No abstract

It is well established that a student's capacity to regulate his or her own learning is a key determinant of academic success, suggesting that interventions targeting improvements in self-regulation will have a positive impact on academic performance. However, to evaluate the success of such interventions, the self-regulatory characteristics of students need to be established. This paper examines the self-regulatory characteristics of a cohort of second-year allied health students, using the evaluation of responses to "meta-learning" assessment tasks supported by access data from the learning management system. Students primarily report using learning strategies from the performance and self-reflection phases. Although few reported using forethought strategies, access to preparatory course materials suggests that these were under-reported. Students who reported reviewing lectures as a learning strategy were more likely to access the online lecture recordings; however, higher access was associated with poorer academic performance. Cluster analysis of all available data showed high academic performance was positively associated with early submission of intra-semester assessment tasks but negatively associated with both use of, and reported of use of lecture recordings by students. These findings suggest that early submission of intra-semester assessment may be useful as a predictor of academic achievement.

Allied health professionals concur that a sound knowledge of practical gross anatomy is vital for the clinician, however, human anatomy courses in allied health programs have been identified as high-risk for attrition and failure. While anatomists and clinicians agree that learning anatomy via human cadaveric instruction is the preferred method, students vary in their reaction to the cadaveric learning experience and have differing levels of anatomy self-efficacy. This study investigated whether student self-efficacy had an effect on student usage of supplemental instructional videos and whether the use of videos had an impact on student self-efficacy and/or learning. Anatomy self-efficacy differed based on gender and prior performance. Student usage of the videos varied widely and students with lower self-efficacy were more inclined to use the resources. The provision of the videos did not improve overall cohort performance as compared to a historical cohort, however, those students that accessed all video sets experienced a greater normalized learning gain compared to students that used none or one of the four sets of videos. Student reports and usage patterns indicate that the videos were primarily used for practical class preparation and revision. Potentially, the videos represent a passive mode of teaching whereas active learning has been demonstrated to result in greater learning gains. Adapting the videos into interactive tutorials which will provide opportunity for feedback and the development of students' self-evaluation may be more appropriate. Anat Sci Educ 11: 461-470. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

Biology self-efficacy was measured in first-year students. Self-efficacy was lower in females than in males, most noticeably in high-achieving students. High school experience contributed to self-efficacy at the beginning of the semester, and this was replaced by progressive grades at the end of the semester. Self-efficacy did not correlate with exam grades.

Aim: To investigate the expression of p63 and cytokeratins throughout the course of producing a cultivated autograft of limbal epithelial cells. Methods: A 75 year old male with a severe alkali burn to his right eye received two cultivated autografts of limbal epithelial cells on amniotic membrane followed by a corneal allograft. Immunostaining for p63 and cytokeratins was performed during ex vivo expansion with 3T3 fibroblasts, following subcultivation on amniotic membrane, and on the excised corneal button. Results: Cultures grown in the presence of 3T3 fibroblasts or on amniotic membrane displayed positive staining for keratins 14 and 19, and p63, but poor staining for keratin 3 (K3). The excised corneal button possessed a stratified epithelium of K3 positive cells residing on amniotic membrane. Conclusions: Our results document for the first time the co-expression of cytokeratins 14 and 19 with p63 in a cultivated limbal graft. These data support the conclusion that cultivated grafts of limbal epithelium contain predominantly undifferentiated cells with the potential to regenerate a normal corneal epithelium.