Hypothetical College Research Articles

End of Learning Design?

This highly interactive and provocative hypothetical-style panel discussion will take the audience on a collective journey through the complexity and challenges of strategically designing and delivering online learning in a post-digital, post-crisis new normal. The aim of the panel is to collectively shift the dial on how we understand, articulate, and develop the benefit of learning design to the institution, how others have been extremely successful in doing that (and what can we learn from them) and how we are collectively struggling with precarious contracts, budgets, de-professionalisation and constantly shifting priorities as we return to a campus-based teaching and learning experience. Drawing on the principles of hyperreality, participants will become part of the community of a hypothetical university. Through highly interactive and immersive scenarios the panel session will collectively traverse the transitional, uncertain spaces of a post-crisis university and design for an educational future that learns from the relationships between people and technology to make teaching and learning better.

Estimating the cost of university-based outbreaks of serogroup B meningococcal disease with different pre-matriculation vaccination policies in the United States

Objective: We developed an Excel-based cost calculator to assess the economic burden of university-based Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) outbreaks. Participants: Hypothetical university with 6,354 students. Methods: Total societal costs of outbreak were estimated for three MenB pre-matriculation immunization policies—vaccination required, vaccination recommended, and no vaccine policy—under three different cost assumptions (low/mid-range/high cost). Results: Mid-range cost estimates of an outbreak under “no policy” were $2.60 and $2.70 million (of which 35% were incurred by the university) if targeting all undergraduates for mass vaccination with a two-/three-dose vaccine, respectively. The “required” and “recommended” policies lowered the burden to $2.17–$2.18 million and $2.34–$2.39 million, respectively. For a larger university with 40,000 students, costs were almost $9 million for a two-dose vaccine with “no policy” in place. Conclusions: The economic burden of a university MenB outbreak is substantial, but could be mitigated by a pre-matriculation MenB vaccination requirement or recommendation.

Effective screening strategies for safe opening of universities under Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19

As new COVID-19 variants emerge, and disease and population characteristics change, screening strategies may also need to change. We develop a decision-making model that can assist a college to determine an optimal screening strategy based on their characteristics and resources, considering COVID-19 infections/hospitalizations/deaths; peak daily hospitalizations; and the tests required. We also use this tool to generate screening guidelines for the safe opening of college campuses. Our compartmental model simulates disease spread on a hypothetical college campus under co-circulating variants with different disease dynamics, considering: (i) the heterogeneity in disease transmission and outcomes for faculty/staff and students based on vaccination status and level of natural immunity; and (ii) variant- and dose-dependent vaccine efficacy. Using the Spring 2022 academic semester as a case study, we study routine screening strategies, and find that screening the faculty/staff less frequently than the students, and/or the boosted and vaccinated less frequently than the unvaccinated, may avert a higher number of infections per test, compared to universal screening of the entire population at a common frequency. We also discuss key policy issues, including the need to revisit the mitigation objective over time, effective strategies that are informed by booster coverage, and if and when screening alone can compensate for low booster coverage.

Benefits of integrated screening and vaccination for infection control.

ImportanceScreening and vaccination are essential in the fight against infectious diseases, but need to be integrated and customized based on community and disease characteristics.ObjectiveTo develop effective screening and vaccination strategies, customized for a college campus, to reduce COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, deaths, and peak hospitalizations.Design, setting, and participantsWe construct a compartmental model of disease spread under vaccination and routine screening, and study the efficacy of four mitigation strategies (routine screening only, vaccination only, vaccination with partial or full routine screening), and a no-intervention strategy. The study setting is a hypothetical college campus of 5,000 students and 455 faculty members during the Fall 2021 academic semester, when the Delta variant was the predominant strain. For sensitivity analysis, we vary the screening frequency, daily vaccination rate, initial vaccine coverage, and screening and vaccination compliance; and consider scenarios that represent low/medium/high transmission and test efficacy. Model parameters come from publicly available or published sources.ResultsWith low initial vaccine coverage (30% in our study), even aggressive vaccination and screening result in a high number of infections: 1,020 to 2,040 (1,530 to 2,480) with routine daily (every other day) screening of the unvaccinated; 280 to 900 with daily screening extended to the newly vaccinated in base- and worst-case scenarios, which respectively consider reproduction numbers of 4.75 and 6.75 for the Delta variant.ConclusionIntegrated vaccination and routine screening can allow for a safe opening of a college when both the vaccine effectiveness and the initial vaccine coverage are sufficiently high. The interventions need to be customized considering the initial vaccine coverage, estimated compliance, screening and vaccination capacity, disease transmission and adverse outcome rates, and the number of infections/peak hospitalizations the college is willing to tolerate.

We Are Not Who We Thought We Were: A Case Study of Race in Intercollegiate Athletics

The case study is guided by Bell’s critical race theory as a lens for understanding racial discrimination. Critical race theory was used at a collegiate institution that served as a representation of a larger societal pattern throughout the United States. A hypothetical university was created, and scenarios were integrated based on actual events that took place at various intercollegiate institutions across the country in recent years. Ashley Miller, the athletic director at the University of Southeast Illinois, was facing an incredible challenge after a transfer football player posted allegations of racism within the University of Southeast Illinois football program. The university hired an outside law firm to investigate the climate of the football program and the athletics department as a whole. The law firm provided a report identifying specific incidents and concerns. Students will review the findings of the law firm and provide specific recommendations to the athletics department to address the allegations of racial inequities and promote diversity and inclusion in the football program and athletics department moving forward.

Optimization and trading of district multi-energy system in university community considering carbon emission

With the increasing deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs) and operation of diverse energy devices, different types of multi-energy systems (MESs) emerge. Constrained by physical networks, when economic and environmental benefits are considered, how to stimulate the potential of energy shifting and conversion across temporal and spatial dimensions becomes a significant issue. This requires an innovative multi-energy trading mechanism. Due to the diversity of building types and energy categories, as well as the loads complementarity, the university community is an applicable user cluster for the investigation of multi-energy trading. The district energy operator (DEO) contributes to making deals via the interactive information of prices and quantities, besides protecting the prosumers' privacy. This paper treats carbon as a direct trading object and proposes an internal multi-energy trading mechanism, which adopts an auction based on the demands for cooling, heating, electricity and carbon, and is formed as a nonlinear equilibrium program with equilibrium constraints (EPEC) problem. The nonlinear EPEC problem is then solved by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. It is a novel mechanism in which the prosumers submit prices and quantities simultaneously, instead of utilizing traditional linear supply functions. A hypothetical university community in the U.K. is studied to discover the internal price signals. Simulation results show that, the proposed trading mechanism benefits from exploiting the energy sharing potential of the community MES, as well as improving the players' revenues. Meanwhile this mechanism presents good performances when tackling the infrequent load growth, and facing the change of exterior market prices or rules.

The left digit effect in a complex judgment task: Evaluating hypothetical college applicants

AbstractA left digit effect has been broadly observed across judgment and decision‐making contexts ranging from product evaluation to medical treatment decisions to number line estimation. For example, $3.00 is judged to be a much greater cost than $2.99, and “801” is estimated strikingly too far to the right of “798” on a number line. Although the consequences of the effects for judgment and decision behavior have been documented, the sources of the effects are not well established. The goal of the current work is to extend investigations of the left digit effect to a new complex judgment activity and to assess whether the magnitude of the effect at the individual level can be predicted from performance on a simpler number skills task on which the left digit effect has also recently been observed. In three experiments (N = 434), adults completed a judgment task in which they rated the strength of hypothetical applicants for college admission and a self‐paced number line estimation task. In all experiments, a small or medium left digit effect was found in the college admissions task, and a large effect was found in number line estimation. Individual‐level variation was observed, but there was no relationship between the magnitudes of the effects in the two tasks. These findings provide evidence of a left digit effect in a novel multiattribute judgment task but offer no evidence that such performance can be predicted from a simple number skills task such as number line estimation.

Simulation-based what-if analysis for controlling the spread of Covid-19 in universities.

A simulation model is developed to analyze the spread of covid-19 in universities. The model can be used to conduct a what-if analysis and estimate infection cases under different policies. For proof-of-concept, the model is simulated for a hypothetical university of 25,000 students and 3,000 faculty/staff in a U.S. college town. Simulation results show that early outbreaks are very likely, and there is no silver bullet to avoid them. Instead, a combination of policies should be carefully implemented. The results suggest (almost) full remote university operations from the beginning of the semester. In a less-preferred alternative, if universities decide to have students attend in person, they should encourage remote operations for high-risk individuals, conduct frequent rapid tests, enforce mask use, communicate with students and employees about the risks, and promote social distancing. Universities should be willing to move to remote operations if cases rise. Under this scenario, and considering implementation challenges, many universities are still likely to experience an early outbreak, and the likelihood of having a case of death is worrisome. In the long run, students and faculty react to the risks, and even if universities decide to continue operations, classes are likely to have very low in-person attendance. Overall, our analysis depicts several sources of system complexities, negative unintended consequences of relying on a single policy, non-linear incremental effects, and positive synergies of implementing multiple policies. A simulation platform for a what-if analysis is offered so marginal effectiveness of different policies and different decision-making thresholds for closure can be tested for universities of varying populations.

Simulation-Based What-If Analysis for Controlling the Spread of COVID-19 in Universities

A simulation model is developed to analyze the spread of COVID-19 in universities. The model can be used to conduct what-if analysis and to estimate infection cases and the probability of death for students and faculty/staff under different policies. For proof-of-concept, the model is simulated for a hypothetical university of 25,000 students and 3,000 faculty/staff in a US college town. In this case, students arrive on campus in September and the semester is planned to last for a 90-day period. In base run, absent major policies other than reactive testing at 500 tests per day (sensitivity=.8, specificity=.998), limited quarantine of 170 beds, and R0=3, the disease quickly spreads and the probability of having at least 1, 2, and 5 deaths by the middle of the semester reaches .94, .78, and .16 for students, and ~1, ~1, and ~1 for faculty/staff. Simulation results show that there is no silver bullet to avoid an outbreak and, instead, a combination of policies should be carefully implemented. The effectiveness of proactive testing highly depends on testing capacity (to maintain high test frequency) and, inversely, on the delay between symptom onset and test results. Contact tracing and quarantine only when combined with other policies such as rapid, frequent testing and mask use enforcement are effective. To decrease death likelihood, universities should ask all staff/faculty of over 60 years old, and a large fraction of 30-60 years old to work remotely. Simulation results suggest these alternatives: 1) (almost) full remote operation from the beginning, 2) remote operation for high-risk individuals (all over 60s and most of 30-60s) in addition to frequent rapid tests, contact tracing with high capacity for quarantine, enforcing mask use, and social distancing. Results show that the system is highly vulnerable, and considering implementation challenges, many universities are likely to close and switch to remote classes to avoid catastrophic outcomes. A simulation platform for what-if analysis is offered so marginal effectiveness of different policies, and different decision making thresholds for closure can be tested for universities of varying populations. The model in Vensim is available. A web app is provided at https://forio.com/app/navidg/covid-19-v2/ and an instructional video is available at https://youtu.be/PrYarrpqa4Y for further analysis.

DIY Science: A Cure for Cancer of the Next Plague

Abstract A twenty-something college student with an interest in science sits in his garage. He is tinkering with genetic materials and gene editing. He has ordered materials over the internet, has all the items he could want, and even has his own test subject—himself. He could inject himself with whatever products his experimentation manufactures. Our hypothetical college student has all the materials in his hands to make the next greatest discovery in the fight against cancer, or to create—intentionally or by accident—a genetically modified disease that could be incredibly lethal to the entire globe. This twenty-something college student is one of many emerging do-it-yourself scientists (“DIYers”). The reality of do-it-yourself (“DIY”) science is here, and it might be severely under regulated. This type of research could pose significant risks to all of humanity if an appropriate regulatory scheme is not developed. Conversely, too much regulation could prevent innovation.

The CDIO ++ Approach to University Faculty Advance Training for Research and Teaching Activities

A review of the literature on university faculty advanced training for research and teaching activities is presented. Based on the analysis of the experience of Russian and foreign universities, the principles for developing a modern faculty advanced training system at the university are set out responding to the challenges associated with the ongoing and expected changes in the content and technology of student training, primarily in the field of STEM. It is proposed to use the CDIO ++ approach for advanced training of faculty of various categories (professor, associate professor, assistant) to research and teaching activities in the conditions of division of labor when creating and implementing educational products at various stages of their life cycle. The distribution of academic staff potential is shown and an assessment of the resources of a program for faculty advanced training is given on the basis of the CDIO ++ approach for a hypothetical university with a given structure and established priorities for faculty members of various categories.

Perceptions of appropriateness of accommodations for university students: Does disability type matter?

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the impact of disability type and accommodation type on participants' perceptions of the appropriateness of accommodations on university campuses. Participants were 223 university students who evaluated the written symptom descriptions of 8 hypothetical university students with disabilities to determine whether a series of 8 different accommodations would be appropriate for them. Perceptions of accommodation appropriateness were impacted by both the type of disability and the type of accommodation under consideration. The results indicated that accommodations for psychiatric disabilities and invisible physical disabilities were less likely to be viewed as appropriate regardless of how well they addressed the symptoms of the disability. Students with psychiatric and invisible physical disabilities may be especially vulnerable to negative peer perceptions if they receive accommodations. These attitudinal barriers make it harder for students with disabilities to integrate into the college social environment. Students with disabilities who do not feel welcome are less likely to self-advocate to acquire the accommodations that they need and are therefore less likely to succeed in their course work. Our results highlight the importance of programs that encourage the integration of students with disabilities and decrease the stigma of disability on campus. (PsycINFO Database Record

Perceptions of African American College Applicants: The Roles of Race, Criminal History, and Qualifications

African Americans are under-represented in higher education and disproportionately represented among offender populations, with poor educational obtainment a risk factor for criminal behavior. While African American students report low acceptance from Caucasian peers that can influence their educational persistence, few studies have examined Caucasian students’ perceptions of African American students, while examining the influence of race and criminal history. This study endeavored to begin to fill this gap. Students evaluated 1 of 24 hypothetical college applicants, manipulated by race, arrest record, and academic qualifications. Results showed that hypothetical Caucasian applicants benefited from no criminal record when evaluated by Caucasian students, and received higher ratings than Caucasian applicants with a drug arrest record and African American applicants with any criminal record. When evaluated by Caucasian students, African American applicants with no criminal record were no more likely to be accepted than Caucasian or African American applicants with a criminal record. In addition, Caucasian students felt more comfortable around the Caucasian applicant with a DWI arrest over the African American applicant with the same arrest. Racial preference for Caucasian applicants by Caucasian participants also emerged when qualifications were mixed (e.g., low GPA/high ACT). These racial differences did not emerge when ethnic minority students rated these same applicants. Yet, when Caucasian students were asked why they chose their ratings, race was never mentioned. These results support research that African American students can experience race-based barriers in higher education by Caucasian peers, but in a form that is less overt and not readily acknowledged.

Weight Bias Against Women in a University Acceptance Scenario

ABSTRACT This study examined weight bias against women in a hypothetical university acceptance scenario. One-hundred-and-ninety-eight volunteers from the community in Britain completed a weight bias measure in which they were asked to select the woman they were most and least likely to select for a place at university from an array of figures varying in body size. Participants also completed the Anti-Fat Attitudes Survey, the Short-Form of the Fat Phobia Scale, the Attitudes Toward Obese Persons Scale, and the Beliefs About Obese Persons Scale. Results showed that participants were biased against both obese (> 30 kg/m2) and emaciated (<15 kg/m2) women. Further analyses showed that weight bias was only significantly predicted by greater antipathy toward fat persons and more negative attitudes toward obese persons. These results provide evidence that the general public hold biased beliefs about access to higher educational opportunities as a function of the body size of applicants.

Use of Alternative Water Sources for a Trigeneration System: a Case Study

Use of Alternative Water Sources for a Trigeneration System: a Case StudyTrigeneration is the simultaneous production of electricity, cooling and heating energy. Water is used in a trigeneration system for cooling tower makeup and blow-down. The trade-offs of using alternative water sources – graywater and harvested rainwater – instead of potable water to meet these water demands are studied in the context of a hypothetical university campus. For each water...Author(s)P. GraceD. MyersE. Lopez CalvaS. ZhangP. MehtaSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date May, 2013ISSN1938-6478DOI10.2175/193864713813503215Volume / Issue2013 / 3Content sourceEnergy ConferenceCopyright2013Word count111

Colorblindness and Diversity: Conflicting Goals in Decisions Influenced by Race

The present studies address a conundrum in contemporary American society: While many Americans agree that increasing racial diversity is a worthy goal, they are reluctant to acknowledge the impact of race on individual decisions in an effort to honor norms of colorblindness. In two studies, participants made hypothetical college admissions decisions among sets of equally qualified Black and White candidates. Study 1 revealed that participants justified decisions in favor of Black candidates by citing nonracial criteria, and that Whites—more concerned with appearing colorblind—were more likely than non–Whites to continue to use these criteria when making subsequent decisions. Study 2 showed that a preferred strategy for Whites to appear colorblind across multiple selections between candidates of different races was to select diverse sets of candidates, regardless of their specific qualifications. These results demonstrate the conflict Whites experience in their effort to appear colorblind while simultaneously increasing diversity.

Accentuate the Negative

Three studies investigated the capacity of negative acknowledgment, the admission of an unfavorable quality, to elicit relatively positive responses. In Study 1, an acknowledgment that a written paragraph was confusing led individuals to rate the paragraph as clearer than they did when no acknowledgment was offered. In Study 2, a foreign speaker was rated as possessing a clearer voice when he acknowledged his strong accent than when he did not. In Study 3, a hypothetical college applicant's acknowledgment of receiving less than stellar high school grades resulted in a more positive evaluation of those grades. The interpersonal risks and benefits of negative acknowledgment as an impression-management strategy are discussed.

Mixed motives and racial bias: The impact of legitimate and illegitimate criteria on decision making.

Recent high-profile court rulings addressing the influence of illegitimate information—such as race—on decision making have highlighted the difficulty of establishing whether and when discrimination has occurred. One factor complicating such efforts is that decision makers are often simultaneously influenced by racial and nonracial information. The authors examined the psychological processes underlying such mixed-motive decision making, demonstrating how legitimate information can be manipulated to justify preferences based on illegitimate factors such as race. Study 1 showed that Black candidates were favored over White candidates in hypothetical college admissions decisions, although participants justified their decisions using nonracial information, and further showed that participants’ levels of prejudice predicted both which candidate was chosen and how those choices were justified. Study 2 demonstrated that these justifications were not simply strategic and post hoc but also occurred as a natural part of the process of evaluating candidates. Discussion focuses on policy and legal implications for employment discrimination, affirmative action, and courtroom proceedings.

Testing NCAA Compliance at Southeastern State University: A Case Study

A large part of an auditor's work includes evaluation of an organization's compliance with laws and regulatory requirements, internal policies and procedures, and other rules that an entity must follow. The objective of this case is to assist you in understanding both the importance of compliance auditing, and the need for auditors to exercise professional judgment when interpretation of rules is required. The case involves a hypothetical university's adherence to NCAA rules and regulations. The first part of the case provides exposure to various resources needed to develop an understanding of both intercollegiate athletics and compliance with rules established by its governing body, the NCAA. The second part requires you to use judgment in interpreting different scenarios that may or may not indicate compliance violations.

Attitudes of professors and students toward college students who stutter

Do college professors and college students have negative personality stereotypes of college students who stutter? College professors and college students filled out a questionnaire containing 20 personality items and judged, on a scale from 1 to 7, the degree to which either a hypothetical college student who stutters or a hypothetical average college student possesses the trait in question. In general, participants rated the hypothetical student who stutters more negatively on the personality traits than they rated the hypothetical average college student. However, professor participants rated the hypothetical student who stutters more negatively than did the student participants. Possible reasons for and implications of these findings are discussed.