Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Critical Thinking Of Smartphone Use From Elementary School Students In Kosovo, Muhamet Jahiri, Gëzim Qerimi, Dren Gërguri

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study examined smartphone usage behaviours of elementary school students and media literacy. Data were gathered from a survey with a sample of 450 students from different schools in seven main regions of Kosovo, aged 10-15. There is no difference between males and females in smartphone access, while there is a slight difference between them in time spent using smartphones. This research clearly shows that elementary school students’ smartphone use is very high, but on the other side, it is not reflected at all in the school curriculum. There is a low level of getting advice from parents and a …

Vulnerability Profiles And Educational Demands Of Spanish University Students In The Face Of Fake News, M. Esther Del Moral Pérez, Jonathan Castañeda Fernández, Nerea López-Bouzas, M. Carmen Bellver Moreno

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study is part of the Surfing the Waves of Fake News (SURFake) project, involving 543 Spanish university students. Its purpose is to understand the variables related to potentially risky practices students engage in on social media and their educational shortcomings. An opinion questionnaire was used to establish levels of vulnerability to fake news. The results show that the most vulnerable are the youngest and those who spend more time exposed to social media, limit themselves to consuming content, read their news superficially, and lack specific education or training. Respondents who are aware of their limitations request training to recognize …

“That’S Plagiarism!”: The ‘Filmed Vs. Found Footage’ Continuum In A Pedagogical Video Composition Teacher Professional Development Program, Nathan Smith Jones

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper describes a qualitative case study conducted in the Intermountain Western United States during the Fall of 2020. Though a few years old, the study remains relevant due to its esoteric subject within research on media production professional development education. Study’s purpose was to explore the processes and participants of an independent, pedagogical video composition (PVC––a.k.a. educational filmmaking) teacher professional development (PD) program. The primary sources of data were interviews of staff of the PD program and teacher graduates of the PD program. This paper focuses on a conclusion from the study: an alarming discrepancy between the attitudes of …

Ela And Social Studies Teachers’ Perspectives On The Importance Of Media Literacy For Student Learning, Hillary Gould, Sam Von Gillern, Matthew Korona, Alicia Haywood

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this study, researchers aimed to develop an understanding of how English Language Arts and social studies teachers of middle- and high-school students perceive the value of media literacy skills and competencies for their students. The research team reviewed how these teachers rated various media literacy skills utilizing a set of 15 media literacy strategies categorized into three constructs, authors and audiences, messages and meaning, and representations and reality, in a survey demonstrating their perspectives on aspects of media literacy and their importance for student learning. The 860 teachers overwhelmingly recognize the importance of media literacy competencies for their students. …

How To Design An Effective Mooc To Promote Media Literacy: A Study Based On The Educational Design Research Approach, Lílian Tropiano, Pedro Reis

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The research aims to establish a conceptual framework to design a MOOC to promote media literacy in the context of information disorder. Information disorder is a phenomenon that mainly occurs from the large flow of false or incorrect content posted on the internet. Promoting media literacy is a way of helping citizens to face the challenges of disinformation processes. The educational design research involves the development of a MOOC prototype based on the literature review and improvement through successive iterations with groups of experts and MOOC participants. The first stage of investigation is the literature review for the development of …

Subvertising In The Classroom: A Comparative Study On Fostering Critical Media Literacy, Inés Leal-Rico

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Subvertising, traditionally linked to counterculture and anti-consumption, is utilized in education to reveal the manipulative strategies of corporate messaging to students. Classroom use of cut-and-paste methods deconstructs advertisement messages, fostering an understanding of how needs and desires are constructed through appropriation, incorporation, and transformation tactics. This research aims to comprehend fully the implementation and impact of subvertising workshops in educational settings by analyzing six scholarly articles on applied workshops. The data, sourced from a previous scoping review on subvertising, enabled a comprehensive evaluation of methodologies and effective techniques. The study compares these cases to the ten key steps proposed by …

Children Negotiating Meanings In Kidfluencers’ Channels, Patricia Digón-Regueiro, Concepción Sánchez-Blanco

Journal of Media Literacy Education

YouTube is a commercialised digital environment that provides profitable opportunities for content creators. Children’s channels have proliferated in recent years on this platform. Children YouTubers become kidfluencers when they reach an important number of subscriptions and brands start to show interest in their channels. Following a qualitative methodology with focus groups, in which 263 primary education pupils participated, we examined these pupils’ use of social media and their relationships with the influencers followed, together with their media literacy skills and negotiation of meanings upon watching a Spanish kidfluencer’s channel. Pupils were encouraged to express and communicate their experiences, thoughts, feelings …

Attack On Titan Anime Memes: Possible Meanings And Interpretations By Young Adults., Yee-Lin Teo, Sze Seau Lee, Xin Jie Lim

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Memes have unpredictable and diverse interpretations because of their tendencies to be parodies, remixes, or mashups. This study aims to examine the possible meanings which memes may express and the interpretations of memes by young adults within the affinity space of Attack on Titan anime memes. The two-phase methodology involves analysing the memes using Shifman’s analytical dimensions of content, form, and stance, before conducting in-depth interviews with ten young adults who represent insiders and outsiders of the affinity space. The findings discuss how Attack on Titan memes normalise sexualisation, violence, and struggles such as suicidal intentions in young adults. The …

Educative Leadership Of Curriculum Development Reconceptualized As Leadership Of Personal, Group, Institutional And System Learning, Reynold Js Macpherson

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

This paper reconceptualizes educative leadership as leadership of learning, integrating advancements in curriculum development, epistemological diversity, and ethical imperatives within a holistic pragmatic framework.

Leadership of learning positions leaders as facilitators of dynamic educational ecosystems that align curriculum goals with pluralistic epistemologies, practical solutions, and contextual relevance. Recent curriculum trends—such as personalized learning, competency-based education, cultural responsiveness, and socio-emotional learning—reflect an embrace of constructivist and critical approaches, emphasizing inclusivity and adaptability.

Holistic pragmatism strengthens these developments, advocating for curriculum designs that are theoretically sound and practically relevant, fostering co-construction of knowledge through active engagement.

Organizational development (OD) theory enriches this …

Little Ship, Big Screen: Animating The Battle Of The Atlantic At The Canadian War Museum, Jeff Noakes, Marie-Louise Deruaz

Canadian Military History

The Canadian War Museum developed a large-screen immersive computer-animated video experience for visitors to the Second World War gallery. It is a dramatisation of a Canadian corvette’s nighttime encounter with a German U-boat in the North Atlantic, told from the perspective of the corvette’s crew while escorting a convoy. This article examines and discusses the process of developing the upgrade, including decisions about subject matter and approach, and design and accessibility. The role of archival and historical research in defining these objectives is detailed, together with a behind-the-scenes look at the development and installation of the final product.

Le Musée …

“I Endeavored To Give A Pen And Ink Panorama Of The War As I Saw It”: Lieutenant E.W.B. Morrison In The South African War, Tim Cook, Hanna Murray

Canadian Military History

Employing eyewitness accounts to explore the experiences of Edward Whipple Bancroft Morrison, this article examines his wartime service in the South African War (1899-1902). A prominent journalist and later major-general in the Great War, Morrison served in South Africa as an artillery officer with D Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery. This article contextualises several of Morrison’s rare sketches from the collection of the Canadian War Museum, shedding new light on his service and that of Canadians in the long campaign.

Usant de témoignages pour explorer l’expérience d’Edward Whipple Bancroft Morrison, cet article se penche sur ses années de service militaire pendant …

Telling The Stories Of Airwomen In The ‘Forgotten Decade’: 1952-62, Rebecca Hartley, Allan English

Canadian Military History

The Royal Canadian Air Force’s centennial represents a time for reflection. While thousands of young women served in the RCAF during the 1950s, many of their stories have since been overlooked or forgotten. Joining the air force meant access to international travel, new social connections, and valuable vocational training — all of which were relatively unattainable for many women at this time. By studying the photographs, memoirs and collected paraphernalia of Leading Aircraftwoman Ruth Doreen Wright (née Tower), this paper reconstructs an airwoman’s typical RCAF career and her perceived value of her RCAF experience on the rest of her life.

Student Perceptions Of Campus-Integrated Therapy Dogs: Best Practices And Impact On Well-Being And Campus Belonging, Laura Poleshuck, Olivia Griffin, Caroline Winiecki

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

College/university students are revealing concerning levels of anxiety and depression, as well as extremely high levels of loneliness, which interfere with their success in higher education (ACHA, 2022). A plethora of research has demonstrated that animal-assisted intervention (AAI) provided through interaction with trained therapy dogs has a positive effect on student well-being (e.g., Crossman et al., 2015; Grajfoner et al., 2017; Ward-Griffin et al., 2018). The InterProfessional Animal-assisted Wellness (IPAW) Collaborative, a campus-integrated therapy dog program with postsecondary students on a university campus, is a novel approach to AAI. The campus-integrated therapy dog program described in this study incorporates Pet …

Full Issue - Excelsior, V17-1

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Playful Learning In Higher Education To Inspire Playful Learning In P-12 Classrooms, Norline Wild

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Playful learning has immense potential and relevance across all educational levels, from early childhood to university settings. However, play is often dismissed as an activity reserved only for young children and is ignored in higher education The purpose of this practitioner article is to share instructional strategies and insights in order to demonstrate the immense potential of play at the university level. The goal is not only to inspire teacher educators to be critical thinkers and to creatively interweave playful learning into their pedagogy but to provide concrete examples through modeling of how this can be done. Initially, a dedicated …

Invent A Kid Project: Fostering Creative Reflective Practice In Teacher Candidates, Karen Poland, Mary Ellen Bardsley, Paul Vermette

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

A primary goal of teacher education programs is to equip teacher candidates with the necessary skills to navigate the social and cultural realities and complexities of the classroom while seamlessly integrating theory and practice. As our classrooms become more socially, economically, and culturally diverse it is important for teachers to evolve into developmentally and culturally responsive individuals who can incorporate a variety of teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of each student. However, novice teachers often face challenges in meeting the individual needs of students due to their lack of experience, classroom management challenges, time constraints, the complexity of …

Front Matter And Letters From President And Editors

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

There Is Real Life Here: Centering The Body In Teaching And Learning, Ryan Ambuter

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Bodies have everything to do with teaching and learning, yet are often overlooked or diminished as sites of meaning-making in educational contexts. The goal of this article is to foreground the body in teaching and learning, and identify the transformative potential that embodied pedagogy opens up. Rooted in intersectional critical theory and frameworks, this article explores the importance of centering bodies in education, contextualizes the invisibility and silencing of bodies in education historically and today, and identifies the possibilities that a focus on bodies in education can offer. Action steps that teachers and teacher educators can apply to their practice …

Quality Improvement In Healthcare: A Practical Guide For Providers (Part 5), Jeremy Ellis Md

Transformative Medicine

No abstract provided.

Glp-1 Agonists For Weight Loss And Beyond, Connor Quinter, Hanh Motilall, Kelley Maberry

Transformative Medicine

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists are medications that were originally approved for type 2 diabetes to help improve glycemic control in conjunction with exercise and dieting. One of the beneficial effects of this medication class is weight loss, and recently the FDA has approved a select few for this indication of weight loss. With these medications becoming increasingly more popular, it is imperative that both providers and patients understand the differences in terms of efficacy for these medications and the potential adverse events to make the best decision about initiating therapy. This article summarizes the FDA indications for all the GLP-1 …

Decoding 2:1 Atrioventricular Block, Jaswanth Jasti Md, Muhammad Asad Hanif Md, Muhammad Mohsin Zafar Md

Transformative Medicine

No abstract provided.

Initiation Of A Skills-Based "Boot Camp" Orientation For Incoming Ob/Gyn Resident Physicians, Nathanael N. Hoskins, Morgan Scheffler, Tammy Trace, Holly Metzgar

Transformative Medicine

Background: Residency orientations are often focused on administrative obligations and less often focused on program-specific skills training. Introduction of these skills during the orientation period has been shown to improve resident confidence and proficiency. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to propose the introduction of a skills-focused portion of orientation in a condensed “boot camp” fashion to improve the transition to residency from medical school.

Methods: The skills-based orientation curriculum was developed by reviewing the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones and prior literature on the topic. The simulations were planned using resident and faculty collaboration. …

Postoperative Conundrum: Horner Syndrome Secondary To Anterior Cervical Discectomy And Fusion Procedure, Nicholas Mynarski, Sabrina M. Johnson, Aanchal Sawhney, Christine Giesa Do, Rachel Odeyemi Do

Transformative Medicine

IntroductionHorner syndrome is a rare complication following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgeries, with an incidence rate of

Case DescriptionWe report a case of a 45-year-old female with a history of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who developed Horner syndrome post-ACDF. Initially admitted for suspected cholecystitis found on imaging following a fall, the patient's clinical course was complicated by worsening cervical and lumbar pain. This prompted MRI evaluation revealing cervical stenosis at C5-C6 and ACDF was performed without intraoperative complications. However, on postoperative day three, the patient developed left eye ptosis and miosis, consistent with …

Uncontrolled Hypertension Or A Bad Medication Interaction? The Importance Of Reviewing Over-The-Counter Medications During Medication Reconciliation, Shefali Amin Do, Caitlyn R. Moss Md

Transformative Medicine

Introduction: In the management of chronic conditions, review of the complete medication list for potential drug-drug interactions is crucial. This case involves a patient taking activated charcoal for unclear reasons, leading to misdiagnosed uncontrolled hypertension.

Case Description: We present the case of an elderly male with uncontrolled hypertension who had been placed on multiple chronic antihypertensives for years. On further review, he was found to be taking activated charcoal twice daily thereby inactivating his five oral antihypertensive medications and making his blood pressure difficult to control. Discontinuation of the activated charcoal led to significant improvement in his blood …

Relationship Of Amphetamines In Reducing Substance Abuse Risks Among Adhd Patients, Ashley Deng, Eduardo Espiridion Md

Transformative Medicine

Introduction: Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects a substantial portion of the global population, influencing cognitive and behavioral function. Current treatments often involve stimulant medications like amphetamines, which are controlled substances due to their addiction potential. Non-stimulant options, such as atomoxetine, are typically considered secondary therapies. This study examines the relationship between ADHD medication use and the subsequent development of psychoactive, stimulant, and cocaine-related substance use disorders. Methods: Using the TriNetX database, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare ADHD patients prescribed amphetamines to those receiving atomoxetine or no medication. Propensity score matching was employed to control for confounding variables, followed …

A Computational Framework To Optimize Piezoelectric Power Harvesting From A Uav Wing, Hassan Koko, Gihad Ibrahim

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This paper proposes a computational framework to optimize the ambient power harvesting from an unmanned air vehicle wing by means of piezoelectricity. First, the wing shape and material are selected based on specific design factors. The wing is then subjected to a vibrational analysis in order to predict the first torsional frequency required to calculate an optimum charging speed. The harvester module is then selected so that the vibration frequency of the charging speed fails within the resonance frequency of the harvester. A finite element modeling is conducted to predict the harvester output voltage during the chagrining speed. Finally, a …

Translanguaging In Middle Level Education, Helen Brandon, Ellis Hurd

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This case study explores the experiences of two teacher candidates (TCs) in professional development school (PDS) settings with multilingual learners. While valuing multilingual learner’s diverse linguistic backgrounds and language repertoires by drawing from a toolkit of responsive practices, the TCs embraced but struggled with layering translanguaging into their classroom practices. It also examines the middle grades program that these TCs attended while centering asset-based thinking and culturally responsive practices. Overall, this study shows that teacher education programs must include another critical layer to TCs’ experiences: building the toolkit of middle school cooperating teachers (CTs). This study also serves as a …

Improved Process For The Preparation Of 4-Amino-1-(D-Phenylalanyl-D-Phenylalanyl-D-Leucyl-D-Lysyl)Piperidine-4-Carboxylic Acid Acetate, Srinivasan Thirumalai Rajan; Ghojala Venkat Reddy; Mallepally Venkat Reddy; Msn Laboratories Private Limited, R&D Center; Hyderabad, India

Defensive Publications Series

The present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of 4-amino-1-(D-phenylalanyl-D-phenylalanyl-D-leucyl-D-lysyl)piperidine-4-carboxylic acid acetate.

Obtaining High Engagement Short Vertical Format Videos From Long Horizontal Videos, Arielle Kuperminc

Defensive Publications Series

Online video content platforms host short-form videos in vertical format. Many content platforms also host long-form horizontal videos. For content creators of long-form videos to be able to provide videos in short-form vertical format, they need to dedicate resources to identify appropriate portions of their content and generate cropped short-form videos. This disclosure describes techniques to automatically identify the most suitable segments of long-form content for conversion to short-form content and to generate short-form vertical videos for such segments. The suitable segments are identified using audience engagement metrics provided by the platform that hosts the video content. Object detection and …

Ai-Based Detection And Formalization Of In-Session Annotations In Virtual Meetings, Xun Qian, Ruofei Du

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure describes techniques to automatically detect annotations such as freeform sketches and text captions provided by users during online video conferences and generate formalized representations of the annotations for in-meeting display as well as for subsequent retrieval. The techniques can be implemented for video conferences, including where participants participate via extended reality (XR) devices. Implementation of the techniques enables users to create high-fidelity sketches and annotations while participating in a video conference (virtual meeting). With user permission, an artificial intelligence (AI) module is utilized that detects user speech, a targeted first-person view, and user sketches provided during a virtual …