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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Living with Stargardt's Disease




Stargardt disease is the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration. The progressive vision loss associated with Stargardt disease is caused by the death of photoreceptor cells in the central portion of the retina called the macula.
The retina is the delicate light-sensing tissue lining the back inside wall of the eye. Photoreceptor cells in the retina provide vision by conveying information from the visual field to the brain. The macula is responsible for sharp central vision — for tasks like reading, watching television, and looking at faces.
Decreased central vision is a hallmark of Stargardt disease. Side vision is usually preserved. Stargardt disease typically develops during childhood and adolescence. Also involved in Stargardt disease is a region beneath the macula called the retinal pigment epithelium.
While there are currently no treatments for Stargardt disease, the Foundation is supporting several promising avenues of research, including gene, stem cell and drug therapies.
For the latest research advances for Stargardt disease treatments, refer to the Foundation publication Stargardt Disease: Research Advances.

UV blocking sunglasses are generally recommended for outdoors. For people who already have significant vision loss, low vision aides are available.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Bartosz Bazan

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Online Evolution and Predictions

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Online Evolution and Predictions: It is known that HarvardX and other institutions continue to create new massive open online courses (MOOCs; see the current list at ha...

Online Evolution and Predictions

It is known that HarvardX and other institutions continue to create new massive open online courses (MOOCs; see the current list at harvardx.harvard.edu/modules-courses).But with hundreds of offerings available on edX, Coursera, and emerging platforms (such as the Business School’s HBX; see harvardmag.com/hbx-14), emphasis is now shifting to research on applications and assessments.


One promising avenue is the “blended” or “flipped” course, in which content such as recorded lectures is made available to students, like a multimedia textbook, before they meet with teachers in the classroom. Gordon McKay professor of computer science Harry R. Lewis described how he reengineered a course this way, with low-tech recordings costing a tiny fraction of the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in a full-scale HarvardX offering, in “Reinventing the Classroom” (September-October 2012, page 54).


Such courses appeal for two very different reasons. They may deepen learning, if class time formerly spent on lecturing is used instead to grapple with difficult concepts or work through problem sets with fellow students. They can also be an avenue toward efficiency and economy as more students, in effect, share a lecturer.

Online Evolution