Extending Reach with Technology: Seattle Opera's Multipronged Experiment to Deepen Relationships and Reach New Audiences

This case study describes the Seattle Opera's four-year-long effort to test which kinds of technology channels work well in audience engagement. Its experiments with technology included a simulcast of Madama Butterfly at an 8,300-capacity sports arena, interactive kiosks in the opera house lobby and online videos that took viewers behind the scenes of the opera's signature production of Wagner's Ring cycle. Every season employed at least some winning engagement tools, driven in large part by the company's efforts to gather information before determining what applications to use. Although the majority of the tools were most effective at enhancing the experience of patrons who already had a deep connection with the company, the simulcast, in project's fourth year, also brought in opera newcomers. One important lesson from the work was that effective strategies required the involvement not just of the marketing department, but of the entire organization, including its union representatives

Lessons Learned from Implementing Unconscious Bias Training at an Academic Medical Center

Introduction. In 2018, our Midwestern university medical center began offering unconscious bias training. Each session concluded with a standard evaluation. We analyzed two years of data that focused on three areas: 1) whether demographic differences or amount of prior knowledge on the topic influenced the training experience; 2) what participants liked best about the training; and 3) whether participants’ stated intentions to apply their learning at the end of the training aligned with institutional goals of the training. Methods. Participants attended sessions open to the campus community pre-scheduled by the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and posted on its website. Chi-square tests were utilized to test associations between outcomes and questionnaire responses. Outcome measures included race/ethnicity, prior knowledge level, and overall rating of the training. Thematic analysis was used to code comments and establish themes from two open-ended survey questions. Results. Significant differences were found by race and ethnicity for all questionnaire responses; each were p < 0.001. Those who reported they had advanced/expert knowledge on the topic were less likely to report the training increased their knowledge, and those who reported their race as White/Caucasian tended to give the training the highest overall rating, as did heterosexuals. Through thematic analysis, participants valued the interactive nature of the training sessions, the use of storytelling, and the safety of the learning environment. Participants’ intention to apply their learning indicated they had gained general awareness of bias and settings where it might influence their work. Conclusions. In an effort to foster a better working and learning environment for those who are underrepresented in the health professions, training was provide that may not have met the expectations of all participants. At the same time, participants who identified as White clearly increased their awareness of bias. Therefore, it is recommended to move away from one-size-fits-all unconscious bias training and develop a robust training continuum to provide ongoing advancement for diverse audiences

Does the Great Streets Initiative in Los Angeles Serve the Goals of Urban Planning from the Implementation Side?

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced a Great Streets Initiative designed to revitalize neighborhood streets and improve quality of life in the city of Los Angeles. The purpose of Great Streets is to recreate the street as a place where people want to go and spend time, rather than just a space to move through. Fifteen streets have been targeted by the mayor's office for revitalization in locations that have begun to show the early signs of complete street design, but the actual planning and street design process is intended to be bottom-up, with heavy community engagement. Although the goals outlined by the Great Streets Initiative promise positive effects, are local residents even interested in the concept of Great Streets? This study specifically focuses on two of the fifteen Los Angeles streets: Reseda Boulevard and Gaffey Street. Through an examination of case studies for similar projects in select cities throughout the United States, systematic observation of the local area as it currently exists and interviews with local area merchants, this study explores whether or not the Great Streets Initiative is serving the goals of urban planning from the implementation side, in terms of meeting the needs of the community

Using a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to pedagogy: Insights from some teachers in South Africa

The goal of the study on which this article is based was to examine teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of adopting a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to teaching and learning in the classrooms. The study used focus group interview discussions to gather views from 20 classroom practitioners who had completed a BEd Hons in Education Psychology. The teachers were from five secondary schools in the Gauteng region. Among the key concepts explored in the focus group discussions (FGDs) were the role of scaffolding when linked to mediated learning experiences (MLEs), the use of situated learning experiences in the learners’ zones of proximal development (ZPD), and how the approach helped transform the learners’ skills from lower to higher psychological functions through the use of material, psychological and semiotic tools in the classroom. The analysis of the data followed a thematic approach, with emerging codes being clustered into code families. Among the key findings of the study was the view of teachers that adopting a multipronged strategy that includes the use of authentic learning conversations, learning tools (material, psychological, and semiotic) and situated learning experiences goes a long way towards fostering useful teaching and learning. The study illustrated that classroom practitioners do need to take into account and adopt the many and varied benefits that can be derived from an authentic sociocultural approach to teaching and learning

Mobilisation of Public Support for Policy Actions to Prevent Obesity

Public mobilisation is needed to enact obesity prevention policies and to mitigate backlash against their implementation. However, current approaches in public health focus primarily on dialogue between public health professionals and political leaders. Strategies to increase popular demand for obesity prevention policies include refining and streamlining public information, identifying effective frames for each population, enhancing media advocacy, building citizen protest and engagement, and developing a receptive political environment with change agents embedded across organisations and sectors. Long-term support and investment in collaboration among diverse stakeholders to create shared value is also important. Each actor in an expanded coalition for obesity prevention can make specific contributions to engaging, mobilising and coalescing the public. Shifting from a top-down to an integrated bottom-up and top-down approach would require an overhaul of current strategies and re-prioritisation of resources

In Real Time: From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom

This qualitative research study employs a teacher action research methodology to study how a teacher develops and implements a critical race pedagogy (CRP) curriculum. CRP pairs the liberatory practices of critical pedagogy (Friere, 1970), such a problem-posing classroom and praxis, with the maxims of critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000). Situated in a high school teacher pipeline program, this study details how a teacher-researcher developed a curriculum focused on teaching about racial injustice and educational inequality to a group of minoritized youth interested in the teaching profession. The research outlines key levers in her classroom, such as building a classroom community, selecting a range of critical texts, and harnessing dialogue to co-construct knowledge. The author also reflects on challenges that surfaced when moving from theory to practice, such as democratizing the classroom and the unfinished nature on becoming, and offers insights that contribute to the field of teachers-researchers interested in bolstering young people’s racial consciousness in schools

Fostering social innovation and building adaptive capacity for dengue control in Cambodia: a case study

Background: The social-ecological systems theory, with its unique conception of resilience (social-ecological systems & resilience, SESR), provides an operational framework that currently best meets the need for integration and adaptive governance as encouraged by the Sustainable Development Goals. SESR accounts for the complex dynamics of social-ecological systems and operationalizes transdisciplinarity by focusing on community engagement, value co-creation, decentralized leadership and social innovation. Targeting Social Innovation (SI) in the context of implementation research for vector-borne diseases (VBD) control offers a low-cost strategy to contribute to lasting and contextualized community engagement in disease control and health development in low and middle income countries of the global south. In this article we describe the processes of community engagement and transdisciplinary collaboration underpinning community-based dengue management in rural primary schools and households in two districts in Cambodia. Methods: Multiple student-led and community-based interventions have been implemented focusing on empowering education, communication for behavioral change and participatory epidemiology mapping in order to engage Cambodian communities in dengue control. We describe in particular the significance of the participatory processes that have contributed to the design of SI products that emerged following iterative consultations with community stakeholders to address the dengue problem. Results: The SI products that emerged following our interaction with community members are 1) adult mosquito traps made locally from solid waste collections, 2) revised dengue curriculum with hands-on activities for transformative learning, 3) guppy distribution systems led by community members, 4) co-design of dengue prevention communication material by students and community members, 5) community mapping. Conclusions: The initiative described in this article put in motion processes of community engagement towards creating ownership of dengue control interventions tools by community stakeholders, including school children. While the project is ongoing, the project's interventions so far implemented have contributed to the emergence of culturally relevant SI products and provided initial clues regarding 1) the conditions allowing SI to emerge, 2) specific mechanisms by which it happens and 3) how external parties can facilitate SI emergence. Overall there seems to be a strong argument to be made in supporting SI as a desirable outcome of project implementation towards building adaptive capacity and resilience and to use the protocol supporting this project implementation as an operational guiding document for other VBD adaptive management in the region

Ouroboros: The Evolution From Industrialized Mass Production to Auteurism in American Animation

The evolution of animation in the United States and its resulting classification varies significantly from its global counterparts. Through a convergence of complex cultural, regulatory, and entrepreneurial influences, the medium\u27s experimental artistic principals have remained firmly rooted in the mass-production style studio pipeline codified by Hollywood. Through the advent of academically centered animation education, the development of the internet, self-distribution, and the growing affordability of industry level hardware and software, the industry has expanded beyond the traditional narrow scope. This re-globalization of entertainment in the United States encourages an auteur approach to animated filmmaking that is challenging the strict association of animation as a children\u27s medium

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe present study focuses on the need for sexual assault prevention interventions among college student populations. A review of the literature indicates that theatre-based prevention interventions are effective in preventing sexual violence among student populations. Chapter 2 of this dissertation is a literature review synthesizing scholarship focused on using theatre of the oppressed techniques to address sexual assault against women. Chapter 3 consists of a systematic review that summarizes and synthesizes quantitative and qualitative research that explores the impact theatre of the oppressed theory and practice has on sexual assault prevention. For this project, sexual assault response providers (therapists, nurses, advocates, and educators), community members and college students were engaged in focus group interviews evaluating the first iteration of a theatre-based sexual assault prevention intervention, Not Responsible. Chapter 4 of this dissertation focuses on how the intervention was changed based upon the evaluation of the first iteration. The intervention was presented to undergraduate students. And focus group interviews were used to explore how undergraduate student audience members experienced the intervention, revolUtion, on an emotional and intellectual level. Results from each chapter have been integrated in a discussion of the findings and implications for social work practice

Bridging the evidence-to-practice gap: a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating practice facilitation as a strategy to accelerate translation of a multi-level adherence intervention into safety net practices

BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to antihypertensive medications is a significant contributor to the racial gap in rates of blood pressure (BP) control among Latino adults, as compared to Black and White adults. While multi-level interventions (e.g., those aiming to influence practice, providers, and patients) have been efficacious in improving medication adherence in underserved patients with uncontrolled hypertension, the translation of these interventions into routine practice within real world safety-net primary care settings has been inadequate and slow. This study will fill this evidence-to-practice gap by evaluating the effectiveness of practice facilitation (PF) as a practical and tailored strategy for implementing Advancing Medication Adherence for Latinos with Hypertension through a Team-based Care Approach (ALTA), a multi-level approach to improving medication adherence and BP control in 10 safety-net practices in New York that serve Latino patients. METHODS AND DESIGN: We will conduct this study in two phases: (1) a pre-implementation phase where we will refine the PF strategy, informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, to facilitate the implementation of ALTA into routine care at the practices; and (2) an implementation phase during which we will evaluate, in a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial, the effect of the PF strategy on ALTA implementation fidelity (primary outcome), as well as on clinical outcomes (secondary outcomes) at 12 months. Implementation fidelity will be assessed using a mixed methods approach based on the five core dimensions outlined by Proctor\u27s Implementation Outcomes Framework. Clinical outcome measures include BP control (defined as BP \u3c 130/80 mmHg) and medication adherence (assessed using the proportion of days covered via pharmacy records). DISCUSSION: The study protocol applies rigorous research methods to identify how implementation strategies such as PF may work to expedite the translation process for implementing evidence-based approaches into routine care at safety-net practices to improve health outcomes in Latino patients with hypertension, who suffer disproportionately from poor BP control. By examining the barriers and facilitators that affect implementation, this study will contribute knowledge that will increase the generalizability of its findings to other safety-net practices and guide effective scale-up across primary care practices nationally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03713515, date of registration: October 19, 2018