The rise of small, skills-focused credentials, also known as micro-credentials, has garnered considerable attention in recent years. By offering micro-credentials, institutions of higher education ...can provide additional credential options, thereby attracting more diverse audiences beyond degree-seekers. However, amidst their growth, fundamental questions surrounding their effective design and pedagogical implementation remain. This lack of clarity may inadvertently hinder their effectiveness. To address this gap, there is a need for studies that examine the perspectives and practices of faculty involved in micro-credential development and delivery. This study employed a single-embedded case design to investigate the perceptions and practices of faculty members who implemented micro-credentials for a pilot program at a large public research university. Specifically, this study aimed to identify faculty perceptions of the assessment and credentialing affordances of micro-credentials, and strategies employed to integrate these affordances into the design of micro-credentials. In-depth interviews were conducted with faculty members representing a diverse array of academic disciplines. Findings revealed that faculty need support in recognizing and integrating certain characteristics of quality assessments when designing micro-credentials, including aligning of assessments with a micro-credential’s delivery method, and integrating equity-oriented assessments into the design. These findings underscore the necessity for interventions and training programs aimed at integrating quality assessment practices into micro-credential design.
Student engagement in higher education has been a topic of discussion for decades, as student engagement directly indexes student retention, achievement, and career development. While previous ...research emphasizes the importance of effective teaching practices to increase student engagement in higher education, faculty and staff report institutional and professional challenges to increase interactions with students. This study highlights cases of successful teacher-student relationships that engendered positive student emotions and advanced student engagement in higher education settings. Using the thank-you note messages provided by students in a Thank-a-Teacher initiative, data were analyzed qualitatively through the theoretical principles of humanizing pedagogy (del Carmen Salazar, 2013). The findings indicate that the enactment of humanizing pedagogy through conveying emotions and forming positive teacher-student relationships made a meaningful impact on student motivation, engagement, and growth. Implications for the transformation and liberation of higher education through affect-driven pedagogy are discussed.
This meta-analysis looked at 17 studies which focused on the comparison of reading on screen and reading on paper in terms of reading comprehension and reading speed. The robust variance estimation ...(RVE)- based meta-analysis models were employed, followed by four different RVE meta-regression models to examine the potential effects of some of the covariates (moderators) on the mean differences in comprehension and reading speed between reading on screen and reading on paper. The RVE meta-analysis showed that reading on paper was better than reading on screen in terms of reading comprehension, and there were no significant differences between reading on paper and reading on screen in terms of reading speed. None of the moderators were significant at the 0.05 level. In the meanwhile, albeit not significant, examination of the p-values for the difference tests prior to 2013 and after 2013 respectively (not shown here) indicated that the magnitude of the difference in reading comprehension between paper and screen followed a diminishing trajectory. It was suggested that future meta-analyses include latest studies, and other potential moderators such as fonts, spacing, age and gender.
•Reading on paper is better than reading on screen in terms of reading comprehension.•Reading on paper is not significantly different from reading on screen in terms of reading speed.•The magnitude of the difference in reading comprehension between media types followed a diminishing trajectory.
Reasoning words are linguistic features associated with classroom exploratory talk as students talk-to-learn, explore ideas, and probe each other's thinking. This study extends established research ...on use of reasoning words to a fourth- to fifth-grade literature-based English language learning context. We examined frequency and patterning of teacher and student use of reasoning words within and across two lessons purposefully selected to elucidate use of reasoning words during a close reading of a text as students grapple to make meaning and extended intertextual talk about a text that is easily accessible. Analyses and exemplifications illuminate how usage of each reasoning word functioned to introduce/link to reasoning or to prompt for reasoning. Teacher used reasoning words to mostly prompt for reasoning and student used them to introduce/link to reasoning. We found consistent use of reasoning words by teacher and students across three categories: language of possibility, reasoning links, and pressing for reasoning.
•Attitude toward ICT use was positively related to digital reading achievement•This relationship was stronger for male students in the U.S. and Finland•Digital reading frequency was positively ...related to digital reading achievement•This relationship was stronger for male students in Singapore•ICT use frequency was negatively related to digital reading achievement
By using the PISA 2018 data across the United States, Singapore, and Finland, this study examined whether students’ frequency of reading on digital devices and their frequency of and attitude toward using digital devices were related to digital reading achievement. The results showed that student attitude toward the use of digital devices was positively associated with digital reading achievement. This relationship was stronger for male students in the United States and Finland. Students’ frequency of using digital devices was negatively associated with digital reading achievement, while students’ frequency of reading on digital devices was positively associated with digital reading achievement. The association between frequency of reading on digital devices and digital reading achievement was stronger for male students in Singapore.
As reading-on-screen (RS) becomes more and more common nowadays, many ESL graduate students are struggling with RS, especially for academic purposes in English as a second language. This struggle ...greatly affects these students’ learning performance in an environment where many learning activities (e.g., reading, writing, discussion board in learning management systems) were carried out on screens (Chou, 2012). Researchers support that when a second language is involved, RS becomes more complex, challenging, and demanding because processing reading materials in a second language could potentially increase readers’ cognitive load and affect their reading performance (Chou, 2012; Kennedy, 2001). However, research that specifically and closely examines RS for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) graduate students is scarce. Without more comprehensive knowledge of RS in an ESL context, ESL graduate students’ ability to read on screen effectively and teachers’ ability to help these students become successful readers on screen are severely compromised (e.g., Gilbert, 2017; Rimi, 2019). Inspired by the literature in the field of RS and reading in general, and informed by sociocultural theory, this case study focused on ESL graduate students’ frequency and perception of RS and reading-English-on-screen (RES). This study paid attention to not only now (ESL graduate students’ frequency of use and perception of RS), but also the past (students’ past experience and how it leads to now). Two research questions guided this study were: RQ1. What are focal ESL graduate students’ current reading frequency and perception of RS and RES? RQ2. Looking back at selected ESL graduate students’ past experience, what factors helped to shape their perception of RS and RES? To answer the two research questions, the researcher distributed questionnaires that measured and compared students’ frequency and comfort level of RS and RES. Sixty-seven responses were collected. Moreover, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with ten of the 67 respondents to examine their past experience and their perception of RS and RES. Questionnaire responses and part of the interview data informed the first research question. The rest of the interview data was used to answer the second research question. The findings showed participants spent more time reading on screen while they were more comfortable with RP. They also perceived both advantages and disadvantages of RS and RES. Moreover, the interviewees’ perceptions of RS and RES appeared to mainly be affected by factors such as their familiarity with technology (sometimes relative to what they wanted to achieve when reading on screen) and their perceived difficulty of reading tasks in terms of content and language (sometimes relative to what they want to do for RS). Besides, some interviewees also showcased how perception and experience of RP, as well as personality, could possibly change their perception of RS and RES but these claims appeared to be more trivial. These factors were related to and shaped by the interviewees’ past experiences such as the family influence, the societal influence, or a change in environment brought either by technology advancement or physical relocation. Other past experience such as extensive gameplay experience also contributed to some interviewees’ personality formation and subsequently affected the factors mentioned above. The interviewees’ perception to some extent determined whether they read on screen and how often they read on screen. Meanwhile, the actual choice and frequency of RS also appeared to be determined by both perception toward RS, as well as practical concerns such as the interviewees’ socio-economic status in relation to the cost of printing and paper-based reading materials. Implications based on the findings in terms of screen design and RS and RES reading strategies were discussed in the dissertation.
Given the national and global demographic trends, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are topics of discussion in U.S. higher education institutions. Most post-secondary institutions include DEI ...initiatives and mission statements, including implementing inclusive frameworks and approaches. These approaches include universal design for learning (UDL), inclusive pedagogy, or multicultural education. The UDL approach and inclusive teaching practices allow university faculty and staff to teach with a structural design that could accommodate diverse learning needs and provide the additional support or differentiation needed for vulnerable or marginalized students. In this study, we infused DEI-focused inclusive pedagogy into faculty professional development (PD) programs such as workshops, events, courses, and additional resources. Qualitative data from the follow-up survey demonstrated the instructors positive attitudes and adoption of inclusive teaching practices reflecting UDL principles. The findings of this study indicate practical implications for instructional design and the development of faculty PD programs in higher education.
•Teachers can cultivate classroom conditions where students reason and speculate.•Recurring speculation & reasoning words cultivate a language of possibility space.•When students connect what they ...know to the content at hand we see S&R word usage.•Recurring speculation & reasoning words can indicate a dialogic instructional stance.
When members of a classroom community routinely listen to one another and build on one another's ideas, not only do students learn and improve their cognitive and communication skills, but teacher and students develop a disposition to listen, think and talk together. However, such dialogic, classroom talk is rare. In this study we show how a teacher's epistemological commitment (that student ideas matter) combined with oracy practices (safe space for student talk; student ideas drive classroom talk; support multiple perspectives) realized through speculation and reasoning (S&R) words foster dialogic talk. We examined S&R words (think, would, might/maybe, if, so, but, how, why) in 1299 turns of talk in two lessons in one classroom of six 4–5th grade English Language Learners. Statistical discourse analysis showed that S&R words occurred more often during what we refer to as connect episodes (students made personal connections to the content), not after particular types of turns. Close discourse analysis showed how S&R word use cultivated a language of possibility and how management of classroom discourse modality promoted dialogic talk.
Brush seals can improve engine performance by reducing leakage. Wear models of brush seals provide methods to predict wear and leakage. However, rotor eccentricity, radial deformation, and hysteresis ...effect of bristles are not considered systematically in the existing models, which may lead to large errors in some cases. To investigate the influence of rotor-stator eccentricity and radial deformation on the wear process and leakage performance of brush seal, a brush seal test was planned and executed, in which the air leakage rates were measured at different testing times and operating conditions, the eccentricity and radial deformation was measured using eddy current sensors. The test results showed that the eccentricity and radial deformation significantly affected the wear behavior and leakage performance. In the theoretical research, the abrasive wear equation is adopted to describe the material loss of bristles, and a simplified description is used to express the rotor-stator eccentric motions. To describe the effect of hysteresis on wear behavior, the deformation of the bristle pack is divided into rebounding deformation and locked deformation, and the two deformation modes are modeled separately. Then a brush seal wear model considering rotor-stator eccentricity and radial deformation is obtained, in which the hysteresis effect is especially represented. The wear model was verified quantitatively based on the brush seal test data, and the results show that there is an error of 20% with the calculated wear loss when rotor eccentricity, radial deformation, and hysteresis effect are comprehensively considered. In contrast, ignoring the hysteresis effect may increase the error by several times. This study provides a quantitative and practical method for predicting the wear and leakage of brush seals.
Ferroptosis, a unique form of nonapoptotic-regulated cell death caused by overwhelming lipid peroxidation, represents an emerging tumor suppression mechanism. Growing evidence has demonstrated that ...cell metabolism plays an important role in the regulation of ferroptosis. Specifically, the association between methionine metabolism and ferroptosis remains undefined.
We performed in vitro and in vivo experiments to evaluate the influence of methionine metabolism on ferroptosis sensitivity. Pharmacological and genetic blockade of the methionine cycle was utilized and relevant molecular analyses were performed.
We identified MAT2A as a driver of ferroptosis resistance. Mechanistically, MAT2A mediates the production of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), which upregulates ACSL3 by increasing the trimethylation of lysine-4 on histone H3 (H3K4me3) at the promoter area, resulting in ferroptosis resistance.
Collectively, these results established a link between methionine cycle activity and ferroptosis vulnerability in gastric cancer.
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•Ferroptosis, a new form of programmed cell death caused by overwhelming lipid peroxidation, has gained a lot of interest in the field of cancer therapeutics.•However, few studies have thoroughly investigated the association between methionine metabolism and ferroptosis.•MAT2A mediates the production of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), which upregulates ACSL3 by increasing the trimethylation of lysine-4 on histone H3 (H3K4me3) at the promoter area, resulting in ferroptosis resistance.
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