COMPLEXITY LEADERSHIP: THE ROLE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING CENTER LEADERS IN ONLINE LEARNING AT SMALL, PRIVATE COLLEGES

As online learning continues to grow and became an integral component of many higher education institutions (Allen & Seaman, 2017), the role of leadership in guiding those online learning initiatives differs from institution to institution. At small, private colleges and universities, where online learning is seeing greater enrollment and growth (Clinefelter & Magda, 2013), teaching and learning centers (TLC) often have involvement in guiding and shaping online learning initiatives. This study investigated the role of TLC leaders in leading online learning initiatives. The value of this study is an examination of leadership during a period of transformation and change that requires TLC leaders to manage administrative directives, work with a diverse faculty base, and balance these sometimes competing interests. This research study sought to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of TLC leaders in online learning leadership within small, private higher education institutions. Utilizing complexity leadership theory as a framework for exploring the various leadership functions of TLC leaders, the study employed a transcendental phenomenological methodology (Moustakas, 1994). Participants included seven TLC leaders or other TLC staff who were involved in online learning initiatives at their institutions. Data was collected through a series of three semi-structured interview sessions based on the qualitative interview design of Seidman (2005). Analysis of the data generated themes centered around the three leadership functions of complexity leadership theory: administrative, adaptive, and enabling leadership

Design and optimization of a long travel, two-axis flexural nanopositioning stage

This thesis details the design, computational optimization, and resultant evaluation of a two-axis flexural nanopositioning stage based on a modified version of a double parallelogram flexure which features underconstraint-eliminating features nested within the flexural bearing. The stage was optimized using a response surface model with the seven most sensitive geometric parameters for the flexural bearing as inputs, and the flexure’s peak stress and reaction force at maximum deflection as outputs. This paper shows that—through design optimization—the first resonant mode of a long travel, two-axis flexural nanopositioning stage that has previously been reported in literature can be improved by a factor of two while still maintaining the higher-order resonant modes to be at least an order-of-magnitude higher than the fundamental mode of the stage. This improvement is critical because increasing the fundamental mode without sacrificing the higher order modes will allow for a higher bandwidth controller to be implemented on this nanopositioning stage. The end goal of the positioning stage detailed in this paper is to be implemented within a micro-SLS 3D printer.Mechanical Engineerin

Transformative Care Through Alternative Assessment Practices

This essay explores assessment practices and the ways in which grading can inhibit authentic care and undermine our work as educators seeking to embody the work of Christ in our classrooms. Beginning with an exploration of grading history, the essay reviews the challenges with our current grading models and the detrimental effect grades can have on students and their learning experience. Through reflecting on the concept of transformative care, alternative assessment practices are offered as a way to recognize the injustices associated with grading and shift to models that advocate for greater care and connection with learners. The essay offers suggestions for adjusting our assessment approaches to more fully connect to Christ’s own model of teaching and advocate for an ethic of care in our classrooms

The clustering coefficient and community structure of bipartite networks

Many real-world networks display a natural bipartite structure. It is necessary and important to study the bipartite networks by using the bipartite structure of the data. Here we propose a modification of the clustering coefficient given by the fraction of cycles with size four in bipartite networks. Then we compare the two definitions in a special graph, and the results show that the modification one is better to character the network. Next we define a edge-clustering coefficient of bipartite networks to detect the community structure in original bipartite networks.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Approaching Ungrading: First-Time Perspectives from an Online Graduate Course

As a response to COVID-19 and a broader emphasis on the social and emotional elements of the learning experience, educators have turned to pedagogical responses that elevate care and student wellbeing. One of the ways in which this care has been facilitated is through alternative assessment practices, including ungrading. This study sought to understand the lived experiences of learners and the instructor in an ungraded online graduate course. Through semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study sought to explore the first experiences around this pedagogical approach. Participants reported that the experience led to shifts in their learning approaches, promoted greater student agency and creativity, and generally impacted their views toward feedback and reflection. The findings contribute to our understanding of ungrading and other alternative assessment practices in online courses and programs and their overall impact on learners and instructors

Line graphs as social networks

The line graphs are clustered and assortative. They share these topological features with some social networks. We argue that this similarity reveals the cliquey character of the social networks. In the model proposed here, a social network is the line graph of an initial network of families, communities, interest groups, school classes and small companies. These groups play the role of nodes, and individuals are represented by links between these nodes. The picture is supported by the data on the LiveJournal network of about 8 x 10^6 people. In particular, sharp maxima of the observed data of the degree dependence of the clustering coefficient C(k) are associated with cliques in the social network.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Relating at work : facets, dialectics and face

This article examines ‘relating at work’. Recent theorising in pragmatics has drawn attention to the importance of analysing relations, and yet the pragmatic study of relations is now intertwined so closely with the concept of face (e.g. Arundale, 2010a; Holmes et al., 2011; Locher and Watts 2005, 2008) that it might seem the two are synonymous. In this paper, I review this research from a multidisciplinary perspective, and then report a study on ‘relating at work’ in which leaders and interns were interviewed about their experiences of starting work in a culturally unfamiliar setting. I focus on one dialectic, connectedness–separateness, and report the challenges they described in ‘making contact’. In the discussion section and on the basis of my findings, I argue the following points: (a) relating at work entails a complex web of interrelated facets and ‘smooth relations’ is just one of employees’ relational concerns; (b) Relational Dialectic Theory offers much potential for interpersonal pragmatics; (c) dialectic tensions can occur at the individual as well as the interpersonal/relational levels and an interactional achievement analytic perspective needs to be complemented by an individual perspective; (d) Relational Dialect Theory and Face Theory are complementary to each other and should not be conflated

The benefit sanction: a correctional device or a weapon of disgust?

The benefit sanction is a dominant activation policy in Britain’s ‘welfare-to-work’ regime. While policymakers believe in their necessity to correct behaviour, research shows benefit sanctions cause additional harm to Britain’s marginalised groups. Drawing upon a small-scale qualitative study, this article first navigates new territory, mapping the ways stigma emerges from the state – channelled through the benefit sanction – and manifests in the lives of sanctioned claimants. Acknowledging wider evidence, the sanction is then argued to have failed as a correctional device. Rather, taking into account Britain’s current politico-economic climate, the sanction appears as a weapon used to incite negative emotion in an attempt to police the boundaries of the labour market, while frequently abandoning some of the UK’s most vulnerable citizens

Searching for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new limit is $\Omega_{\rm GW} < 6.5 \times 10^{-5}$. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figure