Browsing by Subject "Academic success"

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    If You Are Going to Skydive, You Need a Parachute: Navigating the World of Higher Education as an Adult/Returning Student
    (2016-10-01) Hook, Sara Anne; Faklaris, Cori
    You have reached that point in your life where a change is needed. Perhaps you have been contemplating an upgrade to your skill set, a new degree or certificate, additional credentials or even a completely new career. The world of higher education has changed significantly even in the last few years and there are many more options for adult/returning students. Hybrid and online degrees and courses offer a particularly flexible alternative for those with jobs and family responsibilities or who are in rural areas not served by large universities. Savvy universities now recognize that women students want a sense of community in their courses and are looking for informal learning spaces, mentoring and support services as well as the opportunity to apply their skills and talents towards activities that contribute to the betterment of society as well as to increasing their incomes. This special session at InWIC is designed to offer insights, practical tips and encouragement to anyone who is thinking about – or in the process of – pursing additional education. The co-presenters will offer their personal experiences in navigating the financial, logistical and emotional/psychological issues involved in being an adult/returning student and will provide a number of useful resources for addressing these issues. The session will include time for participants to share their own experiences and to form a network for support in the future. Success is within your grasp, but in order to have smooth sailing, enjoy the view on the way down and not crash to the ground, you need a parachute – a plan for how you will address the risks, meet the challenges and maximize the opportunities and experiences that higher education presents. This InWIC session is intended to help you begin to prepare your plan.
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    Translation and Cultural Adaptation of NIH Toolbox Cognitive Tests into Swahili and Dholuo Languages for Use in Children in Western Kenya
    (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Duffey, Megan Marie; Ayuku, David; Ayodo, George; Abuonji, Emily; Nyalumbe, Mark; Kovacs Giella, Amy; Hook, Julie N.; Tran, Tuan M.; McHenry, Megan S.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives: Performing high-quality and reliable cognitive testing requires significant resources and training. As a result, large-scale studies involving cognitive testing are difficult to perform in low- and middle-income settings, limiting access to critical knowledge to improve academic achievement and economic production in these populations. The NIH Toolbox® is a collection of cognitive, motor, sensory, and emotional tests that can be administered and scored using an iPad® tablet, reducing the need for training and quality monitoring; and thus, it is a potential solution to this problem. Methods: We describe our process for translation and cultural adaptation of the existing NIH Toolbox tests of fluid cognition into the Swahili and Dholuo languages for use in children aged 3-14 years in western Kenya. Through serial forward and back translations, cognitive interviews, group consensus, outside feedback, and support from the NIH Toolbox team, we produced translated tests that have both face validity and linguistic validation. Results: During our cognitive interviews, we found that the five chosen tests (one each of attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, episodic memory, and processing speed) were generally well understood by children aged 7-14 years in our chosen populations. The cognitive interviews informed alterations in translation as well as slight changes in some images to culturally adapt the tests. Conclusions: This study describes the process by which we translated five fluid cognition tests from the NIH Toolbox into the Swahili and Dholuo languages. The finished testing application will be available for future studies, including a pilot study for assessment of psychometric properties.