their – Page 4

Keeping Their Communities Informed, Connected And Engaged – 143,518 US Public Library Workers Jobs May Be At Risk

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Keeping Their Communities Informed, Connected And Engaged – 143,518 US Public Library Workers Jobs May Be At Risk

America’s public library workers have adjusted and expanded their services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. CC BY-ND In addition to initiating curbside pickup options, they’re doing many things to support their local communities, such as extending free Wi-Fi outside library walls, becoming vaccination sites, hosting drive-through food pantries in library parking lots and establishing virtual programs for all ages, including everything from story times to Zoom sessions on grieving and funerals. In 2018, there were 143,518 library workers in the United States, according to data collected by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. While newer data isn’t available, the number is probably lower now, and recent history suggests more library jobs may be on the chopping block in th...

By Communicating, Sharing Resources And Transforming Their Environments – Plants Thrive In A Complex World

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

By Communicating, Sharing Resources And Transforming Their Environments – Plants Thrive In A Complex World

As a species, humans are wired to collaborate. That’s why lockdowns and remote work have felt difficult for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longleaf pines support one another through mycorrhizae – mutually beneficial relationships between certain fungi and the trees’ roots. Justin Meissen/Flickr, CC BY-SA For other living organisms, social distancing comes more naturally. I am a plant scientist and have spent years studying how light cues affect plants, from the very beginning of a plant’s life cycle – the germination of seeds – all the way through to leaf drop or death. In my new book, “Lessons from Plants,” I explore what we can learn from the environmental tuning of plant behaviors. One key takeaway is that plants have the ability to develop interdependence, but also to avoid...

A Cryptocurrency Expert Explains NFTs – How Nonfungible Tokens Work And Where They Get Their Value

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, CRYPTOMARKET, TECHNOLOGY

A Cryptocurrency Expert Explains NFTs – How Nonfungible Tokens Work And Where They Get Their Value

Nonfungible tokens prove ownership of a digital item – image, sound file or text – in the same way that people own crypto coins. · Unlike crypto coins, which are identical and worth the same, NFTs are unique. · An NFT is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, which can be a lot if the NFT is made by a famous artist and the buyer is a wealthy collector. An attorney friend recently asked me out of the blue about nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. What prompted his interest was the sale of a collage composed of 5,000 digital pieces, auctioned by Christie’s on March 11, 2021, for a remarkable US$69 million. Mike Winkelmann, an artist known as Beeple, created this piece of digital art, made an NFT of it and offered it for sale. The bidding started at $100, and the rest of the auctioning pr...

The Racial Trust Gap – Black Students Have Far Less Trust In Their Colleges Than Other Students Do

15Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

The Racial Trust Gap – Black Students Have Far Less Trust In Their Colleges Than Other Students Do

Black undergraduates consistently said they trusted the people who run the colleges they attend – and society overall – substantially less than their white peers did. We have termed this difference the racial trust gap, and it was not a trivial difference. The trust gaps we observed were of a size rarely seen in education research. We also observed sizable trust gaps for Asian and Latino students, relative to white students. However, the magnitude of the differences were up to three times larger for Black students. Our study results tell us a lot not only about how college students trust, but also which individuals on campus they trust the least (“Not at all” or “Very little”). Campus leadership – that is, presidents, provosts, deans – are the least trusted personnel on college campuses ...

By Insisting Journalists Engage With Their Audience, News Organizations May Be Setting Them Up For Abuse

3Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

By Insisting Journalists Engage With Their Audience, News Organizations May Be Setting Them Up For Abuse

News organizations are trying to do a better job connecting with their audiences, in hopes of overcoming the profession’s credibility problems and ensuring its long-term survival. To do this, a growing number of newsrooms have for years embraced what’s called “audience engagement,” a loosely defined term that typically refers to efforts to increase the communication between journalists and the people they hope to reach. These efforts take many forms, and vary from online – for example, the use of social media to interact with readers about a story after it’s been published – to offline – for example, meetings between journalists and community members to discuss a story currently being produced. At its best, engagement shows audiences that journalists are real people, with the training a...

Confronting Their Links To Slavery Colleges Wrestle With How To Atone For Past Sins

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

VIDEO REELS

Confronting Their Links To Slavery Colleges Wrestle With How To Atone For Past Sins

Colleges and universities across the U.S. have been taking a hard look at their ties to slavery. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Back in 2006, Brown University published a report showing that the university – from its construction to its endowment – participated in and benefited from the slave trade and slavery. And since then, several other colleges and universities have disclosed their ties to the use of slave labor. For instance, Johns Hopkins University – whose namesake and founder has historically been portrayed as an abolitionist – reported in December 2020 that its founder actually employed four enslaved individuals in his Baltimore household. At the University of Mississippi, a slavery research group has found that at least 11 enslaved people labored on the campus. At G...

Teachers Build Good Rapport With Their Students Online 5 Ways How

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Teachers Build Good Rapport With Their Students Online 5 Ways How

Of all the things needed for academic success, one of the most essential is for students to have a good rapport with their instructors. This is particularly true in the digital classroom, where research has shown that students who have a good rapport with their teachers are more likely to stick with a class and get good grades. As a community college instructor who has studied teachers’ perspectives on what it takes to establish a good rapport with students, I have observed five actions that I believe all educators should take to build better relationships in their online classes. 1. Work in real time When students and teachers work together in real time through videoconferencing, it is easier to maintain engagement. Teachers can watch for sleepy or distracted students, and see whether st...

Shut Out From The Whitewashed World Of Children’s Literature – Black Kids Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

5Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Shut Out From The Whitewashed World Of Children’s Literature – Black Kids Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

Hanging on the wall in my office is the framed cover of the inaugural issue of The Brownies’ Book, a monthly periodical for Black youths created by W.E.B. Du Bois and other members of the NAACP in 1920. A newspaper boy hawks copies of the Chicago Defender. Library of Congress The magazine – the first of its kind – includes poems and stories that speak of Black achievement and history, while also showcasing children’s writing. Although much of American children’s literature published near the turn of the last century – and even today – filters childhood through the eyes of white children, The Brownies’ Book gave African American children a platform to explore their lives, interests and aspirations. And it reinforced what 20th-century American literature scholar Katharine Capshaw has descr...

The Colonial History Of The Marshall Islands Limits Their Ability To Save Themselves And Could Be Wiped Out By Climate Change

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

The Colonial History Of The Marshall Islands Limits Their Ability To Save Themselves And Could Be Wiped Out By Climate Change

Along U.S. coastlines, from California to Florida, residents are getting increasingly accustomed to “king tides.” These extra-high tides cause flooding and wreak havoc on affected communities. As climate change raises sea levels, they are becoming more extreme. The Marshall Islands and other small island nations are urgently threatened by rising seas. Stefan Lins/Flickr, CC BY King tides are nothing new for the Marshall Islands, a nation made up of 29 low-lying coral atolls that stretch across more than a million square miles of Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia. By 2035, the U.S. Geological Survey projects that some of the Marshall Islands will be submerged. Others will no longer have drinking water because their aquifers will be contaminated with saltwater. As a result, Marshallese w...

Preschool Parents Worry Their Kids Are Missing Out On Critical Social Skills During The Pandemic – Not Just ABCs

25Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Preschool Parents Worry Their Kids Are Missing Out On Critical Social Skills During The Pandemic – Not Just ABCs

As COVID-19 cases once again spike across the country, parents in school districts like New York City and Detroit face another weeks long stretch of remote learning. This often includes preschool parents, whose children range in age from 3 to 6 and are often too young to manage virtual learning on their own. Many of these parents worry their children are missing out on important parts of the preschool experience – particularly opportunities to develop social, emotional and behavioral skills through interactions with teachers and other children. As researchers who study children’s educational development, we know that preschool helps children develop important academic and social skills they will need for later school success. In April, we surveyed 166 parents of preschool children to exa...