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Purpose: Online resources can be helpful for students and can augment the content presented in learning environments. A team consisting of four biologists, a graduate student, instructional designer and media developers collaborated on the design, development and evaluation of first-year biology online tutorials in a Canadian University. The tutorials were designed to address knowledge gaps resulting in low success rates and attrition of first-year students in biology. The decrease in the number of students in STEM has alarmed educators, prompting a call for efforts to increase STEM majors in universities. Large class sizes, such as first year biology with ~900 registrants annually, with detail-oriented, content-heavy loads, can result in low success rates and attrition. Design/methodology/approach: Active learning methods, including online formative assessments, which encourage student engagement in course material, can be effective in large introductory science classes, and thus, the authors provided engagement with tutorial online resources. The authors identified the tutorial topics by analyzing previous years' tests, student feedback and pedagogical research in undergraduate biology. The top five topics identified as common misconceptions or troublesome concepts within the course were selected. Standard instructional design processes were used to produce high-quality online tutorials. Tutorials included learning materials, videos, animations, self-assessments, reflective questions and badges to facilitate deep learning of the topics. Effectiveness of the tutorials was evaluated using quantitative methods and quasi-experimental design to compare the student learning results between the control year (without tutorials) and the year when tutorials were offered. Pre- and posttests measuring conceptual understanding were administered to assess gains in student learning. Additionally, student engagement was measured using the Classroom Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE), and data from learning management system was collected. Findings: Results of the study show that the tutorials were an effective means of providing supplementary assistance to students as well as fostering a gain in students' levels of engagement with the course. Data analysis indicates that there was a significant increased gain in learning of core concepts in biology. Specifically, using formative online assessments resulted in measurable learning gains in students who participated voluntarily, in comparison to students who chose not to engage in self-paced quiz testing. Originality/value: As seen from the description earlier, the tutorials, and this project, provide suitable university-level complexity to address specific learning gaps in the first year course. They provide a valuable service to students in terms of representing content in an alternate format and motivating students as they engaged with videos and self-assessment most frequently. The project adds to the teaching and learning environment with respect to program design, mode of delivery and scheduling by providing self-paced tutorials that focus on specific concepts in biology. Students may review these resources whenever and as often as they feel necessary to better master the concepts. This makes the content applicable for the various preferences for approaches to learning and accommodation requirements found in students. Importantly, using formative online assessments resulted in measurable learning gains in students who participated voluntarily, in comparison to students who chose not to engage in self-paced quiz testing.

As the use of social media in post-secondary education expands, so does the research literature examining its effectiveness in engaging students. Studies have examined the use of Twitter as an assessment and engagement tool, and since this is a broad and growing research area, better understanding whether Twitter can promote these outcomes in an upper-level university course is valuable. This paper explores these themes based on a student survey (N=37) conducted in a Sociology Deviance course. It also reviews how students responded to the use of Twitter as a "community-classroom" engagement and assessment tool. Findings reveal that Twitter did contribute to some students' sense of community. We offer suggestions for how instructors can successfully integrate Twitter activities into their course assessment to make them more engaging and to improve connectedness.

Introduction: Due to a lack of robust population denominators, Australia is unable to accurately monitor changes in the HIV epidemic for some populations. The ratio of HIV transmission relative to the number of people with HIV (an incidence prevalence ratio, or IPR) can measure such changes. The IPR is measured against an IPR benchmark derived from post‐HIV acquisition life expectancy, to indicate whether an HIV epidemic is shrinking or growing. Using IPRs and Australia‐specific IPR benchmarks, this study aims to describe the Australian HIV epidemic among three groups: men with HIV attributed to male‐to‐male sex, women with HIV and people with HIV attributed to injection drug use. Methods: Using mathematical modelling derived from HIV notifications, cohort and administrative data, IPRs were generated for each of the three groups. These IPRs were compared with IPR benchmarks derived from post‐HIV acquisition mortality estimates using abridged life tables for men, women and people who inject drugs. The IPR benchmark for men was applied to people with HIV attributed to male‐to‐male sex. Trends in the IPR over time were described for each reported population from 2015 to 2022. Results: Overall, the IPR fell by 80%, from 0.040 (range: 0.034−0.045) in 2015 to 0.008 (range: 0.003−0.013) in 2022 and fell below the benchmark (0.022) in 2020. Among people with HIV attributed to male‐to‐male sex, the IPR fell by 85%, from 0.041 (range: 0.034−0.047) in 2015 to 0.006 (range: 0.003−0.024) in 2022 and fell below the benchmark (0.022) in 2020. Among women with HIV, the IPR fell by 56%, from 0.032 (range: 0.026−0.039) in 2015 to 0.014 (range: 0.003−0.029) in 2022 and fell below the benchmark (0.022) in 2019. Among people with HIV attributed to injection drug use, the IPR fell by 61%, from 0.036 (range: 0.022−0.047) in 2015 to 0.014 (range: 0.002−0.057) in 2022 and fell below the benchmark (0.028) in 2019. Conclusions: Australian IPRs in all populations examined have dropped below the level required to sustain the HIV epidemic at current levels. By applying this method in other contexts, the changing scale of HIV epidemics may be better described for populations lacking robust population denominators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of Twitter for communication and assessment activities in online courses is not new, it has not been without its challenges. This is increasingly true of high enrolment courses. The use of a Twitter Evaluation application which leverages a Learning Management System's (LMS's) application programming interface (API) provides a solution which reduces the administrative overhead associated with tracking students' Tweets and allows the grader to focus on the assessment of the Tweets' quality. Such an application and how it improved the assessment process of grading Tweet events is described. In addition to the technological considerations, the soundness of the Twitter learning design in the course also impacts the effectiveness of the Tweet events for learning and enhancing the much-needed online social presence. Learning design considerations are also discussed.

During the Winter and Spring 2014 semesters students registered in the online offering of Human Kinetics and Recreation 1000 (N = 589) were asked to participate in two Twitter events encompassing two of the course's assessment activities. In each Twitter event, students were required to post, at minimum, one original tweet and respond to another student's tweet. The use of a tweet feeder widget in the course's learning management system provided a current summary of the dialogue. An aggregate tool was used to assist with tracking of student tweets for assessment purposes. At the end of the semester students were asked to complete an online survey that sought to ascertain their experience of using Twitter within the course, including its effectiveness as a component of the assessment, and as a means to enhance social presence within the class. The survey also inquired about students' previous and current Twitter use, and requested recommendations on how to use it in future courses. Results of this survey data indicate students perceived Twitter as an effective means of assessment, and an effective means to integrate social presence in the high enrollment course allowing them to feel more connected to their classmates and the course content. Students suggested several ways micro-blogging could be used in future classes. Implications for the use of Twitter for assessment purposes or as a means to enhance social presence are discussed.

Study abroad brings an enriching experience to students' academic and personal lives. This narrative essay relays two students' experiences with study abroad sojourns and touches upon their technology use during their study abroad as recounted in semi-structured interviews. Details of their cultural experiences and reflections thereof as well as the impact these experiences had on their lives are presented. Student participation in study abroad semesters is increasing each year. Understanding previous students' experience studying abroad, how this impacted their studies and life afterwards can inform decision making of other students considering this option. Additionally, awareness of the technologies used to stay in touch with those at home informs administrative and technical decisions for institutions to consider.

Social media's reach has extended into our personal, professional, and educational lives. Related to the latter, research has examined how technologies, such as Twitter, can be used as communication and evaluation tools in postsecondary settings. No known studies have considered students' experiences using Twitter in different course delivery formats (e.g., on campus compared to online courses), yet this can inform instructor decision-making on whether Twitter can be more effectively incorporated as an instructional tool in one format over another. This study sets out to examine whether differences existed between students' perceptions and use of this social media platform as a device for learning and "classroom" connectedness. As students' perceptions can reveal the effectiveness of pedagogical strategies given their position at the center of the learning process, the present study relied on anonymous, voluntary online survey results from 37 students enrolled in an upper-level Sociology of Deviance course delivered by the same instructor both online and on campus to ascertain students' use of Twitter and their perceptions of using Twitter in learning, as a course evaluation tool, and in connecting students. Our findings suggest there are interesting differences in the social networking platform's use between the two course formats. These differences were used to recommend strategies for how instructors can integrate Twitter into their courses, both online and on campus.

This paper draws together critical learnings from diverse qualitative health research projects in Australia that sought to shift power and focus on the strengths and expertise of people with lived experience who are involved as co-researchers. These projects have included exploring and challenging identities, understanding experiences in treatment programs, critiquing and designing/re-designing services, and sharing experiences with the wider community in novel and innovative ways. Lived experiences included alcohol and other drug dependency, mental health, domestic, family or sexual violence, and living with HIV. This paper provides important learnings and actions about partnering with co-researchers with lived experience. In this paper we draw on a process of reflective discussions that occurred over six months with fortnightly online meetings between co-researchers, including co-authors with lived experience external to academia and university-based researchers, some of whom also have lived-experience that intersects with their research. From this, we distilled key learnings across seven themes: (1) the ethics of ethics, which highlights a need for constant reflection on the ethical issues in co-research; (2) recruiting co-researchers, which focuses on ensuring and integrating a diversity of voices; (3) creating safety for all, which must be a priority of engagement and support self-determination; (4) supporting different ways of partnering, which emphasises the need for diverse roles and ways to contribute on research teams; (5) capacity building and training, which requires ongoing evaluation of needs and tailored responses; (6) positioning, which highlights the need to transition from the idea of vulnerability to a strengths-based perspective of lived experience; and (7) power plays, reflecting the need to disrupt the dynamics and established hierarchies of privileging certain forms of knowledge and expertise. The paper includes recommendations for action against these seven themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine college adjustment in students reporting an ADHD diagnosis and the effect of medication treatment on students' adjustment. Method: 1,648 first-semester freshmen attending a public and a private university completed a Web-based survey to examine their adjustment to college. Results: Compared with 200 randomly selected control students, 68 students with ADHD reported more academic concerns and depressive symptoms. This was explained by higher rates of inattentive symptoms among students with ADHD and was unrelated to hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. Among students with ADHD, medication treatment was not related to better adjustment or diminished ADHD symptoms. The contribution of inattention to academic concerns and depressive symptoms remained significant when controlling for personality traits. Conclusion: Students with ADHD experience greater academic performance concerns and depressive symptoms during the transition to college. Medication treatment did not appear to diminish ADHD symptoms nor enhance students' adjustment.

Background: Women are 1.5–3 times more likely to suffer from depression than men. This sex bias first emerges during puberty and then persists across the reproductive years. As the cause remains largely elusive, we performed a methylation‐wide association study (MWAS) to generate novel hypotheses. Methods: We assayed nearly all 28 million possible methylation sites in blood in 595 blood samples from 487 participants aged 9–17. MWASs were performed to identify methylation sites associated with increasing sex differences in depression symptoms as a function of pubertal stage. Epigenetic deconvolution was applied to perform analyses on a cell‐type specific level. Results: In monocytes, a substantial number of significant associations were detected after controlling the FDR at 0.05. These results could not be explained by plasma testosterone/estradiol or current/lifetime trauma. Our top results in monocytes were significantly enriched (ratio of 2.48) for genes in the top of a large genome‐wide association study (GWAS) meta‐analysis of depression and neurodevelopment‐related Gene Ontology (GO) terms that remained significant after correcting for multiple testing. Focusing on our most robust findings (70 genes overlapping with the GWAS meta‐analysis and the significant GO terms), we find genes coding for members of each of the major classes of axon guidance molecules (netrins, slits, semaphorins, ephrins, and cell adhesion molecules). Many of these genes were previously implicated in rodent studies of brain development and depression‐like phenotypes, as well as human methylation, gene expression and GWAS studies. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the emergence of sex differences in depression may be related to the differential rewiring of brain circuits between boys and girls during puberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]