Reflection on GlobeMed’s 6th Annual Global Health Conference

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I attended Friday evening’s speaker session by Nathan Wolfe and found Wolfe’s presentation very intriguing. As an epidemiologist and microbiologist, Wolfe investigates outbreaks in animals. In the beginning, he explained that we think we know almost everything about living organisms in this world, yet do not. A lot of the microbial world remains completely unknown. If we were to create an encyclopedia of all living organisms, than 27 books out of 30 would consist of microbial organisms. There exists tremendous diversity in the microbial world, and although some are deadly, most can be helpful for us and the environment. However, humans’ first approach to the microbial world has been studying the most deadly ones.  I am currently taking an introductory microbiology course, and thus, Wolfe’s talk about the microbial world and his investigations regarding various disease causing agents sounded extremely relevant and interesting for me.

Most of the diseases and epidemics that arose among human population originated from viruses and microbes in wild life animals. Occasionally, microbial-caused disease crossovers to humans to become human exclusive. Once this occurs, then the disease spreads over to a larger population, causing an epidemic. By the time that we reach this point, then it is too late and there is little that we can do to prevent the disease/harm. Due to the development of air transportation, connectivity across the globe has greatly increased, and such connected world allows for faster and more dangerous spread of these diseases. This is why Wolfe sought out to find ways to detect the disease-causing agents before they cross over or break out among the human or animal population. His research group goes out in the fields to monitor and detect indications of viruses and microbes that might cause diseases. He particularly studies individuals such as hunters who have direct contact with wild animals. These people have the risk of getting viruses from animals and spreading them to larger populations. Wolfe’s team have discovered several retroviruses in human and animal populations. By discovering these diseases, Wolfe hopes to build a global safety net that protects humans and animals. Fundamental awareness of these viruses/microbes are important even if we don’t find ways to prevent them. For example, if we had known that HIV was transmitted through heterosexual contact, then the political framing of AIDS and the negative socializing of the gay population could have been prevented.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Wolfe’s presentation which opened new perspectives in the field of global health. He seems like a great scientist with brilliant accomplishments for global public health!

Advocacy Project Ideas

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For my advocacy project, I plan on creating a video that represents my issue brief. The video will basically promote the integration of hybrid education for universities/higher education institutions. The video will be about 5 minutes long. In the video, I wish to incorporate clips of various opinions regarding online education such as MOOCs from the social media, university professors, and students’ perspectives. After presenting distance education’s benefits as well as limitations/problems, I hope to explain the better/more effective educational approach of hybrid learning. I will support the new option with evidence from studies/research. I am not finished with collecting clips/videos for my project, so this plan is subject to change depending on the different resources I find online.

Below are some useful/helpful links to videos that I could use:

Christ and the Promise

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“Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30.

“When the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ ” Matthew 28:16-20.

We celebrate Easter for Jesus has resurrected from dying on the cross, proving that He is the Christ and the son of God. From dying on the cross and resurrecting, Jesus Christ solved three fundamental spiritual problems of human lives: Jesus became the King and destroyed all the forces of darkness and Satan. Jesus became the Priest and forgave and resolved all of our sins and curses. Jesus became the Prophet and made the way for us to meet God. Whoever believes and confesses that Jesus is the Christ and the solution to all of our problems can become God’s child and receive salvation. On Easter, believers celebrate God’s love and power proven through Christ and His resurrection. Just think of the tremendous blessing we have received from Christ who has finished everything!

After Jesus resurrected, He appeared before His disciples and promised them one last thing. He commanded the disciples to go out and preach of His words and promised “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” As the Holy Spirit, Christ has promised to be always with us, guide us, and fill us with strength and power. He works through our lives with the authority of heaven and earth. What have we to worry and be anxious about? Once we believe in Christ and His promise, amazing answers will occur every day in our lives! Even now, the resurrected Christ who has solved all of your problems is with you with his almighty power. All you need to do is… to not be deceived. Do not doubt but trust in God’s promise and experience His answers.

Issue Brief Outline

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In my issue brief, I will be analyzing the benefits and criticisms of distance education such as MOOCs. The main focus of the paper will be on promoting the more effective approach to higher education, hybrid learning. Hybrid learning includes traditional education as well as online learning and studies have shown that hybrid form of learning can be the most effective. Rather than getting hyped over distance education or being concerned about the loss of traditional education, universities should consider hybrid education which can both promote traditional learning and make use of the obvious benefits of technology.

The paper will follow this format:

1. Thesis statement: Hybrid learning

2. Introduction to distance education

  • History, demand
  • MOOCs

3. Benefits of distance learning

4. Criticisms/ concerns regarding distance education

5. New policy/approach: Hybrid learning

Below are just two paragraphs that I started drafting (which will fall under the history/background of distance education):

With technology development, distance education emerged in the realm of higher education. Distance learning delivers education in a non-traditional setting where students and instructors are separated by time and distance. Learning takes place on an individual basis typically through the web using the internet. Students have access to course material online where they are able to watch professor lectures, read sources, submit assignments, and take examinations. Such new mode of education brought about many benefits, yet at the same time, distance learning has received a lot of criticisms. Despite various concerns raised by policy makers and educators, an increasing number of universities and educational institutions are incorporating online courses for more students.

In 2012, an initiative named the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) was created and implemented by universities including Harvard, Penn, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, UCLA, and many others. MOOC is an online course that aims to provide open access to these institutions’ course materials and build a large-scale community for the students and professors via online learning and interactive forums. Establishment of MOOCs has opened a new chapter in distance education as many universities have come to join the “next big thing.” With such hype over universities’ recent approach to online education, the potential benefits as well as the challenges and criticisms concerning distance learning must be carefully examined. Along with these considerations, strategies for policies governing distance education should be generated and implemented in order to establish the most effective and successful education setting in higher education.

Bring Your Own Technology

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The New York Times: Bring Your Own Technology

With the continuous development of technology, electronics such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets have become a crucial part of our daily lives. As you might imagine, the role of these electronic devices are especially important in schools. Starting from pre-schools to elementary, middle, high schools and universities, electronic devices are widely used for quizzes, exams, assignments, blogs, online activities, research, projects, and many other educational reasons. Educating children on a new generation of applications and electronic devices has become a necessary task of schools. However, with financial limitations, many public schools face challenges in providing technology to their students. In order to address their cash shortage, some schools have come to advocate for B.Y.O.T. which stands for bring your own technology. Currently, the new trend towards B.Y.O.T. is being incorporated by many large school districts. Several large school districts in Central Florida and Houston and Atlanta have signed on, and numerous other schools are considering implementation of B.Y.O.T. Although making students bring their own electronic devices may be beneficial, it also raises a lot of concerns for educators and policy makers.

When students bring their own technology to classrooms, the entire class has access to a more diverse collection of applications that might help with course instruction. At Woodward Avenue Elementary School in the Volusia district, fifth-grade teacher Dana Zacharko says that from the students’ smartphones or iPod Touches, she found apps that allowed her to teach all kinds of subjects. Anne Kohler, a special-education teacher at South Forsyth High School, says that these electronic devices are effective for students answering multiple-choice questions on math Web sites or taking a quiz. B.Y.O.T. allows for teachers and students to take greater advantage of technology which facilitates more convenient and creative learning. With the school districts’ burden of budget shortage dissolved, schools can also invest their money on other important areas such as cafeteria food, school building, and various student activities/programs.

Despite the obvious benefits of the initiative, B.Y.O.T. policy has many skeptics. Roy Pea, a professor of learning sciences at Stanford University and the co-author of a White House-backed National Educational Technology Plan published in 2011 that advocates for technology-centric classrooms, presents his doubt, “The B.Y.O.T. approach could be counterproductive if teachers were forced to build lessons around different devices — in effect, subverting curriculum to technology.” Also, easy access to electronic devices can result in students texting each other more often during class, making students concentrate less on the course material. Additionally, who says all of these kids own personal technology items that they can bring to school? For a family of three children that all attend school, they will need three electronic devices for each child to bring to his/her class. Who is to guarantee that the family can financially cover the cost? Students will bring different devices to classrooms, and to which device or application must the teacher align her assignments? Some apps don’t exist on certain devices, and how is this problem going to be addressed? Lastly, B.Y.O.T. policy brings great confusion among students themselves. In the past, they were told not to bring their electronic devices and to turn them off. Why is it that all of a sudden they are being asked to bring them?

As the concerns and possible controversies regarding B.Y.O.T. policy describes, school districts and policy makers must really think on their new policy before adopting the trend as a quick budget fix.

What is Imprinted in You

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“The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the
Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.” Psalm 103:19-22.

The book of Psalm in the Bible mainly consists of David’s prayers and praises to the Lord. In Psalm 103, David calls out to the angels and all of the servants of the Lord to sing and glorify God. In the end, he also tells himself, “Praise the Lord, my soul.” Based on the content of David’s praise to God, you can tell that he really had gratefulness towards his Lord. Yet, at the same time, the way David tells his own soul to praise the Lord shows us that even for him, there were times when it was challenging to give thanks. However, in the end, David was able to overcome such difficult circumstances and continue to praise the Lord for His kingdom and righteousness.

What made it possible for David to continue to have faith in God despite the unimaginable difficulties he faced? I believe that what was imprinted in David’s heart allowed for him to keep his faith and connection with God. David had imprinted in his heart the Lord’s promise, covenant, and word. Because God’s promises were so firmly embedded in David’s heart and mind, he did not waver in times of hardships. This raises up the question, “What is imprinted in us?” Ideologies, beliefs, and experiences that are imprinted in us control our thoughts, body, and action. Things that are imprinted in us determine whether we succeed or fail. If resentment, loneliness, jealousy, misery, and anger are imprinted in us, they will ultimately lead our lives to destruction. However, if our hearts and minds are full of God’s love, His blessings, and His covenant, then God will work in our lives with His angels and the Holy Spirit and lead us to amazing answers! So, let’s take a moment to check what is really imprinted in us, and if wrong things are imprinted in our hearts, then start meditating on God’s word so that His things replace our hearts.

The Issue Brief – resources

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I plan on writing my issue brief on the hype of online college courses. I am not sure what my stance on the issue is as many studies show that online classes are successful. Gathering information on the various studies, research, and students and faculties’ experiences, I hope to provide a guideline for strategies behind policy making for these online courses. The audience for the issue brief would be various universities in the U.S.

Some of the resources that I will be using include:

1. American Council on Education Website

2. U.S. Department of Education

3. The Chronicle of Higher Education

4. Other Useful websites

Former President of Ireland: Mary Robinson

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Mary Robinson’s speech at the Eisenhower was very inspirational. I really enjoyed her stories and many lessons that come from her experiences. Her sense of humor and bright characteristics seem to make her a successful leader. Out of many things/stories that I liked about her speech, parts of her speech that especially inspired me were:

  • At a very young age of 26, Mary Robinson wrote her first bill regarding contraceptive use to the Parliament and received a harsh response by the Catholic Archbishop, “Such a measure would be and will remain a curse upon the country.” The bill was not even printed in the Parliament, and Dr. Robinson’s first experience with politics was extremely discouraging and negative. If I had been in her shoes, I would have held strong resentment towards the nation’s leaders, telling myself that I would never engage in political matters again. However, Mary Robinson did just the opposite. Although she did lose courage and was shocked, she did not give up. She turned this experience into a lesson about political leadership. She learned “if you really feel strongly about something, be prepared to pay a price. Be prepared to be unpopular, try not to be arrogant. That’s different. Try to be true to what you feel is really important.” These statements were really encouraging and inspired me to really stand up for what I believe in and be prepared to face challenges. No matter what hardships come, I should not be discouraged if I really believe in what I pursue.
  • Another part of Dr. Robinson’s speech that made me think was: “You need to ask yourself who is my community? Is it Penn State? Is it the state itself, is it the United States? In the world today that we’re so interconnected, must the duty extend further? And if you don’t know that you have a duty to the community, and do something about it, you yourself don’t reach your full potential.” Although I always try to do good to others by volunteering and donating, I tend to focus on things that satisfy myself, my close friends, and family. Mary Robinson’s words alert me that if I only fulfill my duties to myself and a small pool of my close friends while forgetting the larger community that I owe to, I won’t be able to reach my full potential. Moral leadership includes fulfilling duties to the larger community around you.

Morning Prayers

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Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest. But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple. Psalm 5: 1-7.

Above passage from the book of Psalm is King David’s morning prayer. David prayed to the Lord in the early morning like many other figures in the Bible. Jesus exemplified early morning prayer, and other Biblical individuals such as Paul, Luke, and Matthew gave early morning prayers as well. According to the Bible, most of the renown and successful people started their days early with prayer. Even now, the majority of the spiritual leaders around the world wake up early in order to meditate and pray. Early morning, when everyone else is asleep, is the best time for concentration and meditation in which one can connect with God the most. People who pray in early morning can start their day off with tremendous strength and leisure. From meditating God’s word and being filled by the Holy Spirit, one can experience God’s plan being fulfilled in daily life.

However, early morning prayers can be quite challenging. After going to sleep late, it is extremely difficult to wake up early in the morning. Even if you don’t wake up early in the morning, you can take at least 10 minutes to meditate and pray before getting out of the house, yet this can be challenging as well. Every morning, you wake up, shower, get ready, eat breakfast, and as you open the Bible or the prayer journal, you realize it’s time to get out and catch the bus. You get on the bus, go to class, and the entire day passes so quickly while your connection with God and His blessings is completely lost. Spending time with friends, studying, and worrying about your future, God’s plan and His words are forgotten. This is why early morning prayers are so important. As difficult as it is to sit down for at least 5 minutes in the morning to pray, the blessings that follow this prayer can be amazing. Try to sit down at least 5 minutes in the morning and think of nothing. Discard all your worries, concerns, and thoughts. Take that time to let go everything you are holding unto and just focus on the Lord. Try to comprehend God’s words and connect with the Lord who takes care of everything for you. You will begin to experience amazing answers in your life!

Deliberative Persuasion and Advocacy

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I still have not decided upon which topic to work on for the deliberative persuasion and advocacy assignment. Although I want to explore new subjects since I have been working on education in the past for most of my assignments (including Paradigm Shift Paper, TED talk, and civic issues blog), gathering all of my research and experience with this topic and forming a persuasive essay and advocacy project can be more efficient and meaningful. Yet, if I were to stay on the topic of education, I still don’t know what specific public issue I want to focus on. In the past, I have researched and wrote about immigrant education, online college courses, public school breakfast, tracking system in public schools, standardized testing in America, and hazing in sororities and fraternities. I am not sure if I want to choose from these options or if I want to explore a new area of issue in education.

For example, I could do my project on inequality in American schools, diversity, crime, illegal immigrants, school lunches or breakfast, general education requirements in college etc. Now that I think about it, talking about general education requirements in college sound pretty interesting. I know that just recently, the Eberly College of Science held an Open Student Forum about Gen Eds and how students are required to take about 45 credits of Gen Ed, which is equal to approximately 3 semesters in college. This can be an interesting topic since it is relevant to myself and many others. For the advocacy part, I could write a letter to the Dean or the administrator who is in charge of creating such requirements.