Nicole Masters

We investigated gut microbial diversity profiles and their intra-species variations within several populations of Australian native, eastern grey Kangaroo. Three hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene (V1-V3, V3-V4, and V5-V6) were analysed from faecal samples collected from 30 Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) across six locations of South-East Queensland. Two methods were used for obtaining the faecal microbial genomic DNA. In the first method, DNA extraction was carried out on composite samples of equal amounts of faecal material of five kangaroos, whereas in the second method the microbial genomic DNA was extracted from each individual kangaroo first and equal amounts of DNA from each kangaroo were pooled into 6 composite samples (five kangaroos each). Both methods used the QiaAmp Powerfaecal DNA extraction kit (Qiagen) for faecal microbial DNA extraction. We obtained 150bp paired-end reads using the Illumina Miseq platform and constructed microbial taxonomic profiles for each variable region. Composite samples containing genomic DNA extracted from individual faecal samples yielded greater intraspecies variability than combining faeces material prior to DNA extraction. Diversity profiling of gut bacteria using V1-V3 hypervariable region yielded a broader range of taxa due to its longer target region. Higher levels of unassigned taxa were obtained with the V1-V3 regions, these unassigned taxa decreased ≥5-fold when analysed using the V3-V4 and V5-V6 regions, which enabled classification of the unassigned into identifiable bacterial taxa. There was insufficient evidence to suggest which hypervariable regions contain the greatest intra-species diversity as each target hypervariable region demonstrated sequence diversity among different bacteria.

This poster describes the current findings of a three-year action research project investigating the production of synchronous and asynchronous lecture materials and innovative lecture delivery strategies. The aim of our project is to improve the efficacy of face-to-face and online lectures. Ultimately we have developed a lecture delivery best practice toolbox that focuses on a 'learning how to learn' model that gives explicit linkages to all learning materials; by 'chapterising' content into clear and applied modules, and directly trains students to use lecture recordings as a study tool.

The popularity of recorded lectures amongst students is well documented (Preston et al., 2010; Sloan & Lewis, 2014). There is an ever increasing number of students opting not to attend face-to-face lectures, with streamed or pre-recorded lectures offering greater flexibility and convenience (Preston et al., 2010; Taplin, Kerr & Brown, 2014). In addition, timetable constraints, high demands on large lecture theatres, and increased academic workloads results in courses with large cohorts often relying on lecture recordings to accommodate increased student enrolments (Taplin et al., 2014). Research has shown that many students also use the lecture recordings to compliment face-to-face lectures (Dey, Burn & Gerdes, 2009) and to study for end-of-semester examinations (Preston et al., 2010), with our own experience at USC indicating some students view presentations multiple times.