Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety

Learning in asynchronous online environments has gained importance over the last several decades, and educational environment shifts from the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have increased this need. Science educators and students need information about which approaches work in the asynchronous environment where informal feedback tends to be reduced, compared to other teaching modalities. In this study, we asynchronously implemented a learning module across 5 institutions that guided students (N = 199) from prescriptive data analysis through guided inquiry and eventually to open inquiry. The module focuses on the science behind climate change. Students work with the same authentic data sets used by professional scientists to examine geologic history and causes of climate change. By analyzing contemporary atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature data and then using the 800,000-year record available from the Vostok ice core proxy record of atmospheric properties, students identify the causes of climate change and discover the unprecedented nature of recent atmospheric changes. Using a pre/post-module assessment, we demonstrate improvement in students' understanding of climate change processes and statistical methods used to analyze data. However, there was no evidence that the module develops students' scientific reasoning about the relationship between causation and correlation. Students maintained that correlation is not causation, even when a robust causal mechanism (i.e., the greenhouse effect) explains the link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. Finally, our analysis indicated that generally, anxiety about climate change was reduced during the module, such that students become less anxious about the climate change the more they learn about it. However, science-denying students experienced much higher anxiety about climate change than students who accepted the scientific consensus about climate change. Climate science-dissenting students were so few in this study that a statistical comparison was not possible, but this intriguing finding warrants further investigation of the role of anxiety in science denial. Mainly, this study demonstrates how asynchronous online learning environments can indeed support the achievement of learning objectives related to conducting authentic science, such as increasing understanding of climate change and statistical concepts, all while not provoking anxiety about climate change. © 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Social class, COVID-19 and care: Schools on the front line in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic

Schools have a duty of care to children that extends beyond educational performance to include wellbeing and welfare. Yet, research has highlighted the tensions that arise when ‘care' and ‘learning' are treated as binaries, especially when schools operate within unequal socio-­economic conditions. Extended COVID-19 school closures brought these issues into sharp relief, highlighting the central role of schools as a front line service in the lives of poorer children. This paper provides qualitative insights into the classed experiences of extended school closure and the role and response of schools through the eyes of parents, teachers and principals in Ireland. We frame these responses in the context of the provision of a careful education, exploring the role of normative and affective relations in teaching and learning. Questions are posed in relation to schools as care regimes and the ‘mission creep' between educational and welfare provision in schools serving poorer children. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Examining the training and education potential of the metaverse: Results from an empirical study of next generation SAFe training

Restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced many to seek alternative means of training and learning, which ended up with increasing investment in the notion of the metaverse. Metaverse is envisioned as the next iteration of the Internet in which the virtual and the real world are blended to materialize a highly immersive experience. Not surprisingly, perhaps, next-generation training and education systems are concerned with methods to integrate themselves into metaverse environments. In particular, participants are looking for more interactive and flexible training while maintaining a degree of educational content and high quality for their training plans and interactive workflows. In this paper, we conducted research to explore the role of metaverse in employee training. To this end, we utilized a variant of PlaySAFe (i.e., a 3D game) to investigate its metaverse adoption and usage. A qualitative design was adopted, using semistructured interviews to explore practitioners' experiences using the new version of PlaySAFe. After having it played in an industrial setting, we interviewed a group of software practitioners to compare the actual and expected features. This research has explored the pros and cons of using the current technologies for the practical groundwork of SAFe training. Findings from this research suggest that the metaverse holds the potential to deliver improved practical alignment in training and education programs, but that at the present time, practitioners expect more metaverse compatible features.

“But How Will They Know It’s Live?”: Anonymous Ensemble’s Digital Performances

As opportunities for in-person performances were rendered impossible by the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions and artists lamented the loss of those things that “make theatre theatre”—its liveness, its anything-can-happen quality, its ability to assemble audiences to experience something together in real time. Artists made digital work and often demonstrated a desire to replicate these sensations of liveness for audiences as a way of showing off the virtuosity of the artists involved and, perhaps more importantly, as a means of inspiring a sense of connection in audiences across the internet. As evidence for this phenomenon, this essay explores the work of video designer Eamonn Farrell and his company Anonymous Ensemble, a group that presented live performance to remote audiences long before the pandemic forced artists across the world online. © 2022 Jessica Del Vecchio and Eamonn Farrell.

PlaySAFe: Results from a Virtual Reality Study Using Digital Game-Based Learning for SAFe Agile Software Development

A common strategy to train software practitioners in agile frameworks is to have employees undertake classroom-based training. However, due to its nature, participants are lectured for a scheduled time-line with little necessity to interact. In particular, classroom-based training often might not provide substantial trainee interaction, which could result in apathy. To tackle this issue, we conducted empirical research to investigate the role of digital game-based learning (GBL) in employees’ training on the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). To figure out whether gameplay was a preferable training method, PlaySAFe (i.e., a 3D game) was developed within the study’s scope and tested with nine active SAFe practitioners from an industrial setting. Restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced many to seek alternative means of teaching and learning. In particular, the findings obtained from the tests illustrate that PlaySAFe can be effectively used as a complementary tool that supports SAFe classroom-based training. This study has highlighted numerous benefits of GBL, such as allowing newcomers a quick and efficient means to learn and understand the practical groundwork of SAFe in advance of learning more theoretical concepts in conventional training. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Risk of disease transmission from flexible nasoendoscopy during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Concerns have emerged regarding infection transmission during flexible nasoendoscopy. METHODS: Information was gathered prospectively on flexible nasoendoscopy procedures performed between March and June 2020. Patients and healthcare workers were followed up to assess for coronavirus disease 2019 development. One-sided 97.5 per cent Poisson confidence intervals were calculated for upper limits of risk where zero events were observed. RESULTS: A total of 286 patients were recruited. The most common indication for flexible nasoendoscopy was investigation of 'red flag' symptoms (67 per cent). Forty-seven patients (16 per cent, 95 per cent confidence interval = 13-21 per cent) had suspicious findings on flexible nasoendoscopy requiring further investigation. Twenty patients (7.1 per cent, 95 per cent confidence interval = 4.4-11 per cent) had new cancer diagnoses. Zero coronavirus disease 2019 infections were recorded in the 273 patients. No. 27 endoscopists (the doctors and nurses who carried out the procedures) were followed up.The risk of developing coronavirus disease 2019 after flexible nasoendoscopy was determined to be 0-1.3 per cent. CONCLUSION: The risk of coronavirus disease 2019 transmission associated with performing flexible nasoendoscopy in asymptomatic patients, while using appropriate personal protective equipment, is very low. Additional data are required to confirm these findings in the setting of further disease surges.