinists: The Influence of Clement, Viotti, and the French School on Beethoven's Violin Compositions

Over the course of his career, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) admired and befriended many violin virtuosos. In addition to being renowned performers, many of these virtuosos were prolific composers in their own right. Through their own compositions, interpretive style and new technical contributions, they inspired some of Beethoven’s most beloved violin works. This dissertation places a selection of Beethoven’s violin compositions in historical and stylistic context through an examination of related compositions by Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755–1824), Pierre Rode (1774–1830) and Franz Clement (1780–1842). The works of these violin virtuosos have been presented along with those of Beethoven in a three-part recital series designed to reveal the compositional, technical and artistic influences of each virtuoso. Viotti’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major and Rode’s Violin Concerto No. 10 in B minor serve as examples from the French violin concerto genre, and demonstrate compositional and stylistic idioms that affected Beethoven’s own compositions. Through their official dedications, Beethoven’s last two violin sonatas, the Op. 47, or Kreutzer, in A major, dedicated to Rodolphe Kreutzer, and Op. 96 in G major, dedicated to Pierre Rode, show the composer’s reverence for these great artistic personalities. Beethoven originally dedicated his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, to Franz Clement. This work displays striking similarities to Clement’s own Violin Concerto in D major, which suggests that the two men had a close working relationship and great respect for one another. The first recital was performed in Ulrich Recital Hall; the second and third recitals were performed in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland. All three performances were collaborations with pianist, Hsiang-Ling Hsiao. A Recording of the first program can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM). Recordings of the second and third recitals can be accessed at the University of Maryland Hornbake Library.

Project done for the Library Management course

The aim of Library Administration course led by Professor Gilda Chacon is that in addition to understanding the theory to be developed objectives for good management, learn to apply to a library or a department. Our group through this study sought to determine in what way the principles and purposes of the administration are applied in the Reference Department of the Central Library of the National University. Importantly, we believe that the Department of reference is the union between the user and bibliographic, and that its aim is to keep the user the right information. The theoretical part of the paper is prepared based on guided reading and class discussion of the basic literature presented in the course syllabus, information corresponding to the reference unit was obtained through collaboration that the staff gave us the same through interviews, written data, reports and so on.

A política de inclusão e o percurso de formação profissional do estudante com deficiência no Instituto Federal de Educação : um estudo de caso do Campus Planaltina

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de mestre no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém.

A política de inclusão e o percurso de formação profissional do estudante com deficiência no Instituto Federal de Educação : um estudo de caso do Campus Planaltina

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de mestre no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém.

Core-valence Correlation Effects On Ir Calculations: The Bf3 And Bcl3 Cases.

The first theoretical results of core-valence correlation effects are presented for the infrared wavenumbers and intensities of the BF3 and BCl3 molecules, using (double- and triple-zeta) Dunning core-valence basis sets at the CCSD(T) level. The results are compared with those calculated in the frozen core approximation with standard Dunning basis sets at the same correlation level and with the experimental values. The general conclusion is that the effect of core-valence correlation is, for infrared wavenumbers and intensities, smaller than the effect of adding augmented diffuse functions to the basis set, e.g., cc-pVTZ to aug-cc-pVTZ. Moreover, the trends observed in the data are mainly related to the augmented functions rather than the core-valence functions added to the basis set. The results obtained here confirm previous studies pointing out the large descrepancy between the theoretical and experimental intensities of the stretching mode for BCl3.

Diagnosis, Treatment, And Follow-up Of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: Recommendations By The Thyroid Department Of The Brazilian Society Of Endocrinology And Metabolism.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) originates in the thyroid parafollicular cells and represents 3-4% of the malignant neoplasms that affect this gland. Approximately 25% of these cases are hereditary due to activating mutations in the REarranged during Transfection (RET) proto-oncogene. The course of MTC is indolent, and survival rates depend on the tumor stage at diagnosis. The present article describes clinical evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of MTC. The aim of the consensus described herein, which was elaborated by Brazilian experts and sponsored by the Thyroid Department of the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, was to discuss the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of individuals with MTC in accordance with the latest evidence reported in the literature. After clinical questions were elaborated, the available literature was initially surveyed for evidence in the MedLine-PubMed database, followed by the Embase and Scientific Electronic Library Online/Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature (SciELO/Lilacs) databases. The strength of evidence was assessed according to the Oxford classification of evidence levels, which is based on study design, and the best evidence available for each question was selected. Eleven questions corresponded to MTC diagnosis, 8 corresponded to its surgical treatment, and 13 corresponded to follow-up, for a total of 32 recommendations. The present article discusses the clinical and molecular diagnosis, initial surgical treatment, and postoperative management of MTC, as well as the therapeutic options for metastatic disease. MTC should be suspected in individuals who present with thyroid nodules and family histories of MTC, associations with pheochromocytoma and hyperparathyroidism, and/or typical phenotypic characteristics such as ganglioneuromatosis and Marfanoid habitus. Fine-needle nodule aspiration, serum calcitonin measurements, and anatomical-pathological examinations are useful for diagnostic confirmation. Surgery represents the only curative therapeutic strategy. The therapeutic options for metastatic disease remain limited and are restricted to disease control. Judicious postoperative assessments that focus on the identification of residual or recurrent disease are of paramount importance when defining the follow-up and later therapeutic management strategies.

Low-level Laser Therapy To The Mouse Femur Enhances The Fungicidal Response Of Neutrophils Against Paracoccidioides Brasiliensis.

Neutrophils (PMN) play a central role in host defense against the neglected fungal infection paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), which is caused by the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb). PCM is of major importance, especially in Latin America, and its treatment relies on the use of antifungal drugs. However, the course of treatment is lengthy, leading to side effects and even development of fungal resistance. The goal of the study was to use low-level laser therapy (LLLT) to stimulate PMN to fight Pb in vivo. Swiss mice with subcutaneous air pouches were inoculated with a virulent strain of Pb or fungal cell wall components (Zymosan), and then received LLLT (780 nm; 50 mW; 12.5 J/cm2; 30 seconds per point, giving a total energy of 0.5 J per point) on alternate days at two points on each hind leg. The aim was to reach the bone marrow in the femur with light. Non-irradiated animals were used as controls. The number and viability of the PMN that migrated to the inoculation site was assessed, as well as their ability to synthesize proteins, produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their fungicidal activity. The highly pure PMN populations obtained after 10 days of infection were also subsequently cultured in the presence of Pb for trials of protein production, evaluation of mitochondrial activity, ROS production and quantification of viable fungi growth. PMN from mice that received LLLT were more active metabolically, had higher fungicidal activity against Pb in vivo and also in vitro. The kinetics of neutrophil protein production also correlated with a more activated state. LLLT may be a safe and non-invasive approach to deal with PCM infection.