The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Exploring the Use of Perusall Social Annotating to Support Academic Reading and Writing
No full textAs online collaboration continues to normalize in the post-pandemic digital age, how students engage online through collaborative learning has grown in importance. Web 2.0 has led to a shift in learner engagement that impacts the ways students interact with class content, and this provides opportunities for more meaningful collaboration and socially connected learning (Cress & Kimmerle, 2008; Gao; 2013, Halic et al., 2010; Redmond & Lock, 2006). The focus of online interactions has continued to move away from teacher-learner and learner-content interactions to higher quality learner-learner interactions that facilitate collaborative knowledge building through increased interactivity (Hirume, 2002; Woo & Reeves, 2007). Understanding how students learn with peers in the online class environment and identifying the most effective teaching strategies and tools for online learning are crucial challenges for educators. This is especially true as the demand grows for students to excel in immersive online learning environments (Bourdeaux & Schoenack, 2016; Dumford & Miller, 2018; García-Morales et al., 2021). More research needs to be done on how students in higher education collaborate in TESOL teacher training classes to co-construct knowledge through social annotating. Perusall is a social annotating platform that allows students to synchronously and asynchronously collaborate and exchange ideas on a joint text or file. This study fills the gaps in the literature on the use of social annotations in higher education, specifically responding to the need for more research on the benefits of teacher training courses. Furthermore, reading and writing connections in the online space is a topic of ever-growing interest in the current digitally infused learning era. Based on sociocultural theory and activity theory frameworks, this study examines how students in an undergraduate Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) course use Perusall to jointly read and annotate selected texts and then individually write review papers on the readings. This study explored the following areas: (1) how students interact and collaborate using social annotations to co-construct knowledge during a shared task, (2) student perceptions of using social annotation for reading/writing tasks in the activity system, and (3) how the knowledge co-created in Perusall reflected in individual student writing. Through the coding of annotations, this study unearthed various engagement patterns in their annotations. Four prominent categories emerged from the annotation data: (1) Clarification, where students actively sought to understand complex parts of the text; (2) Course Related Content, indicating a robust connection between readings and the ongoing coursework; (3) Future Teaching Roles, suggesting students\u27 forward-thinking and application-oriented approach; and (4) Community Building: students showcased collective knowledge building while fostering deep social bonds using Perusall to collaborate on class texts. In response to student perceptions of using social annotation for reading and writing tasks within the activity system, activity theory and sociocultural theory served as investigative lenses. Through these frameworks, students\u27 perceptions of Perusall were understood as shaped by goals, rules, and community dynamics. These elements of the social annotating activity system, from the objective of knowledge creation for review papers to community interaction, Perusall both afforded and, at times, constrained students\u27 interactions and participation. Furthermore, in examining survey and interview data, student enthusiasm for social annotating was evident in their responses. A content analysis of individual writing revealed that students effectively integrated the co-constructed knowledge from Perusall into their personal assignments, with coded data from their individual writing mirroring the themes and knowledge found in their annotations. This underscores the platform\u27s utility in facilitating comprehension and applying acquired knowledge. The findings emphasize Perusall\u27s capability in promoting collaborative engagement and facilitating task distribution, and student responses highlighted its significant role in guiding interactions and fostering co-created knowledge. These results signal the potential of a broader pedagogical shift: educators can harness platforms like Perusall to cultivate critical thinking, collaboration, and peer learning, transforming classrooms into hubs of collective knowledge exchange. From an activity theory perspective, we better understand the interconnected dynamics of social annotating. Looking ahead, there are exciting research opportunities. It would be worthwhile to explore what teaching methods best fit for tools like Perusall, the long-term benefits of using such platforms relative to other collaborative practices, their applicability across diverse academic fields, and potential customization to cater to varied learning needs. Integrating technology with pedagogical methods, as seen with Perusall, offers promising avenues for reshaping educational landscapes that need better exploration
Miss Monstress: The Trial of Womanhood and Rhetorical Framing of Texas Women on Trial for Murder
No full textThis dissertation is a rhetorical analysis of the cases of three Texas women who were charged with murder. I examine the rhetoric used by the media and the prosecution to describe these women, and the ways they dehumanize and other the women on trial. I argue that the societal expectations placed on women—to be gentle, submissive, and nurturers—causes a culture to reel in horror and disgust when she is accused of a violent crime like murder. What takes place is what I call the trial of womanhood—a close examination of her identity as a woman, and a focus on the ways she fails to meet the societal expectations placed upon her. This rhetorical trial takes place both inside the courtroom and outside, in the court of public opinion, and often results in women being misrepresented, and receiving harsher—and at times, fatal—sentences. Looking at cases specifically from the State of Texas, I argue that this response reflects a place-based ideology in a state that is notoriously conservative, pro-death penalty, and harsh on violent criminals. Drawing from several different sub-fields of rhetoric (feminist rhetoric, embodied rhetoric, place-based rhetoric) and feminist criminology, I analyze two different case studies: Darlie Routier, a white mother accused of murdering her sons; and Bobbi Jo Smith, a white queer woman accused of being an accessory to her partner Jennifer Jones in the murder of Bob Dow. With each case, I will analyze artifacts—documentaries, court documents, true crime books, newspaper articles, etc.—and examine specifically the language used to describe these women and the ways certain aspects of their identity (their roles as mothers, their race, their sexuality, their class) intersected with their identity as women and were used against them. Finally, I close by analyzing one more case study: Joyce Ann Brown, a Black woman accused of murder and sentenced to life in prison but eventually released and exonerated. I demonstrate how Brown used her story and experience as a counterstory to not only call attention to the injustice she experienced, but to also advocate for others who were wrongly incarcerated. I close by suggesting that counterstories are a solution for combating the trial of womanhood
Consumer Perceptions of Disney and Fan Artists Who Make Unofficial Works
No full textAs consumers and businesses interact the form of these interactions draw more attention from researchers. Fournier (1998) claims that consumers and businesses interact in ways similar to interpersonal-relationships. The Brands as Interactive Framework (Kervyn et al., 2012) further expands on businesses as viable relationship partners to consumers. Fan communities form around business products and often results in the creation of unofficial fan creations such as art. Businesses may choose to pursue legal actions against such creators in order to protect their intellectual property. The purpose of this study was to investigate how legal action taken by businesses towards their customers is affected by the actions of those same customers. 130 participants were presented one of four vignettes detailing an interaction between a business and their customers and then asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the business and the customers. The results showed that participants’ perceptions of businesses were not influenced by legal action taken by the businesses or the type of content the business was acting against
An Exploration of Principals’ Perspectives on Leading Schools Through Levels of School Improvement: A Qualitative Study
No full textIn this qualitative study, the researcher investigated and described the specific leadership practices employed by elementary principals in Texas to initiate school improvement in campuses designated as needing targeted support, additional targeted support, or comprehensive support and improvement by the Texas Education Agency (2023a). The researcher sought to identify the leadership practices that principals perceive result in academic success and moving the campus to a school improvement level that indicates a decreased need for school improvement. In recognizing the role that principals have regarding academic achievement and school performance (Marzano et al., 2005), the researcher delved into existing literature in an effort to emphasize the need for a comprehensive understanding of leadership practices that specifically contribute to school improvement in Texas. The study employed a descriptive qualitative research design, incorporating multiple data sources and perspectives. Data were collected through a two-phase process involving electronic questionnaires and one-on-one virtual interviews with principals meeting specific criteria
Her Proper Place: Early Twentieth Century Feminism in Public
No full textThis thesis investigates the role specific places played in women’s advocacy in the early twentieth century in three countries of the North Atlantic—England, the United States and Canada. Women altered the definition of proper public behavior by engaging in public activism for various issues regarding individual rights, suffrage, or raising awareness for social ills. Analyzing the effects of women engaging in public space and spectacle in the first decades of the twentieth century, this thesis argues that women meticulously negotiated space in traditionally closed arenas. As a result, these women and their activities became an undeniable topic of public discourse. This thesis examines the implications of their struggle for public space. This thesis focuses on three places in which women advocated for change: the theater stage upon which women questioned social mores, the public street on which women protested and exposed inequities, and the prison made public through shared stories of deprivation
Data-Driven Social-Engineering Based Approach for All-Media Phishing Detection
No full textIn today’s world, social engineering is one of the most challenging problems in cybersecurity. According to reports, 82% of successful data breaches in 2021 were caused by social engineering attacks. Using social engineering principles, threat actors manipulate people into breaking security controls and gaining access to an organization’s network and assets. Most recently, social engineering attacks have become more complicated and have evolved to target victims through multiple media channels: email, voice, SMS, social media, etc. In this work, we investigate how adopting a social engineering framework can improve 1) detection and 2) education. We propose a social-engineering framework that identifies social-engineering principles used in phishing attempts across different media communication media types (email, text, robocalls, etc.), and we leverage LLM models to label curated datasets, then we develop multi-classification models on the generated dataset. This work forms the basis of future tools that can provide users with real-time analysis of received media communication by highlighting social-engineering elements used in communication. Ultimately, this will enable users to build expertise in identifying and responding responsibly to phishing attempts, avoiding falling victim to yet another attack. The primary contributions of this study can be summarized as follows: v 1. Building a framework that provides a comprehensive structure for understanding and analyzing social engineering attacks. 2. Creating a labeled dataset specifically tailored toward social engineering attacks studies. 3. Creating detection models using machine learning techniques, and testing those models using our own curated and labeled social engineering datasets. Keywords: Social Engineering, Phishing, LLM, Cybersecurity, Framework
Toward Cyber-Attack Detection for Industrial Internet of Things Systems Using Machine Learning
No full textIn recent years, the way we interact with daily life and industrial environments has changed dramatically due to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), from smart homes to industrial control systems. In particular, industry devices, sensors, and actuators can be connected to form various Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks and controlled using operational technologies, such as ICS and SCADA. However, the vulnerabilities and limited security features pose significant challenges in preserving IIoT systems\u27 security as cyber-attacks increase and become more frequent, dynamic, and complex. Additionally, the lack of IIoT testbeds has made it more difficult to find efficient ways to detect cyber-attacks and assess and ensure system security. To fill the gap, this project proposes and develops an IIoT testbed with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Raspberry Pi-based devices, a water control system, a robotic arm, and open-source software for cyber security research and education. Based on the testbed, the performance of Machine learning (ML) algorithms for cyber-attack detection are investigated and evaluated. The ML algorithms are Random Forest, Decision Tree, Naive Bayes, KNN, Logistic Regression, MLP Classifier, RNN, and Transformer. Using the collected data in the testbed and the CICIoT2023 dataset, the ML modes are trained and tested to determine whether incoming packets are benign or harmful by identifying their attack type. The train-test split that best optimizes the performance of each model is also tested. This is done by comparing the accuracy, precision, F1-Score, and recall of each model based on the percentage of the data that is used for training and testing. In addition to the dataset, the CICIoT2023 dataset is used to further assess the effectiveness of ML algorithms and evaluate the models’ performance. Future work is highlighted in the conclusion to extend the testbed’s capacity and performance for IIOT cyber security study and research purposes
Steel Magnolias in Higher Ed: How Perceptions of American Southern Culture Affected the Higher Education Experiences of Rural Southern Women Master’s Graduates
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore how perceptions of American Southern culture affected the higher education experiences of rural Southern women master’s graduates. Despite the expanding opportunities of higher education in a post-2020 world, students originating from rural communities often face unique challenges, with women from the Southern region confronting a distinctive set of obstacles than their counterparts from different parts of the country. Drawing upon a mixed-methods approach using surveys, interviews, and journals, this study explored the experiences and outcomes of rural women graduate students who pursued advanced degrees. The findings suggested that certain aspects of Southern culture posed significant challenges for female students from the region, specifically entrenched gender norms, the South’s unhealthy obsession with nostalgia, restrictive doctrine influence of Evangelical Christianity and the oppressive influence of far-right political ideologies. By shedding light on these multifaceted challenges, this research augmented the existing literature and underscored the urgent need to address these issues, particularly in the backdrop of an increasingly polarized climate enveloping the United States
Unveiling the Puppeteer: A Grounded Theory of Dual Credit Policy Implementation
No full textThis qualitative grounded theory study examines dual credit policy implementation in a North Texas community college and ISD, focusing on the perceptions of ten dual credit teachers. The data collected was focus group interviews to explore how these teachers navigate dual credit policies in their daily professional lives. The findings revealed several key themes that emerged from the data, including issues with pay, limited teacher autonomy, challenges in communication, and discrepancies in grading policies, all of which significantly influence teaching practices for high school dual credit instructors. These themes created conflicting demands between high school and college guidelines, further complicating the dual credit teaching environment. The study highlights the need for greater alignment between formal and informal policies to better support dual credit educators and ensure the success of dual credit programs
Metal Uptake (Pb, Ni and Cu) By Duckweed and Cattails Under Different Citric Acid (Ca) Concentrations
No full textMetals are naturally found on Earth. However, excessive exposure of hazardous metals due to anthropogenic activities harms wildlife and human health. Phytoremediation utilizes plants to remove environmental pollutants is popular. This research investigated the efficacy of duckweed and cattails to absorb copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) from solutions. These metals are of concern due to their widespread presence in anthropogenic activities. Citric acid (CA), a chelating agent, enhanced the plants\u27 metal accumulation capabilities by altering metal solubility and toxicity. The plants were initially acclimated in distilled water containing nutrients before being transferred to hydroponic solutions containing varying levels of citric acid and target metals. Four weeks later, the plants were collected and digested. Analysis was done using ICP-OES to determine metal content. Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and translocation factor (TF) were calculated to evaluate plants’ metal uptake efficiency. ANOVA statistical analysis was conducted using Minitab software to assess the impact of CA on metal accumulation in both duckweed and cattails. Results indicated that higher concentrations of CA were responsible for the accretion of Cu and Ni in both plant species in a significant manner. However, the accumulation of Pb was not significantly affected by CA. Duckweed treated with high levels of CA exhibited higher BAF (more than 1) for heavy metals compared to those without CA. The TF for metals in cattails remained below 1 across all CA concentrations, suggesting that the metals were primarily stored in the roots