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Presentation Abstracts |
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| Ms. Jean M.
Yerian: WEAVEonline |
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WEAVEonlineTM is a Web-based assessment
management system that allows academic programs and administrative
and educational support units at VCU to capture and analyze
information to support continuing improvement efforts as well
as answer external calls for accountability including accreditations,
annual reports, program reviews, and state reporting. Each program/unit
enters data on its mission, objectives/outcomes, assessment
measures and findings, planned actions to effect future improvements,
and reflective analyses. There are also planning, reporting,
and feedback features. WEAVEonline™ was used successfully
university-wide to capture data for the 2002-2003 academic year.
The 2004 version has enhancements including an Action Tracking
function, which will track program improvements over time. Most
colleges and universities handle quality improvement planning,
assessing, and tracking by paper, with locally developed, non-integrated
databases on individual computers. WEAVEonlineTM is Web-based,
with much greater flexibility to capture or retrieve data from
any platform, anywhere. The application also supports Microsoft
Word and Excel exporting, allowing users to centrally store
unit/program data, and then export specific data for various
reporting needs. VCU has trademarked the name of and registered
the copyright for this unique program. There are potential national
and even international markets for WEAVEonline™, but the
focus has been on making it right for VCU users. It has been
developed by a VCU team, with significant input from faculty
and staff across the university. Presently, version 3.0 of WEAVEonlineTM
is being developed for the commercial market with major upgrades
in the manager and administrative functions, which will allow
other institutions to tailor the system to fit their unique
needs. NOTE: For evaluation purposes, a demonstration of WEAVEonlineTM
can be accessed at http://www.weave.vcu.edu/welcome
with the password WO demo. The proposal is to have a live demonstration
of the application, answer questions, and solicit additional
user feedback. This exhibit will require an Internet connection.
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| Ms.
April Kung: Dissection Alternative Technologies
Available Free to Universities |
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This ten-minute presentation will
focus on the newest dissection-alternative software packages
which can now be borrowed at no cost through the Animalearn
Science Bank. Many educators are now taking advantage of these
economical and effective teaching tools, and have found them
superior to dissection in terms of student learning because
students may repeat exercises as many times as they feel necessary
in order to gain a solid understanding of the lessons. Part
of the presentation will highlight specific applications and
how they may be used to achieve current academic objectives
in the VCU Undergraduate Biology Department. Details of the
lending program will be shared in order to demonstrate how easily
and economically these applications may be implemented by VCU
in order to provide effective learning tools to undergraduate
students who may have ethical or religious objections to dissecting
real organisms. A cost comparison will also be featured in order
to demonstrate the long-term cost savings of adding these innovative
technologies to the core undergraduate biology curriculum.
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| Dr.
Linda Bugbee: Psychtek.com |
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The modern practice of psychiatry
involves extensive use of psychopharmacology, treating psychiatric
illness with medication. This usually involves an initial psychiatric
evaluation, followed by frequent office visits until the patient
is stabilized. Once symptoms are in remission, patients often
need to continue on medication for months or years to prevent
relapse. During this maintenance phase of the illness, internet
communication is ideal for ongoing medication management. Psychtek.com
is a website designed by psychiatrist Linda Bugbee, MD, under
the supervision of VCU's Department of Information Systems instructor
Gerry Saunders, that makes such on-line consultations possible.
At Psychtek.com, patients submit their concerns, identify their
symptoms and review their medications. The psychiatrist later
reviews this information and may ask the patient further questions.
When the doctor replies, the patient is notified by email and
directed to the website. The patient responds to the questions
or recommendations and may ask questions of their own. The consultation
concludes when the patient and doctor agree on a plan. Psychtek.com
is written in PHP and uses mySQL to store patient data. It is
run on a secure server using Red Hat Linux Enterprise System
3. Numerous security measures are employed to ensure the privacy
of patient records. This technology has the potential to dramatically
improve psychiatric care, by making follow-up treatment more
accessible. Besides the convenience, it frees up the doctor's
schedule to see more critical patients. Better patient outcomes
and more efficient use of resources may ultimately lower the
cost of psychiatric care.
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| Dr.
Alice Pakurar: Digital Histology |
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Digital Histology Version 4 Digital
Histology is a CD-based, interactive, multimedia presentation
of over 750, high-quality histology images, each with an accompanying
description. The main menu includes 18 chapters, each containing
up to three levels of sub-chapters, and reinforces the taxonomic
hierarchy of the program. Each major topic is introduced by
an overview that summarizes the chapter’s major features;
original illustrations help to clarify concepts in the overviews.
The main content presentation window contains the histologic
image, which may be either a light or electron micrograph, an
illustration or a hybrid of both. Multiple hot-linked labels,
when selected, present indicator marks superimposed over the
histologic image. A descriptive paragraph is also triggered
by selecting the hot-linked labels. Several features aid in
self assessment: a quiz, with detailed feedback, accompanies
each chapter; a randomization feature allows the student to
review multiple chapters simultaneously; and labels and descriptive
texts can be turned off in the random mode, requiring the student
to identify organs and structures from memory. A navigation
bar at the top of the screen displays the user’s current
position in the content hierarchy, again reinforcing the taxonomic
structure. A help mode provides animated explanations of the
primary program features. Digital Histology provides the laboratory
content for medical, dental, physical therapy, pharmacy, and
dental hygiene students and serves as an ancillary study aid
for the graduate histology course.
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| Ms.
Patricia Selinger: ETD@VCU |
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Electronic Theses and Dissertations
(ETDs) have energized the academic community. It is clear that
scholarly communication is changing and affecting scholarship
at universities. This paper examines the benefits ETD can bring
to VCU and highlights results of the 2003 VCU Pilot Project.
The Virginia Commonwealth University ETD Pilot Project was a
joint project among the VCU Libraries, School of Graduate Studies,
Technology Services, and teaching faculty. Representatives from
these groups served on the ETD Advisory Committee and developed
a plan to implement a pilot that would test on a small scale
the University's ability to prepare students for electronic
submission. The Pilot began accepting applications in January
2003 for those completing their work by August 2003. Thirty-nine
applications were received and twenty-nine ETDs had been submitted
by August 15, 2003. The ETDs can be viewed through the ETD Website
at http://etd.vcu.edu. The Pilot drew a broad representation
of students on both campuses. The MCV Campus submitted 55% of
the ETDs at VCU, while the Academic Campus submitted 45%. Overall,
the pilot was a success and the Libraries recommend development
of ETD as a permanent feature of graduate education at VCU.
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| Mr.
William "Bud" Deihl: VCU Files |
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I will be presenting an overview
of the new online document management
system called VCUFiles. Faculty, students and staff may use
VCU Files to
easily move materials from their own computer to a temporary
location
for online access at any computer with internet connectivity
and an
Internet Explorer browser. This will provide a means to easily
move
files to a classroom, lab or any other location where one may
choose to
continue working. I will also demonstrate how VCUFiles will
allow
documents to be shared with others for collaborative work. This
system
is available to faculty, staff and students on a pilot test
basis
throughout the summer and will be in full "production mode"
at the
beginning of the fall semester 2004.
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| Ms.
Sheila Chandler: Blackboard 6.1 |
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VCU will be upgrading from Blackboard
5.5 to Blackboard 6.1 in May. I will
discuss the implications of the upgrade and demonstrate some
of the new features. The areas to be explored will include the
WYSISYG editor, spell check, quick edit, Assignment Manger,
Collaboration Tools, Gradebook, and Assessments.
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| Ms.
Kathryn Contessa: Life Forms |
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I created a ten minute dance using
computer animation and seven dancers. I projected the computer
animation on three screens while the dancers moved around these
forms. I presented this work as my senior project at the Grace
Street theatre in November as part of the dance and choreography
departments senior project concert. I have my work on video
and will present this video while discussing my thought process
and work.
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| Ms.
Shirley Gay: Optimal Transplantation of Viable
Dopamine Producing Cells |
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There is a significant loss of dopamine
producing cells in Parkinson’s Disease. Current therapies
to replace these cells with new dopamine producing cells have
encountered several obstacles and recent research show that
many of implanted cells undergo apoptosis. Our general hypothesis
is that the method and technique of cell delivery will affect
cell viability. The goal of this project is to design a cell
delivery catheter that includes a biosensor to measure catecholamine
levels in the microenvironment. An in vitro ‘brain like’
gel is used as the experimental system into which differentiated
NT2, known to be dopamine producing cells are infused. The cell
delivery catheter and a MicroC electrode will be inserted into
the ‘brain gel’ (Chen et al., 2002). Electrode readings
will be conducted everyday and changes in dopamine levels are
recorded. Following ‘proof of principle’ experiments,
we will prepare for trials in an in vivo rodent model.
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| Mr.
Ashnfara Murphy-Judy: Compulsive Narration Through
Photo-realistic Interactive Digital Animation |
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For part of my presentation I would
like to show a short 2 to 5 minute
video demo of IDA (the working title for my compulsive narrative)
at
work. Before which I would like to speak about the direction
I'm
trying to take with this project: IDA is an attempt to create
a
framework and tools for the creation of a multi layered, branching
plot
structure (quite similar to "choose your own adventure"
or "which way"
books). This is not a first in video games, but is distinct
in that
I'm designing it from the ground up to be able to address certain
problems with giving a player degrees of freedom over the progression
of the plot. One of these problems is in determining how best
to
balance a thematic narrative against the decisions of a player,
so that
the theme remains intact and the important interactive engagements
are
more than exercises but are experiential for the story. I will
then go
into depth about how I think that to create such an experience
and
retain control enough, in its execution, to tell a story requires
the
players of the adventure to be passively compelled into making
certain
choices. The video will display some of these attempts at compulsion
and I would like to detail those while presenting the video.
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| Ms.
Myo-Thwin Myint: Effect of Deep Brain Stimulation
Treatment on Head and Eye Movements in Parkinson's Disease Patients |
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I will be first talking little bit about
Parkinson's Disease and eye
movement. I will then go into the way we collect the data which
is
very interesting because of the head and eye tracking system
that my
advisor had developed. I will go into the data explaining my
findings.
The presentation will include pictures and graphs to illustrate
these findings.
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