Pitch this: storytelling as a means to enhance your personal brand

The following chapter describes the design and implementation of a teaching and learning strategy that aimed to explore the affordances of storytelling when it comes to the management of students’ personal branding skills. Designed to help students craft their online professional persona and produce videobased pitches, this strategy was developed taking into account the concepts of personal branding and digital storytelling, as well as a preliminary questionnaire focusing on participants’ perceptions. Having been implemented within English for Specific Purposes classes, this strategy was successful in promoting students’ engagement and making them aware of the importance of having a strong personal brand, something that can be enhanced through contemporary storytelling methods.publishe

The Conserved Immunoglobulin Superfamily Member SAX-3/Robo Directs Multiple Aspects of Axon Guidance in C. elegans

AbstractThe C. elegans sax-3 gene encodes a predicted transmembrane protein with five immunoglobulin domains and three fibronectin type III repeats that is closely related to Drosophila Robo. Mutations in sax-3 lead to repeated midline crossing by ventral cord axons that normally do not cross the midline after they join the ventral cord, a phenotype similar to that of robo mutants. sax-3 is also required for guidance of some axons to the ventral cord, implicating this gene in two different types of guidance events. A sax-3::GFP fusion gene is expressed in developing neurons during axon outgrowth, and sax-3 function is required at the time of axon guidance, suggesting that this gene mediates cell interactions during guidance decisions

Immersive education spaces using open wonderland: From pedagogy through to practice

This chapter presents a case study of the use of virtual world environment in UK Higher Education. It reports on the activities carried out as part of the SIMiLLE (System for an Immersive and Mixed reality Language Learning) project to create a culturally sensitive virtual world to support language learning (funded by the UK government JISC program). The SIMiLLE project built on an earlier project called MiRTLE, which created a mixed-reality space for teaching and learning. The aim of the SIMiLLE project was to investigate the technical feasibility and pedagogical value of using virtual environments to provide a realistic socio-cultural setting for language learning interaction. The chapter begins by providing some background information on the Wonderland platform and the MiRTLE project, and then outlines the requirements for SIMiLLE, and how these requirements were supported through the use of a virtual world based on the Open Wonderland virtual world platform. The chapter then presents the framework used for the evaluation of the system, with a particular focus on the importance of incorporating pedagogy into the design of these systems, and how to support good practice with the ever-growing use of 3D virtual environments in formalized education. Finally, the results from the formative and summative evaluations are summarized, and the lessons learnt are presented, which can help inform future uses of immersive education spaces within Higher Education. © 2011, IGI Global

Examining the Theoretical Factors that Influence University Students to Adopt Web 2.0 Technologies

The purpose of this study is (1) to examine Australian university students’ awareness of the benefits of Web 2.0 technologies and (2) to investigate the factors that influence students to adopt Web 2.0 technologies to supplement in-class learning, using the theoretical foun-dations of both Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Findings indicated that most students in this study’s sample were aware of the benefits of Web 2.0 technologies to supplement in-class instructions. The findings also indicated that students’ attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control were strong determinants of their intention to use Web 2.0 technologies.Griffith Business School, Department of International Business and Asian StudiesNo Full Tex