Author: vermontnews

Late Friday afternoon of spring break, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) team realized they needed a new plan for the faculty trainings that were slated to start the following Monday morning. 

Barely a week before, CTL acting director, Professor Annie Murray-Close, and the rest of UVM’s faculty received notice that a shift to remote learning was possible, given the growing threat of the coronavirus. Charged with supporting faculty in the use of instructional technology, CTL focused on developing a resources portal to support faculty and to provide the trainings, mentors, and helpline assistance that would make this quick pivot to remote instruction not only possible, but successful.

The collaborations that ensued underscore the all-hands-on-deck moment that CTL—and the full university teaching and support community—were called to.

Many faculty sidelined their spring break plans to spend the week learning to migrate their classes online. Continuing and Distance Education stepped in to assist with CTL’s email inquiries, Enterprise Technology Services joined CTL in responding to faculty requests for help and served as technological support during the now-remote CTL workshops, and the UVM Tech Team stood at the ready to assist faculty and students with technical difficulties. Writing in the Disciplines director Susanmarie Harrington joined forces with the CTL team to develop a full suite of workshops. And faculty from across disciplines with experience in online teaching volunteered at the CTL help-desk to assist their colleagues. 

“What continues to be impressive in such a challenging time is watching people who are already strained by moving their own classes online volunteering to help us assist their colleagues all across campus,” says Murray-Close. 

That Friday of spring break—in the now routine end-of-afternoon CTL meeting to discuss questions that came up that day—it became apparent that continuing to work on campus would push CTL past the university’s 25-person gathering limit many times during the day. In a move now familiar across the workplace, the CTL team made an immediate pivot to fully online programs. CTL staff spent the weekend redesigning the Monday workshops, developing remote learning materials for online teaching using Screencast-O-Matic, Blackboard, and Microsoft Teams, and answering the steady stream of individual support requests.

It was a busy weekend for spring break, but a productive one. That first suite of workshops for effectively migrating to online teaching has now morphed into an ongoing series of trainings. More importantly, they created space for faculty to discuss emerging issues, like how to best support students with flexibility and compassion. While the university community looks forward to the eventual return to residential learning, the UVM spirit remains in full force behind the student academic experience, whether on campus or online. 

Source: UVM News

A message from President Suresh Garimella to the UVM Community:

Without a doubt, these are challenging and unusual times. But I continue to be very impressed—and proud—of the strength, understanding, and connection that define our university.

Please take a few moments to view this video, and thank you for the many ways you keep UVM strong.

Warm wishes,
Suresh Garimella

See the latest information and updates surrounding UVM’s response to COVID-19.

Source: UVM News

For the nearly 36 million Americans who experience panic attacks, the coronavirus pandemic is a potentially significant new trigger, a recent story in the Washington Post reported.

For panic attack sufferers facing these new anxieties, there is little recourse. Medication is minimally effective and has side effects. Cognitive behavioral therapy doesn’t work for nearly two-thirds of panic sufferers. And bio-feedback, which has shown promise, is cumbersome and impractical to use outside a laboratory or clinical setting.

A new app developed by faculty at the University of Vermont, PanicMechanic, may be part of a solution. The app adapts biofeedback-like monitoring so it can be used on a mobile phone. The app can work at any time and in any location, the first technology to do so for panic.

PanicMechanic is meant to be used as a supplement to professional clinical care.

“The challenge with panic attacks is that they’re episodic,” said one of the app’s developers, Ellen McGinnis, an assistant professor at the University of Vermont’s Center for Children, Youth and Families at the University of Vermont and a trained clinical psychologist.

“That means they’re not only difficult to treat in a traditional therapy setting, because a panic attack is hard to induce, but also that the one intervention that does seem to work for people—biofeedback—isn’t available when it’s needed.”

PanicMechanic uses the camera on a cell phone to measure the body’s panic response, using an approach similar to photoplethysmography

“Activating the app, then holding your finger against the flash can give you an objective measure of your reaction to stress,” said Ryan McGinnis, assistant professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Vermont, and a co-developer of the app.

The concept for the app is grounded both in decades of research showing that enabling panic sufferers to observe their body’s reaction to stress reduces panic, and in the clinical practice of Ellen McGinnis.

“I’ve used a low tech version of this technique with a dozen patients,” she said. ‘The panic attack sufferer used just a pen, paper and timer to take their own heart rate and plot it on paper during the panic attack. It was very effective in helping patients manage, take control of and overcome their panic.”        

The explanation? Intervening with objective information targets a driving dynamic of panic, she says. 

“Panic takes hold and you feel like you’re out of control of your body. By showing someone their patterns of physiological arousal, it helps them gain a sense of mastery over their panic response.”

The app also works because it gives the panic sufferer something to do during an episode.

“One of the worst aspects of a panic attack is that you feel helpless,” Ellen McGinnis said.

In addition to displaying an objective measure of the body’s panic response, the app also asks, in a sequence of screens, “how much sleep and exercise you’ve had, what you ate, what your anxiety level is, and if you’ve consumed drugs or alcohol,” she said.

The screens both occupy the panic sufferer and serve a useful purpose, providing data on behaviors and triggers associated with the attack that could be avoided in the future.

The app also predicts how long the panic attack will last, based on past attacks.

That’s key, Ellen McGinnis said, because one of the most frightening aspects of a panic attack is that “it seems like it will never end.”

PanicMechanic employs machine learning to make sure the data gathered by the user on heart is accurate. 

“Our beta testing showed that people can’t always put their finger on their cell phone in free living settings and get an accurate reading of their heart rate,” Ryan McGinnis said. The machine learning functionality corrects for faulty finger placement. In a study that will be published later this year, Ellen and Ryan McGinnis and their collaborators demonstrate that data obtained by the app was as accurate as that obtained in a lab setting.

“PanicMechanic helps panic attack sufferers learn to understand their panic attacks,” Ellen McGinnis said. “When they do that, working in partnership with their therapist, they’ve gone a long way toward stopping them.” 

The team that developed PanicMechanic includes Steve DiCristofaro of Synbrix Software, LLC., in addition to Ellen and Ryan McGinnis.

The PanicMechanic app is available at the Apple App store.

Source: UVM News

Jim Gildea ’92 began his work as town administrator in Westfield, N.J., two months before September 11, 2001. A community of 31,000 just a 20-mile drive from the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Westfield lost twelve citizens that day. In his leadership role, Gildea has also helped the community cope and move forward in other times of crisis, from the economic freefall of 2008 to Hurricane Sandy. 

Today, Westfield is in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic’s Metro New York red zone. Speaking to the challenge of the current situation, Gildea says, “In reality, this is almost a combination of all of those things we dealt with in the past. But with those previous events, you knew that in a number of days it would be solved. Roads would be cleared, the power would be back on after the storm. But with this, the main difference is there is no clear end in sight.” 

Gildea’s roots run deep in Westfield, his hometown where his parents still live. His first job for the city was as a lifeguard in high school. After college at UVM, he returned to first work in recreation, then move into the town administrator role. (His roots also run deep at the University of Vermont, where he majored in small business management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His sisters Katie ’03 and Cristin ’95 are also graduates, and he admits to hoping his daughter, a junior in high school, might become a next-generation Catamount.) 

The police chief, fire chief, and town health officer are among the unit heads who report to Gildea. He praises their heroic efforts on the front lines, mentioning with pride that Westfield assisted in establishing the first coronavirus testing site serving the 21 towns in Union County. Gildea continues to work from the town’s city hall daily. Offices such as the town clerk and tax collector have employees working solo in shifts to protect their health. “We’re making sure the gears of government can still work,” Gildea says. “During times like this we need the government to work better than ever.”

Before the pandemic hit, Gildea was poised to present the town budget, approximately $50 million, for the next fiscal year. But as civic revenue streams shut down, it’s a shifting outlook. Gildea is reassessing, considering next steps and hard decisions to help the town emerge strong on the other side of the pandemic. Those Westfield roots keep him focused and positive. “One of the benefits of serving in the town where you live is you get to see and make changes where you live, in the places you care about,” Gildea says. “Together with the people I work with, that’s what keeps me going every day.” 

Source: UVM News