Engagement Strategies in Electronic Tools English Online Learning: Higher Education Context

ABSTRACTThe study aimed to explore and investigate the versatility, capacity, and adaptability for accommodating online English learning. The qualitative approach was employed in the study with a descriptive research design. 86 participants responded to the survey, and 25 semi-structured interviews were adjusted from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The study’s findings have implications for employing online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators to increase online course engagement. The study exposed four recommendations based on the finding, including instructional elements of collaborated and interactive activities, integrated electronic tests applied on mobile phones, and Enhanced Social familiarity. English lecturers preferred to use Moodle and Google classroom as their daily Learning Management System (LMS) in the study context. The interactive tools intended to apply with QuizGame and Wirewax while conference communication instrument approved to the Google Meeting and Skype. Conclusively, the study offered implications for practice by confirming and presenting the online tools approach that might be utilized to engage and implement online English learning education in Higher Education circumstances.ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi dan menyelidiki keserbagunaan, kapasitas, dan kemampuan beradaptasi untuk mengakomodasi pembelajaran daring bahasa Inggris. Pendekatan kualitatif digunakan dalam penelitian ini dengan desain penelitian deskriptif. 86 peserta menanggapi survei, dan 25 wawancara semi-terstruktur disesuaikan dari National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Temuan penelitian ini memiliki implikasi untuk mengenlola instruktur daring, perancang instruksional pembelajaran, dan administrator untuk meningkatkan keterlibatan kelas daring. Studi ini memaparkan empat rekomendasi, termasuk elemen instruksional dari aktivitas kolaborasi dan interaktif, tes elektronik terintegrasi yang diterapkan pada ponsel, dan Peningkatan kedekatan Sosial. Instruktur atau dosen bahasa Inggris lebih menggunakan Moodle dan Google classroom sebagai Learning Management System (LMS) harian mereka dalam konteks belajar daring. Keterlibatan alat interaktif dimaksudkan untuk penerapan dengan QuizGame dan Wirewax sementara instrumen komunikasi konferensi digunakan dalam Google Meeting dan Skype. Secara meyakinkan, penelitian ini menawarkan implikasi untuk praktik dengan mengonfirmasi dan menyajikan pendekatan alat daring sehingga dapat digunakan untuk melibatkan dan mengimplementasikan pendidikan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris daring di lingkungan Pendidikan Tinggi.

Social familiarity improves fast-start escape performance in schooling fish

Using social groups (i.e. schools) of the tropical damselfish Chromis viridis, we test how familiarity through repeated social interactions influences fast-start responses, the primary defensive behaviour in a range of taxa, including fish, sharks, and larval amphibians. We focus on reactivity through response latency and kinematic performance (i.e. agility and propulsion) following a simulated predator attack, while distinguishing between first and subsequent responders (direct response to stimulation versus response triggered by integrated direct and social stimulation, respectively). In familiar schools, first and subsequent responders exhibit shorter latency than unfamiliar individuals, demonstrating that familiarity increases reactivity to direct and, potentially, social stimulation. Further, familiarity modulates kinematic performance in subsequent responders, demonstrated by increased agility and propulsion. These findings demonstrate that the benefits of social recognition and memory may enhance individual fitness through greater survival of predator attacks.

Examining the Neighborhood Attributes of Recently Housed Partner Violence Survivors in Rapid Rehousing

Survivors’ considerations for re-housing following intimate partner violence (IPV) are understudied despite likely neighborhood-level influences on women’s safety. We assess housing priorities and predictors of re-housing location among recent IPV survivors (n = 54) in Rapid Re-housing (RRH) in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Choropleth maps depict residential location relative to census tract characteristics (neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) and residential segregation) derived from American Community Survey data (2013–2017). Linear regression measured associations between women’s individual, economic, and social factors and NDI and segregation. In-depth interviews (n = 16) contextualize quantitative findings. Overall, survivors re-housed in significantly more deprived and racially segregated census tracts within their respective regions. In adjusted models, trouble securing housing (B = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.13, 1.34), comfortability with proximity to loved ones (B = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.02, 1.48), and being unsure (vs unlikely) about IPV risk (B = −0.76, 95% CI: −1.39, −0.14) were significantly associated with NDI. Economic dependence on an abusive partner (B = −0.31, 95% CI: −0.56, −0.06) predicted re-housing in segregated census tracts; occasional stress about housing affordability (B = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.75) predicted re-housing in less segregated census tracts. Qualitative results contextualize economic (affordability), safety, and social (familiarity) re-housing considerations and process impacts (inspection delays). Structural racism, including discriminatory housing practices, intersect with gender, exacerbating challenges among survivors of severe IPV. This mixed-methods study further highlights the significant economic tradeoffs for safety and stability, where the prioritization of safety may exacerbate economic devastation for IPV survivors. Findings will inform programmatic policies for RRH practices among survivors.

Adolescent Experiences with Self-Asphyxial Behaviors and Problematic Drinking in Emerging Adulthood

Self-asphyxial behavior to achieve a euphoric high (The Choking Game; TCG), occurs most often during early adolescence. Participants in TCG often engage in other risky behaviors. This study investigated the relationship between prior experience with TCG and problematic drinking behaviors in emerging adulthood. Emerging adults, 18 to 25 years old (N = 1248), 56% female, and 78% Caucasian completed an online survey regarding knowledge of and prior engagement in TCG and current drinking behaviors. Participants who personally engaged in TCG during childhood/adolescence or were familiar with TCG reported significantly more problematic drinking behaviors during emerging adulthood. Those present when others engaged in TCG but resisted participation themselves reported significantly less current problematic drinking behaviors than those who participated, but significantly more current problematic drinking behaviors than those never present. Emerging adults with increased social familiarity with TCG during adolescence endorsed greater problematic drinking behaviors. Results suggest resistance skills may generalize across time/activities.

Assessing the Role of Projections from the Ventral Hippocampus (vHIP) to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) in the Neural Circuitry of Social Familiarity-induced Anxiolysis (SoFiA) using Gi-DREADDs

The social interaction habituation (SI-hab) protocol has been used to demonstrate that rats acquire Social Familiarity-induced Anxiolysis (SoFiA), a form of safety learning where rats display anxiolysis in the presence of a familiar conspecific. SoFiA acquisition and expression can be simplified into four different constructs: social memory, anxiety, safety learning and anxiolysis. The neural circuitry of SoFiA; however, has not been fully identified. As a step towards elucidating the SoFiA neural circuitry we are identifying the role of projections from the ventral hippocampus (vHIP) to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in SoFiA acquisition. Prior work from our lab has shown that the mPFC is needed for acquisition and expression of SoFiA. The mPFC may be the location of convergence of anxiety and social memory processing, making it a loci for safety learning. The goal of the current work is to identify the inputs to the mPFC that are pivotal for SoFiA acquisition. vHIP has been implicated in social memory and projects to the mPFC leading to the hypothesis that SoFiA acquisition requires vHIP projections to mPFC. This hypothesis will be tested via intersectional genetics where neural tracts are selectively targeted through viruses. One virus is introduced at the soma of the neuron, and another is introduced at the end of the axon. The first virus, adeno-associated virus 8 (AAV8) will contain Cre-dependent code for an inhibitory DREADD (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs.) The second virus, canine adenovirus 2 (CAV2) is picked up by axon terminals and transported to the soma where it will express Cre. Unfortunately, the uptake and transport of these viruses require specific receptors and the vHIP-mPFC pathway has poor CAV2 uptake. CAV2 levels will be increased by the introduction of Coxsackievirus and Adenovirus receptor (CAR) via AAV8 two weeks prior to CAV2-Cre injection.

Extemporaneous Coordination in Specialist Teams: The Familiarity Complementarity

Team production is ubiquitous in the economy, but managing teams effectively remains a challenge for many organizations. This paper studies how familiarity among teammates influences the performance of specialist teams, relative to nonspecialist teams. Applying theories of team production to contexts where team members coordinate interdependent activities extemporaneously, we develop predictions about factors that shift the marginal returns to specialization along two dimensions of familiarity: social familiarity and functional familiarity. We test our hypotheses in the context of Defence of the Ancients 2 (DOTA2), a major e-sports game where, in some formats, players are exogenously assigned to five-person teams. After analyzing nearly 6.5 million matches, we find that specialist teams are relatively more successful when members are more socially and functionally familiar with one another. The results suggest that the plug-and-play perspective on specialist teams is incomplete; rather, specialization and familiarity are complements in dynamic environments where team members coordinate extemporaneously.

Male responses to sperm competition when rivals vary in number and familiarity

Males of many species adjust their reproductive investment to the number of rivals present simultaneously. However, few studies have investigated whether males sum previous encounters with rivals, and the total level of competition has never been explicitly separated from social familiarity. Social familiarity can be an important component of kin recognition and has been suggested as a cue that males use to avoid harming females when competing with relatives. Previous work has succeeded in independently manipulating social familiarity and relatedness among rivals, but experimental manipulations of familiarity are confounded with manipulations of the total number of rivals that males encounter. Using the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus , we manipulated three factors: familiarity among rival males, the maximum number of rivals encountered simultaneously and the total number of rivals encountered over a 48 h period. Males produced smaller ejaculates when exposed to more rivals in total, regardless of the maximum number of rivals they encountered simultaneously. Males did not respond to familiarity. Our results demonstrate that males of this species can sum the number of rivals encountered over separate days, and therefore the confounding of familiarity with the total level of competition in previous studies should not be ignored.

Parent–offspring facial resemblance increases with age in rhesus macaques

Kin recognition is a key ability which facilitates the acquisition of inclusive fitness benefits and enables optimal outbreeding. In primates, phenotype matching is considered particularly important for the recognition of patrilineal relatives, as information on paternity is unlikely to be available via social familiarity. Phenotypic cues to both paternal and maternal relatedness exist in the facial features of humans and other primates. However, theoretical models suggest that in systems with uncertainty parentage it may be adaptive for offspring to conceal such cues when young, in order to avoid potential costs of being discriminated against by unrelated adults. Using experienced human raters, we demonstrate in a computer-based task that detection of parent–offspring resemblances in the faces of rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ) increases significantly with offspring age. Moreover, this effect is specific to information about kinship, as raters were extremely successful at discriminating individuals even among the youngest animals. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence in non-humans for the age-dependent expression of visual cues used in kin recognition.

Stable social relationships between unrelated females increase individual fitness in a cooperative bird

Social animals often form long-lasting relationships with fellow group members, usually with close kin. In primates, strong social bonds have been associated with increased longevity, offspring survival and reproductive success. However, little is known about the fitness effects of social bonds between non-kin, especially outside of mammals. In this study, we use long-term field research on a cooperatively breeding bird, the greater ani ( Crotophaga major ), to ask whether adult females benefit by remaining in long-term associations with unrelated, co-breeding females. We find that females that have previously nested together synchronize their reproduction more rapidly than those nesting with unfamiliar partners, which leads to lower competition and higher fledging success. Importantly, although previous experience with a co-breeding female influenced reproductive synchrony, the degree of reproductive synchrony did not influence whether co-breeding females remained together in subsequent years, ruling out the alternate hypothesis that highly synchronized females are simply more likely to remain together. These results indicate that switching groups is costly to females, and that social familiarity improves reproductive coordination. Stable social relationships therefore have significant fitness consequences for cooperatively nesting female birds, suggesting that direct benefits alone may favour the evolution of associations between non-relatives and contribute to long-term group stability.

Repeatable group differences in the collective behaviour of stickleback shoals across ecological contexts

Establishing how collective behaviour emerges is central to our understanding of animal societies. Previous research has highlighted how universal interaction rules shape collective behaviour, and that individual differences can drive group functioning. Groups themselves may also differ considerably in their collective behaviour, but little is known about the consistency of such group variation, especially across different ecological contexts that may alter individuals' behavioural responses. Here, we test if randomly composed groups of sticklebacks differ consistently from one another in both their structure and movement dynamics across an open environment, an environment with food, and an environment with food and shelter. Based on high-resolution tracking data of the free-swimming shoals, we found large context-associated changes in the average behaviour of the groups. But despite these changes and limited social familiarity among group members, substantial and predictable behavioural differences between the groups persisted both within and across the different contexts (group-level repeatability): some groups moved consistently faster, more cohesively, showed stronger alignment and/or clearer leadership than other groups. These results suggest that among-group heterogeneity could be a widespread feature in animal societies. Future work that considers group-level variation in collective behaviour may help understand the selective pressures that shape how animal collectives form and function.