bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mentoring University Faculty to Design, Develop, and Facilitate Asynchronous Online Discussions
Authors: Olesova Larisa , Campbell Susan
Published: August 2016

This research-based presentation will demonstrate and discuss the findings on how using the Cooperative Mentorship Model at George Mason University impacted the quality of designing, developing, and facilitating asynchronous online discussions in online courses. The Cooperative Mentorship Model is a model where instructional designers mentor university faculty to develop online courses and programs of greater quality. The Model consists of four phases, including planning, production, teaching, and assessment of an online course. Presenters will explain the research and practice driving the mentorship process. Instructional Designers use current research findings to help faculty design, facilitate, and assess effective online discussions. Online discussion design included peer review, debates, role play, and case-based and problem-based discussions. During the presentation, they will also share their own research findings about faculty-perceived effectiveness of designing and using asynchronous online discussions compared with their previous teaching experiences. Findings from Blackboard course reports and course evaluations will also be reviewed. Fields included in this study were public policy, communication, urban studies, government, religion, film studies, nutrition, assistive technology, conflict resolution, and others.
Sponsor Session: Blackboard Presents Competency-Based Education
Authors: Blackboard Sponsor Session:
Published: August 2016

Sponsor Session: Blackboard Presents Competency-Based Education
Making Research Methods Approachable and Relevant for Undergraduates
Authors: Paeglow Corrie , Weinstein Ali
Published: August 2016

Research methods often seem both daunting and unimportant to undergraduate students. Through our experience in designing and teaching a new research methods course, we have developed strategies that help students read, evaluate, and synthesize the literature while also understanding how it connects to the "real world." We undertook this course development to create this research methods course as our department's Scholarly Inquiry-level course. We wanted to ensure that when the students successfully completed the course, they had the skills to make them capable of evaluating scholarly work and conducting their own scholarly work. The session will cover how to guide students through dissecting a research article, including reviewing the statistical section (even if their statistical knowledge is limited), evaluating popular press reports about research using their new knowledge of research methods, and creating an activity-based classroom environment utilizing application of skills. In our design of this new course, we wanted to maintain a 50% lecture-style to 50% activity-based learning to try to ensure that the students would be actively engaged with the material presented.
Teaching strategies for nourishing creativity and innovation
Authors: Boicu Mihai , Rytikova Ioulia , Poms Laura , Nelson Jill , Peixoto Nathalia , Sherry Lance , Tecuci Gheorghe
Published: August 2016

Creativity and innovation is at the core of the PhD programs, but it is much less present in undergraduate or master programs creating a difficult gap for many students. Moreover, the dynamics of the evolution of the current world is making creativity and innovation a requirement for many jobs. However, large class sizes, density of the material presented, domain complexity and instructor research experience are some of the limiting factors that make difficult to include creativity and innovation training in the undergraduate curriculum. In this lightning talk session, educators with practical experience in preparing undergraduate students for creativity, innovation and research, will present and debate strategies to overcome these challenges in classes of various types (e.g. online vs. in class), levels (introductory vs. specialized electives) and using a diverse spectrum of methods, (including active learning, experiential learning, team-based learning, flipped classroom, project-based learning, competition-based learning, capstone courses, and extra-curriculum activities). The session will continue with a panel discussion about the applicability of such methods in various settings, how to start including such elements in classically taught curriculum, and will answer questions from the audience. Specific case studies from the audience are encouraged and will be discussed. At the end of this session the participants will have a better understanding of available strategies and lessons learned of how to make creativity and innovation integral part of the curriculum.
Universal Design: Strategies and Examples to Assist Educators in the Classroom
Authors: Jorgenson Linn , Singleton Korey , Mitchell Deborah
Published: August 2016

"College can be challenging for all students, and the challenges for students with visible and invisible disabilities are even greater. According to Taylor & Colvin in About Campus, the number of students with disabilities attending institutions of higher education has increased by 20% from 2003 to 2009 (2013).  Technology can be used to transform course materials from inaccessible to accessible. Universal design (UD) was coined by architect Ronald Mace to design products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible (Vance, 2014). Universal instructional design (UID), a term used on college campuses, will potentially make it easier for students and faculty with different learning styles, students with disabilities, and international students to access course material and participate more fully in the classroom (Adams, 2013). The unspoken way an institution of higher education communicates with any underserved population is by offering a welcoming environment. Teaching and learning opportunities through universal design is an exciting new avenue through which more students will be able to participate and be successful as they pursue a agree in higher education. ReferencesAdams, M. (Eds.). (2013) Readings for diversity and social justice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge, 98._Taylor, C.M. & Colvin K.L. (2013). Universal design: A tool to help college students with  Asperger's syndrome engage on campus. About Campus, 18(3), 9-15. doi:10.1002/abc.21118Vance, L.V. (Eds.). (2014). Beyond the Americans with disabilities act. Washington, DC: 37-8.
The Impact of Roles Assignment on the Quality of Online Case-Based Discussion
Authors: Olesova Larisa , Slavin Margaret
Published: August 2016

The role assignment is an increasingly popular approach for facilitating and evaluating asynchronous online discussions (Strijbos & Weinberger, 2010), with aspirations to enhance students' cognitive presence. However, simply assigning roles may not improve knowledge construction, engagement, or interaction necessary to achieve this goal. Cognitive presence is a critical facet of the community of inquiry, rooted in the critical thinking literature, and is operationalized by the practical inquiry model for assessment purposes (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001).This presentation will share the methods and results of a study investigating changes in the level of cognitive presence while students played roles (starter, wrapper, and skeptic) in asynchronous online case-based discussions. The study was conducted during fall 2013, spring 2014 and summer 2014 in NUTR 295-DL at George Mason University. The research questions for this study were, "What is the impact of role playing on the level of cognitive presence? How is cognitive presence expressed across different roles played by students when they participate in asynchronous online discussion?"
Reading and writing for complexity: Using key concepts and key terms to engage multilingual and other learners in scholarly conversations
Authors: Habib Anna Sophia , Mallett Karyn , Doetsch-Kidder Sharon , Savage James , Namubiru Esther
Published: August 2016

Mason faculty across the curriculum have expressed concern about their multilingual students’ ability to understand and engage with complex course content (Zawacki and Habib, 2014). This interactive session by composition and language faculty in the INTO Mason undergraduate and graduate pathway programs is designed to respond to this faculty concern. The session will provide strategies for how to teach students to engage with complex course content through conscious attention to the key concepts in their course readings and the terms used to define, describe, expand, and limit those concepts. This approach serves as a foundation for reading comprehension, drawing connections between sources, building an object of study, limiting or shaping the scope of a research question, finding search terms, evaluating sources, and writing coherent academic paragraphs. Participants will learn tools for teaching deep reading that will allow students to confidently recognize the writing strategies of successful academic scholars. By drawing attention to the conventions and language patterns of academic writing, students can improve their comprehension of complex course content while developing skills for critical thinking, writing, and research.
Innovative resources and reflections on writing instruction at Mason
Authors: Polk Tom , Chambers Emily
Published: August 2016

Reflecting this year’s conference proposal guidelines to highlight creative and reflective learning across the disciplines, the presenters seek to reflect upon the wealth of writing instruction available at Mason.  Drawing on an innovative, yearlong review of Writing Intensive (WI) course syllabi by Mason’s Writing Across the Curriculum program, the presenters wish to highlight their findings from evaluating 109 of the most recent WI course syllabi.  Further, the presenters wish to share writing assignments and syllabi from a proposed bank of the same, a digitized record of these rich resources. The presenters examined syllabi using Mason’s Writing Across the Curriculum’s course criteria, and they wish to present their main findings. This course evaluation highlights the tremendous innovation on George Mason’s campus and the possibility for further conversation about writing instruction. Instructors across multiple fields will be able to re-invigorate their writing instruction using these rich resources, even if they do not teach WI courses.  The presenters propose that this presentation and associated resources will foreshadow future innovations in writing instruction.
Teaching at the Tension Points: The Ethical Challenges of International Experiential Learning
Authors: Dwyer Leslie , Castel Alison
Published: August 2016

This 40-minute presentation will discuss the ethical challenges of international experiential learning programs. It will draw on the authors’ experiences developing the Indonesian Institute for Social Sciences and Human Rights, a program that brings U.S. and Indonesian students together to work in collaborative partnerships learning about ethnographic methods and their relationship to social justice work. Located in Jogjakarta, Java, Indonesia, the program asks students to consider the epistemologies and ethics of collaborative research methodologies. Moving beyond traditional study abroad practices that position Indonesian students and scholars as sources of local “data” to be extracted for the academic empowerment of their cosmopolitan visiting counterparts, this program opens a valuable space for students to not only question issues of culture and method, but to reflect upon their participation in global regimes of knowledge production. At the same time, by intentionally highlighting the fault lines that mark cultural, national and disciplinary boundaries, the program reliably generates high levels of personal anxiety and community conflict among students, demanding innovative pedagogical strategies for transforming tension into productive learning and dialogue. In this presentation, we will not arrive at a fixed set of ethics for international experiential learning, rather we will explore ethics as a space of ongoing inquiry and engagement. We anticipate that this presentation will be of interest to faculty, staff and students from a range of disciplines who are designing and engaging in international experiential learning programs.
Using Bug-In-Ear Coaching to Improve Instruction
Authors: Weiss Margaret , Regan Kelley , Kurz Leigh Ann , Orenstein Andrew , Good Kevin
Published: August 2016

Feedback on teaching has traditionally been provided through observation and subsequent discussion. However, Rock et al. (2009) state that "researchers have demonstrated that consistent delivery of immediate, positive, corrective, and specific feedback can influence both teacher attitudes and teacher behavior" (p. 65). Using the combination of video streaming and bug-in-ear technology, Rock and colleagues have been able to coach teachers while they are delivering instruction to use effective practices (e.g., Rock et al., 2014).This presentation will highlight findings from an ongoing project to use bug-in-ear coaching to improve teacher use of effective instructional practices in K-12 and in higher education. We will describe our process and pitfalls in establishing the project as well as preliminary results for changing teacher practice with interns teaching in local schools as well as doctoral students and faculty. Results from participants' reflections, changes in teacher instructional behavior, and changes in coaching behavior will be presented. We will include a demonstration of real time BIE coaching.Discussion will include:The need for real-time coaching, especially for doctoral studentsThe impact of coaching on teacher and coach behaviorThe importance of appropriate development and introduction of coachingFuture research directions.
Up the Pyramid, Around the Loop—Action Research Cultivates Sustainability Scholars to Green the Campus
Authors: Sklarew Dann , Wingfield Andrew , Richards Allison
Published: August 2016

With the support of a three-year curriculum development grant from the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), we have integrated undergraduate research in sustainability studies into our curriculum. This presentation details how we use the program's bookend courses, the introductory Sustainable World and capstone Sustainability in Action courses, to scaffold students' ascent of OSCAR's three-level scholarly pyramid: discovery, inquiry, and creation of scholarship.We also describe our learning loop model, which provides students in the introductory course with opportunities to learn about design and execution of university-funded, campus action research projects directly from students who have completed the capstone. Reciprocally, project ideas from the introductory course are passed forward for potential implementation by subsequent capstone students.Finally, we share the results of our research into the impact of our curricular approach on our students. In particular, we share our findings regarding how the pyramid and loop affected their individual emergence as sustainability practitioners and scholars as well as their forging of a community of practice among peers and alumni, extending beyond the classroom.
Considering Cornerstones for Student and Faculty Development
Authors: O'Connor John , Owen Julie , Gring-Pemble Lisa , Freeman Elizabeth , Gorski Paul , Gilmore Mike
Published: August 2016

Cornerstones is an alternative interdisciplinary general education program forhigh-achieving first-year students. It consists of four 6-credit courses taught insequence. Some of the hallmarks of the program are experiential learning (2-3field trips in each course), information literacy and technology across the courses,an emphasis on inquiry and research, collaboration by both students and faculty,an introduction to competency-based education, and student agency in responseto critical issues (e.g, sustainability). In this session, we will discuss constructingassignments that encourage reflective, integrative learning; incorporatingand assessing experiential learning; implementing our OSCAR "discovery ofscholarship" project; and developing faculty for interdisciplinary study. Throughthis interactive discussion, participants in the session will explore how they mightadopt some of these practices in their own courses. In addition, participants willhave an opportunity to enhance the Cornerstones curriculum and pedagogy bydescribing their own courses and practices. There will also be an opportunity toask about teaching in the Cornerstone program.
Re-Imagine Texts, Highlight Identity
Authors: Hudson Seth Andrew
Published: August 2016

Discussing the topic through experiences in the game writing and narrative design classroom, this talk addresses the effectiveness of incorporating multimedia projects into the revision process.  Seeking revision techniques that embraced the best practices of the writing classroom while attempting to extend the work outside of class, the speaker augmented a traditional assignment with an audiovisual revision introduced after an initial text draft.  Challenging students to re-imagine alphabetical texts as digital stories requires reflection to express their ideas in novel ways that engage a specific audience.  The digital story revision also encourages students to highlight their individual personalities through their choices in voice and content delivery beyond the traditional syntax and tone of writing. Regardless of the specific content, students can more easily disseminate their work via video hosting sites and social media AND potential employers via a web portfolio.  Additionally, this practice allows for a more practical and meaningful alternative to classroom presentations while developing skills in familiar software. The speaker will present a practical framework for implementing this technique into a course, how to avoid various pitfalls, and highlight some student successes. Takeaway: Instructors will find that this method is equally useful in online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses; utilizes technology familiar to almost all faculty and student; allows students to be creative and imaginative in addressing any topic; and provides skills that will help students and faculty in almost any future venture in the classroom.
Mason DREAMers: Fostering Inclusion for Our Undocumented Students
Authors: Wong Shelley , Kravitz David , Olson Kate , Velasquez Rodrigo , Crewalk Jennifer
Published: August 2016

In this session, become a part of our movement to create more inclusive environments for undocumented students through education and advocacy. Our undocumented students and supportive faculty will lead an interactive discussion on how to better organize, facilitate, educate, and lead on intersections of diversity, culture, history, and policy related to our undocumented populations within the George Mason University campus and community. Grounded in the understanding of critical pedagogy and Paulo Freire's notion of praxis (1970), the Mason DREAMers student organization leads annual events, UndocuAlly trainings, and community outreach initiatives to raise awareness and build critical understanding about the sociopolitical and educational climate of undocumented students and their families. Praxis that involves theory building through learning, action, and reflection is the basis of social transformation and is at the core of the Mason DREAMers mission. The group promotes this critical consciousness to reflect on the multidimensional identities and realities of undocumented students and then empowers participants to become change agents. This interactive session will discuss the praxis involved in being an advocate for undocumented students at George Mason University and will utilize this time and space to detail the concrete opportunities for advocacy and future action that is necessary to improve the social and educational lives of our students. http://www.masondreamers.org/
Teaching and Learning STEM Online: Challenges, Achievements, and Benefits
Authors: Tryfona Nektaria
Published: August 2016

STEM courses are characterized by (1) a high degree of multidisciplinary activities, (2) the requirement for specialized software and configuration, and (3) students with various diverse backgrounds along with the necessity to follow personalized educational paths to enter the workforce. These reasons make the design, development and offering of online STEM courses a complicated and time-consuming task.At the same time, many free (massive) online courses in STEM disciplines are available—usually, with pre-recorded videos, without collaborate sessions, without much interaction among the students and the instructor. However, they are free, thus the question "why would a student/professional choose a course-for-credit over the free one?" is more emerging than ever.This proposal discusses experiences and the way the aforementioned issues were addressed during the phase of design and teaching of a graduate course on GIS, Programming, and Algorithms. We argue on:The Mason-added value of this course over the (at least) 10 other similar free online coursesThe successful effort to provide students with an organized, care-free (in terms of data and software) environment to studentsThe adopted multi-level teaching approach to accommodate students background, ranging from professionals with experience to totally novice Mason students acquiring a degreeThe strategies for working on research-based STEM online coursesMentoring/advising STEM disciplines onlineThe use of technology-enhanced teaching and learning STEM disciplines.The pros and cons between teaching STEM online vs. teaching face-to-face, as well as the differences and similarities between teaching STEM vs. non-STEM online are drawn, revealing an unexpected result: distance learning is a very good practice to teach STEM graduate courses.
Learning Is Fun! Wait...STEM Learning?
Authors: Rytikova Ioulia , Boicu Mihai
Published: August 2016

Active learning is generally defined as an instructional method that engages students in the learning process and could be an effective instructional approach in STEM education. IT 214: Database Fundamentals was the first course in the Volgenau School of Engineering offered in the Active Learning with Technology Classroom. IT 214 is an undergraduate course that introduces challenging database and programming concepts and assists students in developing critical thinking and complex problem solving skills, demonstrating how rigorous academic content can be applied in a real-world environment. The course organization integrates a technology-enhanced learning environment with an innovative teaching methodology, developed by the presenters, that provides an active learning experience and creates a personalized course completion for each student in class. It utilizes a wide variety of learning resources and tools that includes but is not limited to participation in collaboration projects and discussions, peer review, assigned reading of textual online materials, review of videos, analysis of internet resources selected by the instructor, participation in surveys, etc. It provides students with an opportunity to create not only an active but also an effective learning environment that works best for their individual learning needs. These strategies will be demonstrated and lessons learned will be discussed.
Undergraduate scholarship: Local is global, and global is local
Authors: Usher Bethany
Published: August 2016

Research and Travel Abroad are considered two important high impact practices for undergraduate students, but are seen as separate learning opportunities. However, we know that these experiences are connected: faculty often study and collaborate internationally, and employers are seeking students who can apply knowledge to real-world problems and have cultural competency (Hart Research Associates, 2015).  In this conversation with faculty, I build on five years of Students as Scholars experience to promote a more nuanced and integrated view of “global” research. Students work on projects that usually fall into one of three categories: locally/regionally-focused, internationally-focused, and site-independent (with implicit global value). The location of the research can be at Mason, or in an international location. By framing the scholarly projects using this intersection of topic and location, we can create projects in and beyond the classroom in ways that intentionally teach about global issues through inquiry and research.  During this session, after presenting the model, participants will brainstorm ways to integrate global perspectives in research courses, study abroad experiences, and scholarly projects that involve students. Hart Research Associates (2015) Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-survey-falling-short
Embedding career readiness into your course curriculum
Authors: Timbers Raechel , Clay-Rooks Saskia
Published: August 2016

The university's 10 year strategic plan charges us to produce 100,000 career-ready graduates. But, what does it mean to be career-ready?  In 2015, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released a comprehensive definition of career readiness and related competencies with the goal of providing higher education leaders, policy makers and employers shared language and understanding of the desired learning outcomes for today's college graduate.  The NACE career readiness competencies are intentionally broad in order to be applied successfully by faculty across all disciplines to prepare students for entry into today's interdisciplinary workplace and academy.  It is commonly accepted that students are more likely to be engaged in course content and achieve academic success necessary to graduate if they can identify and articulate the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and their desired post-graduate goal, whether to enter the workforce or go on for advanced study. In this presentation, representatives from University Career Services will provide an overview of the NACE career readiness competencies and ideas for how to more intentionally and explicitly tie them to classroom learning.  Presentation attendees will be able to:1.      Map existing course assignments to the career readiness competencies2.      Identify low effort and high impact methods for adding or enhancing current assignments that map to the career readiness competencies3.       Help students articulate the career readiness competencies gained through coursework
Learning through teaching: An online setting
Authors: Zoltek Stanley
Published: August 2016

A powerful way for students to master a subject is to engage them in teaching it to someone. This is especially true for mastering concepts in mathematics. In a traditional classroom we can give markers to students and send them to the whiteboard to solve problems. In an online course the electronic whiteboard is not quite as friendly. Though recent innovations make it possible to "write mathematics" on the online electronic whiteboard, the process is quite time-consuming. In our online pre-calculus course we supply a student with a PDF file containing the solution to a problem and ask the student to create a YouTube video in which they play the role of instructor. They are required to explain the steps involved in solving the problem and why each particular step "makes sense." We then provide a critique of their video and require them, if needed, to supply a revised video. The revised videos are made available online for the entire class. In our poster session we present three student videos, the corresponding instructor feedback, and the revised videos.
Best Practices and Opportunities at Mason for Global Collaborative Classrooms
Authors: Purnell-Sayle Richena , Reo Rick
Published: August 2016

In the U.S., only 10% of graduating undergraduate students have studied in another country; therefore, U.S. universities are finding other ways to provide meaningful global experiences to all students. Mason’s approach to help students develop a variety of intercultural skills is by supporting the development of Global Collaborative Classrooms (GCCs). In this model, a Mason faculty member partners with an international peer faculty to develop a co-taught learning environment delivered via mutually determined online technology. Besides the thematic content of the course, the key pedagogical component of the GCC is an emphasis on international student collaboration. Therefore, the signature learning experience of GCCs is one in which global learning outcomes aligned with collaborative learning activities, such as group projects, group presentations and/or research, are a significant part of the design. GCCs can be created for most disciplines. The poster will primarily communicate the structural elements of a GCC, but it will also showcase technology integration best practices, internal resources and external faculty partner opportunities, and case studies of successful GCC-like courses. Finally, the poster will describe a new CISCO Systems grant-funded initiative that will provide Mason faculty an opportunity to adapt the GCC model in an existing course.
Using predictive analytics in teaching and advising: Promising practices and practical considerations
Authors: Klein Carrie , Lester Jaime , Rangwala Huzefa , Johri Aditya
Published: August 2016

Higher education institutions are facing increasing pressure to provide evidence of student learning; teaching pedagogical best practices are moving to an increasingly individualized and student-focused learning model; and innovative technologies are allowing for greater mining of student data. Within this environment, learning and advising management systems, based on educational big data, or learning analytics, are being developed to better measure, analyze, report and predict data related to student learning, retention and completion. These learning analytics-informed systems have the potential to generate new insight into courses and student learning by creating responsive feedback mechanisms that can shape data-informed decision making as it relates to teaching, learning and advising. Despite the benefits of using learning analytics-informed learning and advising management systems, there are barriers and challenges related to broad adoption and use of innovations like these systems in higher education.In the summer of 2015, we conducted an instrumental case study to learn more about the technological, institutional, and individual factors related to adoption and use of learning analytics-informed educational technology tools on campus.  In this short lightning talk, we will present the findings from the study’s focus group interviews and observations.  Further, we will share promising practices and practical considerations related to use of learning analytics tools to measure and predict academic performance.
Learning Inside-Out: Turning the Outside World into Class with an Eye Towards Sustainability and Well-Being
Authors: Sklarew Dann , Wingfield Andrew , Richards Allison
Published: August 2016

This session examines emerging "flipped classroom" techniques to promote active learning about sustainability and well-being. First, presenters share a few pedagogical tools for active, mobile learning among sustainability studies practitioners, including a few illustrations for each. These tools include social learning, living laboratories, service learning, and action research. Opportunities to enhance these activities through use of Mason's Patriot Green Fund will also be shared. Presenters will then explore how these tools could be adapted and used to foster learning and practice related to sustainability and well-being across the curricula of session participants.Faculty who desire to enhance their pedagogy through active learning and address real-world community challenges should discover several valuable methods, a few pitfalls, and lots of lessons learned. Applications may span single sessions or entire courses. Those teaching upper-level undergraduate synthesis or graduate capstone courses with a focus on practical scholarship may find this session particularly useful to their teaching.
Lessons learned by navigating the full circle of learning environments
Authors: Ericson Robin , Ericson Rebecca
Published: August 2016

In this session, we will demonstrate how to apply learning theory, focused on stimulating self-motivated deep learning in a variety of learning environments from distance to face-to-face settings.  As students and professors, we have experience with nearly every type of classroom at Mason, from traditional fixed chairs, tiered seating, and semicircular tables; to technology-enhanced distance courses and active learning classrooms; and to movable seating rooms.  We have integrated technological tools and learning techniques from enhanced learning environments back into traditional classrooms, an approach we call flexible classroom teaching. Each environment supports learning in different ways; having gone full-circle, what are the best practices to transition and design for engaged learning in these spaces?    With small changes in delivery technique, we have retained the best in what we have learned in our practices and from the literature on learning theory, while continually monitoring learning to improve our processes.
Leveraging Undergraduate Expertise to Create Innovative Learning Objects: A Mentorship-Learning Model from the Honors College's Research, Technology, and Online Community Project
Authors: Stafford Richard Todd , Woolsey John
Published: August 2016

The Honors College's Research, Technology, and Online Community (RTOC) project was an OSCAR-funded initiative designed to leverage undergraduate expertise to improve the way that we teach students about the research process. The project aimed to provide a meaningful learning experience to our paid and volunteer student participants by inviting them to collaboratively develop high-quality Open Educational Resources (OERs) based on the HNRS 110 course, but intended these resources to be relevant to a broader student audience. The norms of the HNRS 110 community were conducive to these goals: the course design uses a mentorship model to facilitate learning in the "zone of proximal development" between what first-year Honors students can comfortably do on their own and what they are able to do with the support of more advanced undergraduate, graduate, and library mentors. This offered a uniquely fertile institutional context in which to cultivate new modes of mentorship appropriate to our students' increasingly digitally mediated social and educational identities. We will describe the process involved with planning, producing, revising, and deploying the OERs and reflect on our students' learning process. We will discuss the ways that the RTOC model might be improved or adapted by other departments seeking to replicate RTOC's success.
Collaborating across disciplines and the Commonwealth: Engaging students in community-based learning
Authors: Rowan Katherine E. , Smith Cynthia
Published: August 2016

The School Environmental Action Showcase is in its fifth year at George Mason University. This event may be the largest STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) showcase in Virginia. Seven hundred youth, from kindergarten through high school, present their environmentally oriented research at Mason’s Center for the Arts in April. The Mason leader, a science professor, has coordinated with a communication faculty member to support SEAS.  SEAS  is funded by the 4VA Wind and Watershed partnership.  It also includes faculty and students in a James Madison University course, community NGOs, dozens of regional K-12 schools, state and federal agencies, Mason admissions and sustainability offices, public officials, and student volunteers.  Youth present projects such as planting radishes to improve the cleanliness of Virginia waters and designing wind turbines to increase energy production.  This proposed lightning talk will share highlights, Mason students’ feedback, and lessons learned about teaming across disciplines.
Chinese national allegory goes West: Let the Bullets Fly
Authors: den Troost Kristof Van
Published: August 2016

This article will look closely at a Chinese western, Jiang Wen’s Rang zidan fei/Let the Bullets Fly (2010). It will argue that Jiang’s film continues the tradition of national allegory and cultural critique of 1980s Fifth Generation films, albeit in a more postmodern mode. Incidentally, these 1980s films have in Chinese film criticism also been described as xibu pian (westerns), which was understood as an indigenous type of film that told stories set in China’s hinterlands. Let the Bullets Fly makes the connection of the xibu pian to the American/spaghetti western more explicit, exploiting the allegorical potential of both genres to present Jiang Wen’s personal vision of Chinese society and history, and the role of revolution in both. By doing so, Jiang re-nationalizes the de-nationalized model of the spaghetti western. While Jiang’s adoption of the iconography, settings, character types and plots of the western ends up strengthening the allegorical power of his film and led to widespread speculation about its potentially subversive political messages, his use of the genre in the final analysis also limits the film’s politics.
Mirroring-Drifting – Lam Lin-tung and film aesthetics
Authors: Fan Victor
Published: August 2016

The social, political and cultural complexity of post-war Hong Kong (1945–1997) produced a highly fragmented, unsystematic, and historically transient mode of critical debate on the cinema. One film scholar, however, Lam Nin-tung (林年同 Lin Niangtong, 1944–1990), tried to systematize the debate and proposed a thoughtprovoking idea: jing you [geng jau 鏡游] or mirroring-drifting. In this article, I argue that Lam’s theory is best understood as an attempt to re-examine the relationship between the subject and the object in cinematic perception, a project motivated by a subjectival crisis embedded within the social, cultural and political complexity of the historical period.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai: Acting sexy in Hong Kong and China
Authors: Gallagher Mark
Published: August 2016

To account for the complex performative and cultural phenomenon of cinematic sex appeal, this article investigates Chinese actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai Leung as a regional and global star, focusing on attributes of his acting that convey sex appeal or have been received as sexy. Leung appears as a popular star in a regional Asian context but as a more rarefied, art-cinema performer internationally. Despite this bifurcated reputation, his sex appeal provides a powerful symbolic currency bankable in local as well as global contexts. Through attention to the elusive category of sex appeal, I identify features of Leung’s acting and stardom that inform his overall career activity.
Female protagonists and the role of smoking in Chinese and French cinema
Authors: Pugsley Peter C. , Mccann Ben
Published: August 2016

A number of recent Chinese and French films include frequent images of smoking by young female characters. This observation leads us to consider whether this is merely a conventional genre trope, or whether it is a broader reflection of changes in the ways that filmmakers wish to represent young women in these national cultures. We contend that smoking on-screen can be viewed as a sign of potential change towards empowerment, individualism and increased risk-taking for young women in a globalizing world. Smoking has long been glamorized by filmmakers despite clear research showing that it is a harmful and addictive activity. Its determined use as a prop for the femme fatale, for instance, plays an important and lasting role in the film noir (and neo-noir) aesthetic. We explore the role of risk-taking female protagonists in contemporary Chinese and French films, including Ang Lee’s Se, Jie/Lust, Caution (2007), Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046 (2004), Claude Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux (2012) and Pierre Salvadori’s Hors de Prix/Priceless (2006). Furthermore, we investigate the gendered aesthetics of on-screen ‘tobacco imagery’ as a narrative device that confirms the convention of female protagonists (including the femme fatale) as a risk taker.
Space, mobility, modernity: The figure of the prostitute in Chinese-language cinema
Authors: Lu Sheldon
Published: August 2016

This article is a study of the figure of the modern Chinese prostitute by examining a series of important Chinese-language films. I describe a pattern of increasing mobility on the part of the Chinese prostitute from the turn of the twentieth century to the turn of the twenty-first century. The spatial expansion of the Chinese prostitute over a long historical time span has to do with the evolving conceptions and realities of the modern Chinese nation state within a global capitalist system. I demarcate successively three times in modern Chinese history and describe the corresponding phases/faces of gender politics as embodied by the figure of the Chinese prostitute.
Efficacy of mebendazole and levamisole, alone or in combination, for soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Authors: Sihite Ifo Faujiah , Ali Muhammad , Pasaribu Ayodhia P. , Pasaribu Syahril , Lubis Chairuddin P.
Published: August 2016

BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) recommends four, single-dose drugs (albendazole, levamisole, mebendazole, and pyrantel pamoate) for management of soil­transmitted helminthiasis (STH). Previous studies have shown varied and inconsistent outcomes of these STH treatments.ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy of mebendazole and levami­sole, alone or in combination, for the treatment of STH.MethodsAn open randomized controlled trial was conducted in Secanggang, North Sumatera from August to October 2009. School-aged children with STH infection were randomized into three groups. Group I received a single dose of mebendazole (500 mg); group II received a single dose of levamisole (2.5 mg/kg); and group III received a single dose of mebendazole-levamisole combined. Stool samples were collected at baseline, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks after treatment and examined by the Kato-Katz technique. Statistical analyses were Kruskal-Wallis test for cure rate and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test for egg reduction rate. ResultsSTH was diagnosed in 197 children with the following parasite species: Ascariasis (96 children, 48.7%), Trichuriasis (58 children, 29.4%), and mixed infection (43 children, 21.8%). We found no hookworm infection in any of our subjects. Groups I and III had significantly higher efficacy (P=0.0001) against STH (egg reduction rate 99.3% and 99.9%; cure rate 92.2% and 98.4%, respectively) at 4th week of treatment.ConclusionA single dose of mebendazole alone and combined with levamisole have better efficacy compared to a single dose of levamisole for the treatment of STH. The highest efficacy of these treatments is noted at the 4th week after drug administration
Prognostic factors for mortality in pediatric acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis
Authors: Nur Syamsul , Albar Husein , Daud Dasril
Published: August 2016

Background Acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) is one of the most common causes of glomerular disease in developing countries, including Indonesia. It can lead to end stage renal failure and higher mortality rates. To decrease morbidity and mortality, it is important to understand the prognostic factors affecting the disease.Objective To identify prognostic factors affecting outcomes in pediatric APSGN patients.Methods Study data were collected from medical records of patients with APSGN hospitalized in Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, Makassar in 2009-2013. Possible prognotic factors analyzed were gender, age, nutritional status, level of consciousness, as well as proteinuria, hemoglobin, serum albumin, urea, and creatinine levels.Results Of 86 subjects, 82 (95.3%) survived and 4 (4.7%) died. Fifty-three (61.6%) patients were male and 33 (38.4%) were female. Subjects’ ages ranged from 3.42 to 14.67 years, with a mean age of 9.36 years. Multivariate analysis revealed serum creatinine level >1.5 mg/dL to be an independent prognostic factor for mortality in children with APSGN (AOR 15.43; 95%CI 1.31 to 181.7; P=0.03).Conclusion High serum creatinine level is an independent prognostic factor for poor outcomes in children with APSGN. [Paediatr Indones. 2016;56:166-70.].
Lisianthus cultivation using differentiated light transmission nets
Authors: Viegas Rodrigues Paulo Hercilio , Martella Julia , Calaboni Cristiane
Published: August 2016

The Lisianthus stands out as one of the ten most cut flowers sold in the world. The use of meshes in a different light transmission is gaining more space in horticulture with promising results in greenhouse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the development of lisianthus grown in different light transmission meshes in blue, black, red and control treatments, which were transplanted 20 seedlings to cultivate Snow white with three replications, and therefore, 60 plants 240 plants per treatment in total. Agronomic characteristics such as plant height and length of the top pair of leaves were evaluated at 15, 38, 59, 82 and 105 days after transplanting. Other features such as early flowering, thick stem, distance between us and weight of the harvested stems were obtained at harvest stage. At the end of the evaluations, the treatment of red net was the most consistent with a significant difference in stem height and earliness in flowering.
Tipos hidroquímicos do Sistema aquífero Bauru no Estado de São Paulo
Authors: Kiang Chang Hung , Stradioto Marcia Regina , Silva Flávio Paula e
Published: August 2016

A captação de água subterrânea para abastecimento público está presente em 55% dos municípios brasileiros. No estado de São Paulo, aproximadamente 72% dos municípios são total ou parcialmente abastecidos por água subterrânea, atendendo a uma população de cerca de 5,5 milhões de pessoas. Nesse contexto, o Sistema Aquífero Bauru ganha relevância por ser um dos mais explorados no interior do estado. O presente trabalho apresenta a caracterização e classificação hidroquímica de quatro unidades aquíferas que compõem esse sistema aquífero em São Paulo. Os estudos foram desenvolvidos na região de ocorrência dos sedimentos cretácicos do Grupo Bauru no estado de São Paulo, com coleta de águas subterrâneas em poços estrategicamente  selecionados. A seleção foi direcionada para poços com produção em um único aquífero e regionalmente distribuídos. Aos resultados obtidos foram agregrados dados de análises químicas de trabalhos anteriores, com vistas à obtenção de uma caracterização hidroquímica conjunta para o Sistema Aquífero Bauru. As águas foram classificadas predominantemente como bicarbonatadas cálcicas e sódicas, seguidas de sulfatadas cálcicas e cloretadas sódicas. As águas do Aquífero Caiuá são as menos salinas e e as do Aquífero Santo Anastácio as mais mineralizadas.