Crossroads, Connections, and Creativity: Musselman Library Strategic Plan

The Musselman Library Strategic Plan grew out of two all-staff meetings held in January 2007. During the first, library staff identified areas of strength and weakness, as well as opportunities for improvement and growth. Maureen Sullivan, an organization development consultant for libraries, led the next meeting. Ms. Sullivan helped to deepen the analysis begun during the previous meeting and encouraged the staff to begin envisioning the future of the Library. In late January, Robin Wagner, Director of Library Services, formed the Strategic Planning Committee (see list of participants below). The committee’s initial tasks were to complete an environmental scan and to identify upcoming trends and best practices in library services, while formulating mission and vision statements for Musselman Library. These were presented to the rest of the staff for feedback during meetings in March and April. Also in April, the Strategic Planning Committee invited other library staff to serve on task forces charged with creating goals and action items for the plan’s four core issues (see Appendix C). Maureen Sullivan facilitated the launching of these task forces, and each group, led by a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, then met independently numerous times during the next few weeks. The final task force reports were completed in early May and shared with the entire library staff. On May 21, Maureen Sullivan led an all-staff meeting to discuss the task force recommendations. Ms. Sullivan then met with the Strategic Planning Committee and Robin Wagner to begin the process of revising, prioritizing, and incorporating the goals and action items into one cohesive strategic plan. Crossroads, Connections, and Creativity: Musselman Library Strategic Plan was submitted to Robin Wagner, on June 12, 2007. [excerpt

Underdogs and superheroes: Designing for new players in public space

We are exploring methods for participatory and public involvement of new 'players' in the design space. Underdogs & Superheroes involves a game-based methodology – a series of creative activities or games – in order to engage people experientially, creatively, and personally throughout the design process. We have found that games help engage users’ imaginations by representing reality without limiting expectations to what's possible here and now; engaging experiential and personal perspectives (the 'whole' person); and opening the creative process to hands-on user participation through low/no-tech materials and a widely-understood approach. The methods are currently being applied in the project Underdogs & Superheroes, which aims to evolve technological interventions for personal and community presence in local public spaces

Teaching to Empower

This essay offers strategies for balancing teaching about injustices with strategies to empower students by looking to the past, the present, and the future. Learning about past organizing for social justice using primary archival documents offers lessons in perspective, strategy, and inspiration. Learning about present activists and organizations teaches students cutting-edge strategies for social change and opens up possibilities for their future activism. Finally, teaching students the importance of envisioning a better future, especially through the creative arts, can help them clarify their values and develop affirmative, constructive goals. This essay describes specific activities and exercises for doing each of these things to enhance teaching to empower

New perspectives on research

The Graduate Research Session at the conference will be held on Thursday March 1st from 4-5pm. At this session, graduate students from institutions from across the state will present a series of lightning talks where each presenter will briefly share the purpose and findings of their research study, and share a few implications for music education practice. The graduate student panel will be seated in a circle in order to facilitate sharing. Non-presenting attendees will be seated in an outer circle which will then be integrated with the presenters during the Q&A portion of the session, in order promote the free-sharing of ideas between all in ttendance. In order to highlight a few examples of the exciting projects being presented, Yank’l Garcia and Nicholas Quigley, master’s students at Boston University, briefly introduce their research projects below. Please join us to learn about the fresh and exciting topics that graduate student researchers are focusing upon within the field of music education.First author draf

How can I use Irish language e-portfolios in the assessment for learning approach in my primary classroom?

This paper investigates the process of assessment for learning (AfL) in the primary school Irish language classroom. Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) are used as a tool in assessment for learning with eight of my second class pupils in an urban primary school in North Dublin. This research was carried out as part of the Master of Science in Education and Training Management (e-learning strand) at Dublin City University and was supervised by Dr. Margaret Farren. Some strategies from the literature served as a solid basis from which to develop a framework to organise my own investigation. My action research enquiry is strengthened by the values I hold for my pupils and for my own professional practice, which include the value of self-evaluation, freedom to create in language-learning using technology and the ability to ‘share learning’ with a peer. Several strategies emerge through the enquiry, which improve with reflection, planning and redrafting. My introduction to the practicalities of implementing electronic portfolios involve identifying appropriate software, dealing with technical difficulties and adapting the portfolios to meet the needs of my pupils. Through the process of critical questioning and action reflection cycles my own professional practice has developed. By seeking to create a living educational theory, I hope these changes have impacted positively on my pupils’ learning and involved me in deeper reflection of my own teaching

Integrating Values, Purposes, and Visions for Responsible Development

This chapter highlights a study showing that knowledge sharing and envisioning processes can have positive effects on human and social capital growth within a network. The chapter begins by arguing that a responsible development perspective can be more proactive approach than a sustainability perspective. Some actors (non-profit, public, and private) have achieved responsible development goals by integrating values, purposes and visions. More specifically, we conducted a study testing a methodology that can guide a process of building a strategic vision within a network with the goal of improving their responsible development orientation. The chosen methodology is “Participatory Action Research”. The implementation of the envisioning process was studied via quantitative/qualitative research tools. The methodology was tested in an official cross-country project funded by the European Commission. The project was selected as a best practice by the same European Union Commission. The study highlights the importance of envisioning processes in building social and human capital at the inter-organizational level and, in particular, in highly complex sectors such as those oriented towards improving social responsibility. In fact, work on the envisioning process itself represents an essential instrument for developing strategic objectives to be shared among actors within networks that intend to promote responsible development and improve their human and social capital. This bottom-up process of envisioning can also facilitate cultural interaction among community members, even in a cross-country context. This relevant “learning-by-interacting” experience, can create a growth process for the human and social capital of entire communities. The creation of social capital also promotes the development of shared knowledge and advances leading to the general understanding of common core objectives and appropriate ways of acting within the social system. The chapter ends with recommendations for future research

Kiran Bedi’s Innovative Initiatives and Leadership Practices in Puducherry, India

The purpose of this research paper is to outline innovative initiatives and leadership practices by Kiran Bedi, the Lt. Governor of Puducherry, India to achieve good governance. It unveils leadership challenges and offers leadership lessons. It explains her courageous and style of servant leadership. It explores how to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem. It implores all people to work for satisfaction, not for recognition. It concludes that each person is gifted with one life and that life must deliver its duties and tasks with excellence and without craving any attention or approval from others to provide meaning

Park Equity in Action: Envisioning, Utilizing, and Writing Outdoor Spaces with New Mainer Girls

As it is deeply rooted in young immigrant women’s experiences in nature in the Lewiston area, this project centers around underprivileged voices and strives for equity within public parks in their home city. In Lewiston, and throughout cities across the entire nation, public parks are extremely valuable for the children growing up around them. In urban environments, green spaces are few and far between, and the accessibility to public parks for Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous communities is noticeably lower than it is for White communities. In working closely with Maine Community Integration, our project aimed at rewriting the typical script that follows public park access in America. In collaboration with the ‘New Mainer Girls’—a group of immigrant high school women of color in the Lewiston public school system—our group set out to archive experiences the girls have had within Lewiston parks in written blogs. After meeting with the New Mainer Girls and discussing a brief overview of our project, we crafted specific prompts for them to answer on their own. These prompts were constantly manipulated as we learned more about what the parks meant to our participants. As our project continued, and as we narrowed our prompts down, we chose to focus heavily on Kennedy Park, which is located near Lisbon Street and is widely known as Lewiston’s most popular park. Switching our focus to Kennedy Park in particular allowed our group to zone in and study the park’s infrastructure. As the project continued, our group was met with unforeseen challenges. Before we were able to distribute prompts to the New Mainer Girls, Ramadan had begun. Because of the holiday’s importance and strict rules, the New Mainer Girls program was suspended until the end of Ramadan. Instead of suspending our project entirely, we switched our plans and created a framework for future engagement. Accompanying our prompts, we constructed a Wordpress site in which blog posts can be made, with the options to also upload pictures, videos, and audio recordings. Along with the Wordpress site, our group created a brief overview of park equity and its importance which can be handed out to participants. All of these components fell in line with a timeline that ends with distributing the archived blog posts to the Lewiston City Council, and, hopefully, earning a seat for the New Mainer Girls at the table that discusses upcoming implementations and action plans for Kennedy Park. This project is scheduled to continue in the summer of 2022, underneath the framework we have prepared and with a Bates student working alongside the New Mainer Girls. The student will be paid by a work-action grant and will work closely with Maine Community Integration to distribute prompts, discuss responses, and receive input from participants to constantly edit the Wordpress site

Exploring the Motivational Factors that Empower Military Spouses to Pursue Degrees in Higher Education

This study aimed to explore the factors that motivate and empower military spouses to persist in pursuing degrees in higher education. The following research question guided this study? What do military spouses perceive as the factors that motivate and empower them to persist in earning college degrees? Fifteen military spouses participated in this study. The military spouses who participated in the study shared their experiences on motivating factors that empowered them to continue earning a college degree. The theory of Cultural Capital was used as the theoretical framework to guide the concept that the military environment is a culture within a culture and that they bring this knowledge and experience into the classroom