Student expectations of required workload, behaviour, resource use, role and relationship profoundly shape success in higher education and inform satisfaction with their learning experience. ...Teachers’ expectations of students’ behaviour can similarly affect the university learning experience and environment. When expectations between academic staff and students are not aligned, student satisfaction and staff morale are likely to suffer. This study sought to identify areas where the academic expectations of students and staff aligned or diverged and understand responses to any breaches of expectations. Here, we report on qualitative findings from a survey of 259 undergraduate students and 48 staff members and focus group interviews with 10 students and 15 staff members. Although their academic expectations aligned in most areas, students appeared to have broader conceptions of success at university than staff, and a stronger focus on the importance of personal relationships with staff and teaching quality. Academics expressed stronger injunctive norms about prioritisation of study and the importance of identifying as a student. These differences are likely to lead to tension between the two groups, particularly in areas of value for individuals. While clarifying expectations may improve alignment between the groups to some extent, the basis of these differences in individual priorities suggests that merely articulating expectations may not resolve the issue. We therefore argue for staff to adopt a co-creation approach to academic expectations and to ‘meet students halfway’ where possible.
Lack of clarity about assessment criteria and standards is a source of anxiety for many first-year university students. The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was ...designed as a staged approach to gradually familiarise students with expectations, and to provide opportunities for the development of the skills required to successfully complete assessment tasks. This paper investigated the students' perceptions of the first two components of the DUAL programme, which assist first-year biology students to engage with stated assessment criteria and standards in order to develop their capacity to make judgements about scientific report exemplars, their peers' scientific reports and ultimately their own. The study found strong evidence (96% of responses) that the marking and discussion of exemplar reports with peers and demonstrators clarified expectations of scientific report writing. A key feature of this element of DUAL was the opportunity for structured discussion about assessment criteria and standards between peers and markers (demonstrators). During these discussions, students can clarify explicit statements and develop a tacit knowledge base to enhance their ability to judge the quality of others' work and their own. The peer review exercise (the second element of DUAL) was not rated as highly, with 65% of students finding the process helpful for improving their report. The negative reactions by a sizeable minority of students highlight the need to clearly communicate the expectations and benefits of peer review, with a focus on how the process of giving feedback to peers might benefit a student as much as receiving feedback on their own report.
The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was developed with the dual aims of improving both the quality and consistency of feedback students receive and the students' ...ability to use that feedback to improve. DUAL comprises a range of processes (including marking rubrics, sample reports, moderation discussions and peer-review activities) which support explicit knowledge exchange between staff, and between staff and students and the development of tacit knowledge of standards in all participants. This paper describes the study which quantified the extent to which the DUAL programme improved reliability and efficiency of marking of first year biology reports by a large team of laboratory demonstrators. Marker reliability increased after participation in DUAL, with demonstrators marking laboratory reports significantly closer to the marks awarded by an expert marker of the discipline. Efficiency was also improved since time taken to mark the reports did not increase significantly, despite the fact that demonstrators were adapting to a new system of marking. Demonstrators valued the programme and nominated the marking rubric, feedback code and moderation discussion as the most useful elements. The community of practice built through joint participation in the DUAL programme created a supportive working environment for demonstrators and strengthened the collaboration between the discipline and academic language and learning lecturers.
Effective feedback can build self-assessment skills in students so that they become more competent and confident to identify and self-correct weaknesses in their work. In this study, we trialled a ...feedback code as part of an integrated programme of formative and summative assessment tasks, which provided feedback to first-year students on their initial attempt at a scientific biology report. We investigated the students' perceptions of the feedback code and associated action plan exercise, and found that the code provided the majority of students with clear feedback, whilst the action plan provided a tool for decoding and interpreting the feedback and ensuring errors were not repeated in a subsequent report. We argue that a feedback code can be a valuable inclusion in a wider programme of feedback provision particularly when it is supported by activities that require students to engage with the codes and feed that learning forward to subsequent tasks.
This study investigated whether surface hole counts could be used as a reliable estimate of density of the ghost shrimps Trypaea australiensis Dana 1852 and Biffarius arenosus Poore 1975 (Decapoda, ...Thalassinidea) in south eastern Australia. The relationship between the number of holes and the number of ghost shrimps was explored in two ways. Resin casts were used to document any changes in the number of burrow openings per shrimp burrow over time. Manual suction pumping (bait pumping) within a given mudflat area was used to directly compare the number of holes on the sediment surface with the number of ghost shrimps occupying the corresponding volume of sediment. Resin casting showed that throughout the year, the burrows of T. australiensis consistently had an average of two openings, whereas the burrows of B. arenosus showed much greater variability over time with two to four openings per burrow. Overall, a significant relationship between the number of holes and the number of ghost shrimps (mixed species populations) was found, with 2.1 burrow openings for each ghost shrimp. However, some temporal and spatial variation was seen in this relationship. We suggest that the hole count method may be reliable in estimating ghost shrimp densities with restricted use and site specific validation based on some limitations found in this study.
Secretory and membrane‐bound proteins are generally produced in lower amounts in insect cells compared with cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins. There may be many reasons for this, including degradation ...of recombinant proteins by proteases, competition for cellular resources between native and recombinant proteins, and physical blockage of the secretory pathways. In the present study, we describe the construction of a baculovirus in which chiA (chitinase) and cath (cathepsin) genes have been deleted and show improved recombinant protein expression using this vector. We confirmed the complete removal of both genes by PCR, restriction enzyme analysis and enzyme assays, and the modified virus DNA was shown to be stable in bacterial cells over multiple passages. A selection of recombinant genes were inserted into the double‐deletion virus and their expression levels compared with recombinant viruses that had single or no gene deletions. In all instances, the double‐deletion viruses showed greatly enhanced levels of protein production for both secreted and nuclear/cytoplasmic proteins. In summary, we have conclusively demonstrated the importance of this deletion vector for the high‐level production of recombinant proteins.
SerpinB6 (Proteinase inhibitor 6/PI-6) is an intracellular serpin produced by leukocytes, platelets, endothelial cells, keratinocytes and other epithelial cells. It is a potent cathepsin G inhibitor ...thought to protect monocytes, neutrophils and bystander cells from ectopic cathepsin G during inflammation. Here we show that serpinB6 also inhibits the human serine protease kallikrein-8 (hK8) and that in human and mouse skin, serpinB6 and kallikrein-8 co-localize in differentiated keratinocytes. SerpinB6 inhibits hK8 with an association rate constant (kass) of 1.8 ± 0.2 x 10⁵ M⁻¹s⁻¹ compared to 3.4 ± 0.2 x 10⁶ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for the interaction between the mouse orthologue of serpinB6 (SPI3/serpinb6a) and mouse kallikrein-8 (mK8). Molecular modelling suggested that the lower efficiency of the serpinB6/hK8 interaction is partly due to the bulkier P2 methionine residue of serpinB6 compared to the smaller P2 valine in SPI3. Taken together, these results suggest that serpinB6 is a physiologically relevant inhibitor of hK8 in skin. We postulate that serpinB6 protects the intracellular compartment of keratinocytes from ectopic hK8.
This study investigated the relative effects of bait-pumping and the associated disturbance of mudflats on populations of the ghost shrimp
Trypaea australiensis and various sediment properties at ...Coronet Bay, Western Port, southern Australia. The experiment followed a BACI design, with 3 months of sampling before and after the simulated impact. Control plots were left undisturbed while two disturbance treatments (impact and procedural control) were bait-pumped. Ghost shrimp were removed from the impact plots, whereas ghost shrimp were allowed to re-burrow in the procedural control plots. The purpose of the procedural control was to test for the effect of the disturbance associated with bait-pumping. Initial destruction of burrows and compaction of sediment due to bait-pumping and trampling of the mudflat, reduced sediment porosity and created more reducing conditions to depths of 20 cm. The proportion of small particles (<250 μm) and abundance of benthic microalgae increased in surface sediments, whereas organic carbon content decreased. Ghost shrimp density decreased considerably and was slow to recover over the experimental period. Both disturbance treatments responded similarly indicating that the mudflat disturbance associated with bait-pumping was the major cause of the effects observed.
This study investigated the burrow morphology of the mud shrimp, 'Laomedia healyi' Yaldwyn and Wear, in stands of mangrove in Western Port Bay, Victoria. Burrow structure was described from resin ...casts. L. healyi burrows extended further horizontally than vertically and burrows were constructed around the pneumato-phores that densely penetrate the sediment at the base of the mangrove trees. Burrows had multiple surface openings, several of which were circular and constricted and others that were oval shaped, connected to a single vertical or sloping main tunnel. The tunnels had a sub-circular cross section with smooth floors and rough walls and roofs and tunnel diameters were considerably larger than the inhabitant. Bulbous terminal chambers were present but did not contain plant material. The characteristic features of L. healyi burrows indicate that the species is most likely a deposit feeder.
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