Podium Session E

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid shift of learning at medical schools from in-person to online learning. During this transition, faculty noted a decline in the first-year students’ NBME test performance. This study aims to examine changes in learning experience due to COVID-19 and ways that those changes impact academic performance and mental health. METHODS: An electronic survey was emailed to first, second-, and third-year students asking about student experiences during their first semester of medical school. Survey questions explored study location, mental health, and student/faculty relationships. Performance across the 5 NBME customized exams from the first semester was standardized across the 3 cohorts. Independent sampled t-tests compared COVID and pre-COVID cohorts to examine the impact of survey variables on academic performance. Data from all cohorts was combined and correlations were run between survey variables and the academic performance standardized score. RESULTS: Students who entered medical school during COVID studied more at home, had weaker relationships with classmates/faculty, and worse mental health. Correlating variables with academic performance it was found that academic performance was negatively impacted by studying at home, poor mental health, and lack of relationships with classmates/faculty. CONCLUSIONS: Changes implemented during COVID are all associated with decreased academic performance.

ABSTRACT:

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) nonhuman animal genetic industry has received little recognition in scholarly literature. This is surprising considering the domestic dog and cat genomes were sequenced in 2004 and 2007, in addition to the first dog genetic test (GT) becoming available in 2007. Animal DTC-GT services have social and ethical considerations, especially considering their role in breed identification, breeding programs, or genomic technologies. This study will present novel findings about consumer motivations, perceptions, and responses to DTC-GT services. In collaboration with Wisdom Panel, an online survey is currently collecting data from customers that received canine GT results between April 2020 to February 2022. Survey questions were adapted from previous human DTC-GT industry research and the theoretical framework established by the authors’ previous research. Reported consumer motivations, perceptions, and responses to their dog’s GT will be analyzed and statistically compared using SPSS. We predict participants will reveal most pursued GT services to learn about their dog, perceive the tests as accurate, and respond by discussing the results with others. Findings will be discussed in terms of identified consumer patterns, potential impacts to human-animal relationships, and future research. This project has interdisciplinary value as numerous disciplines recognize the complexity of human-animal dyads and study multiple facets of these interactions. The veterinary field also needs to be aware of this industry as DTC-GTs return health information, which may lead to consumers excluding or including their veterinarian in health-related decisions. Lastly, this research can be utilized by the industry to make meaningful improvements.

ABSTRACT:

As the internet provides an online space where people can interact without being physically co-present, a new type of scene emerges. Lacking a physical quality, scenes now look, feel, and operate differently than traditional physical ones. These new social formations raise important new sociological questions. For example, how does attending a live online performance similar to and different from attending a live physical one in terms of participants’ experience of connectedness, identification with a particular music subculture, and sense of community? To address this question, I navigated to nine different Grateful Dead tribute bands’ performance sites on Facebook to collect observations about the performances, the participants, their interactions, and motivations. I collected observations about participants’ comments and conducted a textual analysis using grounded theory to find theoretical statements. I also collected visual/acoustic data to “set the scene” and used the data to supplement the findings that emerged through my textual analysis. First, I find that they welcome to old and new participants. Second, they establish their status as aficionados. Third, they show appreciation and emotional fulfillment participating. What I learned from this project may be useful in analyzing other types of online scenes. Do other different groups use related strategies like welcoming, identity claims, and emotional impact to experience a sense of community? Beyond contributing to our knowledge of this particular online music scene, this project can also enhance our knowledge of various types of online sociality.

ABSTRACT:

China has promoted learner-centered teaching in K-12 education for nearly eighteen years, but the result is not satisfying, especially in economically less developed areas. Current literature points out that teachers are the key barriers to implementing learner-centered teaching in China. However, most studies adopt western notions of learned-centered teaching while conducting research in the Chinese context; little research aims to understand how Chinese teachers perceive the concept of learner-centeredness. Based on a case study of four participating teachers in a less developed Chinese prefecture, Enshi, this paper presents findings of these participants perceptions of student-centeredness. The results demonstrate that their perceptions of learn-centeredness are grounded on three roles that they see themselves in relation to their students: a teacher, a family member, and a friend. Their practice of learner-centeredness goes beyond the boundaries of the micro classroom and reaches students’ daily life. They believe that their authority in class is necessary to maintain teaching efficiency due to large class sizes and the schools’ heavy emphasis on students’ academic performance.

ABSTRACT:

Building upon previous sex communication research, I encourage interpersonal scholars to continue to use communication theory to understand taboo topics, specifically sexual health. By first defining and situating sexual pleasure as a sexual health and wellness issue, I then explain why sexual pleasure is communication and how communication research can be applied to sexual pleasure. To demonstrate this, I draw on three interpersonal theories that can help spur research about sexual pleasure: (1) relational dialectics theory, (2) communication privacy management, and (3) theory of motivated information management. Ultimately, I argue communication creates reality and can construct meaning through sexual scripts, interpersonal dialogue, and disclosure, becoming a way to understand and re-write how we talk about sexual pleasure in our interpersonal relationships. In this way, communication can work to reduce the sexual health stigma that is so dominant in society. By advocating for sexual pleasure within interpersonal communication research, I aim to shed light on how communications unique theoretical frameworks can work to improve relational and sexual wellbeing in the pursuit of better sexual health, sexual liberation, and joy-filled research.