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Educational Policy and the Ballot Box: The 2024 Ghanaian Election Through Students\u27 Eyes
Get PDFThe Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy, introduced in Ghana in 2017, marked a major shift in educational access by removing financial barriers at the secondary level. While several studies have examined its implementation and socio-economic impacts, limited attention has been given to its political consequences, particularly among young voters. This study examines the impact of the FSHS policy on the voting decisions of university students in the 2024 general elections. Grounded in historical and contemporary policy contexts, the study traces Ghana\u27s educational reforms from the Nkrumah era through the FCUBE initiative to the FSHS policy, situating them within a broader African policy landscape that includes Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 240 students from the University of Ghana using stratified random sampling. Data collection adhered to ethical standards, and analysis was conducted using SPSS. Findings reveal that the FSHS policy has a significant impact on voting behavior. Many students reported that the policy influenced their support for political candidates, reflecting both appreciation and critical engagement. The study concludes that education policy not only delivers developmental benefits but also plays a crucial role in shaping political attitudes and fostering democratic participation among young people.
Keywords: Free SHS, Education Policy, Electoral Behavior, Ghana, Youth Voting, Political Influenc
To Bee or Not To Bee: Investigating Pesticide Behavior Inside and Outside Semi-Field Cages
Get PDFBackground
Pesticides are vital in preventing crop damage from pests but are cited as a key factor in decreasing bee populations.1 The alfalfa leaf cutting bee is essential in alfalfa seed production in the Western US.2 Current research seeks to examine the effects of pesticides on these solitary bees to maintain healthy populations while controlling pests.3
One research tool commonly used to examine pesticide effects on bees is field-cages. Field cages are thought to simulate agroecosystem conditions while restricting bees to plots that have been sprayed with pesticides.1,4
However, environmental conditions can be different inside and outside the cages, and it is unknown if pesticide loss rates are similar to those sprayed in open field
Data Science for Engineers
Get PDF30% of USU undergraduate students participate in some sort of research, and for engineering students this often means generating large amounts of data.
Data Science for Engineers is a series of four modules that introduce students to data processing, visualization, and graphing in the Python programming language using Pandas DataFrames and Juypter Notebooks.
The modules are intended for students with a basic understanding of programming in Python, specifically those who have taken CS 1400 Introduction to Computer Science
Mechanisms of Change Driving Peer-Support Coaching for Adherence to a Digital ACT-Based Intervention: A Serial Mediation Model
No full textBackground: Coaching is a well-supported intervention for improving adherence to online mental health programs. It is currently unclear whether peer-support coaching improves mental health outcomes solely through improving program adherence, or if it can also have a direct impact on mental health. We investigated this using a randomized controlled trial and applying serial mediation models. Method: A total of 230 college students were instructed to use the 12-session ACT Guide program over 10 weeks. They were randomly assigned to additionally receive either peer-support coaching over weekly phone calls, text message conversations, or a no-coaching control group. Coaching followed a standardized protocol. Results: Phone coaching had a significant total effect, but not a direct effect, on psychological distress. Both the phone coaching → psychological flexibility → distress, and the phone coaching → program adherence → psychological flexibility → distress indirect pathways were significant. Text coaching had a significant total and direct effect on psychological distress. The full serial pathway was the only significant indirect effect (text coaching → program adherence → psychological flexibility → distress). Conclusions: We found that peer coaching in both formats significantly increased program adherence, which in turn improved psychological flexibility, consequently reducing psychological distress. Coaching through phone calls had a significantly greater indirect effect on distress and direct effect on program adherence in comparison to the text message format. It is possible that the skills review and ACT-based strategies used in phone coaching directly improve psychological flexibility regardless of the number of modules completed, with text coaching being too brief to elicit this same effect
Naturalistic Observation of Adherence and Engagement With a University-Wide Deployment of Digital Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
No full textNaturalistic research on “real world” usage of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) is critical for DMHIs to meet their goal of increasing access to mental health services. DMHI adherence is much lower in naturalistic settings versus controlled research, but less is known about dimensions of engagement beyond adherence to module completion or how these patterns extend to DMHIs based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). This study reported the adherence and engagement patterns among 1,896 university students who registered for a free ACT DMHI service deployed at a single university from 2019 to 2023. Adherence was very low with only 57% logging into the program even once, 7% completing half of modules, and 3% completing the entire program. However, engagement was high among students who adhered to a given module as indicated by high rates of module exercise completion, at least partial homework completion, spending at least 10 minutes per module, and program satisfaction. Predictors of higher adherence included higher engagement, being older, and lower depression and anxiety. Overall, results add to research highlighting adherence challenges when deploying DMHIs as services outside of controlled research, which are potentially worsened with successful efforts to increase enrollment and reduce barriers such as cost. At the same time, the findings highlight how a subset of individuals adhere to and engage in DMHIs in a way that is likely to provide benefits
Influence of Increasing Fires on Mixed Conifer Stand Dynamics in the U.S. Southwest
No full text(1) Stand-replacing fires may threaten the continued stability of mixed conifer forests in the U.S. Southwest. Increasing fire frequency and severity have made post-fire forest recovery trajectories uncertain for many coniferous species, potentially leading to long-term shifts in forest structure and composition. (2) The purpose of this study was to examine post-fire stand dynamics over a 10-year period, using a network of permanent plots established prior to wildfire events across Arizona and New Mexico. We assessed changes in over story composition, regeneration, and fuel loading across different fire severities. (3) High severity fire caused near-total over story mortality, with little to no conifer regeneration and abundant sprouting hardwood regeneration. Lower severity fire was more favorable to fire-tolerant conifer species; however, mortality among mature trees was high, and fire-intolerant conifers were either diminished or extirpated completely. (4) In high severity fires, changes in over story and understory structure and composition may be long-lasting. Additionally, increased fuel loads following high severity fire suggests a heightened risk of reburns, potentially perpetuating ecotype conversion. Our findings highlight the need for active management strategies, including reforestation and fuel reduction treatments, to support forest resilience for mixed conifer ecosystems in the US Southwest and similar forest types in other regions in the face of ongoing climate and fire regime changes
Where the Buffalo Roam: Ungulate Influences on Quaking Aspen and Willow Communities in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
No full textQuaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and willows (Salix spp.) are keystone species of montane and shrub-steppe landscapes of the Western United States. Intact communities dominated by these species provide a wide range of ecosystem services, harboring an exceptional proportion of landscape biodiversity. Land use, especially overgrazing by large ungulates, is among the greatest threats to these ecosystems. To examine the effects of wild ungulates and levels of grazing at Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and the adjacent Gallatin National Forest, we sampled plant community composition and vegetation structure of aspen and willow communities both inside and outside of exclosures. Within the Park, we found that current grazing pressures from large ungulates, principally American Bison (Bison bison), have a dramatic effect on community composition and structure, resulting in a shift from a structurally diverse forest or tall shrub dominance to that of a grassland. On heavily grazed sites, shrubs common to semiarid uplands are now relatively abundant, as are exotic grass species, in contrast to an abundance of berry-producing shrubs within exclosures. Finally, large herbivores at unnaturally high densities are resulting in the simplification of landscape diversity outside of exclosures through a decline in the patch diversity of the site (i.e., homogenization of the landscape). Increases in exotic species and those adapted to semiarid environments suggest that current levels of bison use at YNP are amplifying the effects of climate change as well as resulting in a loss of biodiversity values. Inside exclosures, the inherent resilience of these keystone ecosystems was demonstrated by the recovery of plant diversity following decades of large ungulate utilization exceeding natural carrying capacity. This suggests that reductions in current grazing pressures within YNP would have positive feedbacks to beneficial ecosystem processes such as increased species and habitat diversity, increased carbon sequestration, and a greater adaptive capacity to climate change
8. Many Stories Matter, So Let Us Make Them Accessible: Transforming Student Literature and Essays to Open Anthologies
No full textThis chapter delves into the concept of open literature, emphasizing the importance of creating accessible and diverse literary works through open pedagogy. It explores the definition of open literature, distinguishing it from analytical and instructional resources, and highlights current examples of open literature initiatives. Throughout the chapter, it outlines methods for designing open literature anthologies through classroom assignments, including the integration of auxiliary works and the selection of appropriate open licenses. Finally, it discusses various open publication options for these anthologies. Overall, the chapter aims to foster a more inclusive and representative literary landscape that benefits both current and future generations
Documenting Teaching Excellence
No full textBefore we embark on a brief overview of how the book is structured and what it contains, we wish to draw readers’ attention to the sculpture on the cover of this book, and to the word “vital” in the subtitle of this book
3. A Scholarly Approach to Excellence in Teaching: Identifying, Framing, And Planning Faculty Work for Success
No full textThe scholarly conversation surrounding excellence in teaching, including defining and documenting excellence, is both robust and ongoing in the academic literature across disciplines. My own experience as a teacher-scholar, program director, department chair, and faculty developer has demonstrated that often, one of the most significant challenges instructors face during required reviews is making their teaching—and, in particular, their excellence in teaching—visible and tangible to colleagues outside of their classroom spaces, including fully articulating and demonstrating the why and how of that teaching. Although some institutions or individual units (i.e., departments or programs) may provide explicit descriptions of and expectations for teaching excellence, in other cases in order to encourage and to reward a wide range of diverse activities and applications, instructors may be expected to demonstrate this excellence with few specific examples or guidelines. Mentoring may play a role in how instructors learn to document or find models for documenting teaching excellence, yet because it is often informal, that mentoring, as much scholarship has demonstrated, can be uneven and inconsistent across instructor experiences, including for minoritized and underrepresented instructors (Costello, 2017; Denise & Louis, 2024; LaMonaca Wisdom, 2021; Mettetal & McGuire, 2013; Sotto-Santiago, 2020)