Thompson Rivers University
Digital Commons @ TRU Library (Thompson Rivers University)Not a member yet
1287 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Class “Co-Hosts” – Contributing to creating Student Engagement in On-line classes
No full textPresentation Title: The Role of Class “Co-Hosts” – Contributing to creating Student Engagement in On-line classes For the TPC presentation proposed, I would like to share my successful use of “co-hosts” for online synchronously delivered courses on Zoom. Since March of last year, I have included student “Co-Hosts” when delivering courses in the School of Business and Economics. This includes courses offered through TRU in the undergraduate, graduate, and international programs. During the presentation, I would like to share my knowledge regarding: Introducing this student role (and how it contributes to their “Class participation” mark), and my expectations for this role. Benefits for: Students serving in this role Students also on line in the class Instructors delivering classes using co hosts Additional information around this role that I would like to share include: Student introductions Students providing their “Joke(s) of the Day” Number of co-hosts / class (ranging from 1-8 people
A Canadian OER Project for Academic English
No full textResearch has shown that EAP students need example essays to deconstruct and analyze in order to improve their academic English writing skills. This session will introduce a newly developed online textbook (OER) whose essays relate to Canadian content and whose activities and questions range significantly. The online textbook is ideal for academic English classes with high level ESL students
Info Lit in an Asynchronous Time
No full textAs courses remained in remote delivery for 2020/21, TRU Subject Librarians were faced with the challenge of taking information literacy asynchronous and online. We needed to find new modes of instruction that not only imparted the necessary concepts but also continued conversations and maintained the connections between students, faculty, and the library, even without our regular class visits. What was surprising was the myriad creative ways that we accepted and succeeded at connecting and teaching students via remote instruction. This presentation will feature three librarians discussing the challenges they encountered this year and demonstrating some of the learning objects now available to TRU students and faculty
Mind the Gap: A review of the collaborative program between TRU faculty and SD73 teachers
No full textThough not well-addressed in the student success and persistence literature, there appears to be a significant role for K-12 teachers and post-secondary faculty members to play in easing the transition and supporting student success and persistence from secondary to post-secondary school (Rodriguez, et al. 2017). These partnerships are a critical first step in helping faculty members and teachers develop a deeper understanding of the issues, challenges, and changes in secondary education, while providing a platform for faculty members to describe and clarify the expectations required for students at the post-secondary level (Rodriguez et al., 2017). Partnerships between teachers and faculty members can create linkages to support student completion and help one another to better understand the knowledge, behaviours, and abilities of students at both levels. The role of meaningful support in the transition between high school and post-secondary is vital to the success of students, and foundational in the formation of learner identity (Briggs, Clark & Hall, 2012; Tinto, 1993). During this presentation we will share the outcomes of the Mind the Gap program developed to bridge the gap/border between the university and the school district. This program supported collaborative projects between faculty and teachers. The goals of this program were threefold- to increase student awareness of the university programs, to promote student persistence when enrolled, and to increase knowledge transfer between faculty and teachers in the two education sectors. We will share stories about the nature of the partnerships, our data collection methods, program evaluation metrics, and lessons learned
Characterization of the Antimicrobial Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Cave Bacteria Streptomyces ICC1
No full textThe progression of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms has hindered the therapeutic efficiency of various commercially available pharmaceuticals. Therefore, an overwhelming demand for novel treatment presents itself; the likelihood of multi-resistant microbes surpassing the development of antibiotics escalates – in a coevolutionary race between humans and bacteria. Researchers have turned to extreme environments as valuable sources of microbial capability, particularly in the production of pharmaceutically significant metabolites. Specifically, the unique conditions of caves – including high humidity, relatively low but stable temperatures, and low nutrients, create a highly selective environment. Energy-starved conditions of caves encourage competition among its microbial community, promoting metabolite production including antibiotics and hydrolytic enzymes, which inhibit growth of their cohabitants.
Streptomyces is one of the most abundant microbial genera in cave environments. The characteristic most notable of Streptomyces is its’ ability to produce bioactive secondary metabolites – such as antifungals, antivirals, antitumorales, anti-hypertensives, immunosuppressants, and especially antibiotics. Through this Honours research, secondary metabolites produced by the cave-dwelling Streptomyces sp. ICC1 strain have been examined; a strain which is prevalent in the isolated environment of the Iron Curtain Cave in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Secondary metabolites secreted by Streptomyces sp. ICC1 have shown antimicrobial properties, evidently effective against both multi-drug resistant strains and common laboratory strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Since antimicrobial activity has been established, the next step is the metabolite containing solution will be purified and separated by high performance liquid chromatography techniques. Each peak from the HPLC will be tested for antimicrobial activity. NMR will help elucidate the structure of each active peak that was identified in the HPLC. The determination of the structure will help us hypothesize a mechanism of action
The Relationship Between Cognitive Decline, Inhibition and Anxiety
No full textResearch studies have identified links between lower inhibitory attentional control and anxiety vulnerability. This is in accordance with the Attentional Control Theory, which suggests that stimulus-driven attentional mechanisms take over when high anxiety is exhibited.
We aim to examine how cognitive function and anxiety are correlated by investigating inhibitory control in older and younger adults with differing cognitive abilities and anxiety levels. We will recruit 30 younger (18-25 years of age) and 30 older adults (65 years of age or older) from Canada. Participants will complete three questionnaires; a Demographics questionnaire, the short version of the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) to control for depression, and the short version of the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Attentional control is tested using the Go/No-Go paradigm and the Posner Cueing task. Both tasks include threatening animal images. Working memory is tested using a memory task that requires remembering a word list followed by a recognition task.
We hypothesize that highly anxious participants will show more errors in inhibition and working memory tasks than less anxious participants. Second, we hypothesize that highly anxious participants will show more inhibition errors in threat conditions compared with less anxious participants. Finally, we predict that the older adults will show weaker performance on all the tasks than younger participants, due to lower cognitive functioning. Anxiety’s effects on cognitive functions have clinical implications because today’s cognitive assessments might induce anxiety, thus leading to a possible misdiagnosis. Therefore, understanding the relationship between anxiety and cognition can help prevent misdiagnoses as well as improve identification of normal cognitive aging
Women Helping Women: Analyzing the Incorporation of Lived Experience in Peer Support for Women Experiencing Criminalization
Full text linkThere is little research centering on the experiences of women who have been criminalized and utilize their experience in their work or volunteer roles with women currently experiencing criminalization. This research applies an intersectional feminist and anti-oppressive/anti- privilege framework to explore how these women support other women, especially during times of COVID-19 affected services. Research demonstrates that women living with criminalization experience oppressive social relations and structural violence. The weakened social safety net and lack of community-based support force women into cycles of incarceration and homelessness. Peer support of women with shared lived experience is known to effectively support women to escape the incarceration cycle. Using purposeful sampling, approximately 35 women-serving agencies will be invited to circulate an online survey regarding the use and impact of peer mentorship. The agencies are also being asked to forward a recruitment poster to their employees, volunteers, and potential contacts for interviews. Potential peer mentor participants will be invited to participate in a 30 - 45 minute semi-structured interview via Zoom (maximum of six participants). The results of this research will provide valuable new knowledge detailing the experiences of women who transition from prison to a social service role. The results can inform social work practice in supporting women experiencing criminalization and identify areas needing further research
Asynchronous: Breaking Barriers to Embrace Open Educational Resources
No full textOpen educational resources are free for students and instructors and are increasingly important for reducing cost barriers for student accessing education and for instructors who wish to use current and adaptable resources in their teaching. With the huge shift to online precipitated by the COVID 19 pandemic, OER has been more important and more heavily used than ever. From an instructors experience, there are however some barriers to using OER. We, the presenters, hope to outline experiences, opportunities and supports for new users of OER. The presentation begins with a short introduction of what OER is, the different types, and a rationale for its use. Next we will outline a road map for integrating OER and supports for this at both TRU and BC Campus. We will provide some personal insights on possible pathways to OER: where to start, how to get there, how to get help, how to get funding, etc. We will share our own experiences (the good, the bad and the ugly) in OER adoption, adaption and creation. Lastly we invite anyone with any questions to please contact us by email and we will help direct you as best we can
What Teachers Should Know about Chinese Students’ Writing Challenges
No full textAlthough Canadian university instructors have been trying to help Chinese students master academic writing as well as learn course content, many Chinese students are still not comfortable with Western writing due to differences in culture and education systems between China and Western countries; however, many of the instructors are not aware of the situation. Chinese instructors tend to emphasize reading comprehension skills over production skills in English teaching, spoon feed in lectures with limited interaction with and between students. Teaching is oriented to exams with closed questions, providing students limited opportunities to write papers, whereas Canadian university instructors tend to ask students to complete several essays, papers, and/or projects over a semester. Furthermore, Chinese instructors usually do not require students to follow a certain style format such as APA or MLA in writing, whereas Canadian instructors expect students to follow specific paper structures and style formats including citation conventions, such as the APA 7th edition. Given the above differences, many Chinese students beginning studies in Canada are unfamiliar with how to structure an essay, cite sources properly, or even present ideas logically and idiomatically. These are some of the issues about which Chinese students want their teachers to teach them, but some Canadian instructors assume that the students have already mastered them. Therefore, understanding these knowledge gaps between students and teachers can help Canadian instructors better understand Chinese students’ needs and provide the students with necessary assistance
Utilization of Chemically Treated Fly Ash as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Bisphenol S from the Environment
Full text linkThe utilization of fly ash as a potential adsorbent for the removal of environmental contaminant, bisphenol S, was demonstrated. In this study, the fly ash used is the wood residuals from biomass-fired power plants. The fly ash was obtained from the burning of wood chips, bark and wood fiber in biomass-fired power plants to generate electricity and process steam. These wood ash residuals that are produced are traditionally stored in onsite landfills or transported to permanent landfills at a significant cost to the biomass industry. In addition, the disposal of fly ash from biomass power plants absorbs considerable amounts of water from fly ash ponds in the environment and cause numerous environmental problems. As a result, the continued storage of fly ash in the environment is not favorable and ways to find useful applications for it is gaining a lot of interest as it reduces the environmental and economic impacts of their disposal. Bisphenols such as bisphenol A and bisphenol S are found in plastics which are commonly used in our everyday lives and are therefore ubiquitous in the environment. These compounds have been found to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals and, in some cases, are carcinogenic. They are therefore acutely toxic to humans and other living organisms. In view of their adverse health effects, their removal in the environment is warranted. In this study we particularly investigated the potential of fly ash for adsorptive removal of bisphenol S (BPS) in the environment. To study the adsorption capability and characteristics of the fly ash for bisphenol S, the analytical technique of UV-visible spectrophotometry was utilized