Moko – A Research Project

Moko colours the lives, and the skins, of all the people involved in the making of this book “Mau Moko”, which began as the Marsden project, “Ta Moko – Culture, Body Modification, and the Psychology of Identity”, 2001-2005. We proposed to study the origins, significance, technology and practice of Ta Moko from the pre-contact period to contemporary times, and to explore how this important art form has become a dynamic and positive assertion of being Maori in our changing world

Teaching Artists Research Project

There have been remarkable advances in arts education, both in and out of schools, over the last fifteen years, despite a difficult policy environment. Teaching artists, the hybrid professionals that link the arts to education and community life, are the creative resource behind much of this innovation. Their best efforts are redefining the roles the arts play in public education. Their work is central to arts organizations' strategies for civic engagement and diverse audiences. Excellent research has shown that arts education is instrumental to the social, emotional, and cognitive development of thousands of young people. But little is known about teaching artists. The Teaching Artists Research Project (TARP) deepens our understanding of world of teaching artists through studies in twelve communities, and it will inform policy designed to make their work sustainable, more effective, and more meaningful. A dozen study sites were selected where funding was available to support exploration of the local conditions and dynamics in arts education: Boston, Seattle, Providence, and eight California communities (San Francisco/Alameda County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Humboldt County). A thorough literature review was conducted, and NORC conducted stakeholder meetings and focus groups, identified key issues and began designing a multi-methods study that would include surveys for both artists and program managers as well as in-depth interviews of stakeholders -- teaching artists, program managers, school officials, classroom teachers and arts specialists, principals, funders, and arts educators in a wide variety of venues.There are no professional associations and no accreditation for teaching artists, so a great deal of time was spent building a sample of teaching artists and program managers in every study site. The survey instrument was developed and tested, and then fielded on-line in the study sites sequentially, beginning in Chicago, and ending with the southern California sites. To assure a reliable response rate, online surveys were supplemented by a telephone survey. Lists of potential key informants were accumulated for each site, and interviewers were recruited, hired, and trained in each site. Most of the interviewers were teaching artists themselves, and many had significant field knowledge and familiarity with the landscape of arts education in their community. The surveys collected data on some fundamental questions:Who are teaching artists?Where do they work? Under what terms and conditions?What sort of education have they had?How are they hired and what qualifications do employers look for?How much do they make?How much experience do they have?What drew them to the field? What pushes them out?What are their goals?Qualitative interviews with a subsample of survey respondents and key informants delved deeply into the dynamics and policies that drive arts education, the curricula and pedagogy teaching artists bring to the work, and personal histories of some artists. The interviews gathered more detailed information on the local character of teaching artist communities, in-depth descriptions and narratives of teaching artists' experiences, and followed up on items or issues that arose in preliminary analysis of the quantitative survey data. These conversations illuminated the work teaching artists believe is their best and identified the kinds of structural and organizational supports that enable work at the highest level. The interview process explored key areas with the artists, such as how to best develop their capacities, understand the dynamics between their artistic and educational practice, and how to keep them engaged in the field. Another critical topic explored during these conversations was how higher education can make a more meaningful and strategic contribution toward preparing young artists to work in the field. The TARP report includes serious reflection on the conditions and policies that have affected arts education in schools, particularly over the last thirty years, a period of intense school reform efforts and consistent erosion of arts education for students. The report includes new and important qualitative data about teaching artists, documenting their educational background, economic status, the conditions in which they work, and their goals as artists and educators. It also includes new insights about how learning in the arts is associated with learning in general, illuminating findings from other studies that have suggested a powerful connection between arts education and positive outcomes for students in a wide range of domains

Wage negotiations: some practival information

The intention of this booklet is to assist unionists, shop stewards and organisers with preparation for wage negotiations. It raises ideas on how to deal with the common arguments that are used by management. This booklet is not a complete guide to wage negotiations. It concentrates mainly on economic factors which form only one part of wage negotiations. The handbook is divided into two sections. Section One deals with: Information about ownership, control and structure of South African companies; How to read and understand the information in a company’s annual report. Section Two deals with wage-related issues and it includes: Inflation; Subsistence levels and other surveys; Wages and wage policy. The booklet concludes with a checklist of information needed by wage negotiators and ends with a glossary of terms and a reference list

Saddleback Research Project Collection Tabulation

This student inventory of insects found on Saddleback Mountain is part of Dr. Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds\u27s ecological study of the area. The physical collection of the Dr. Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Papers (see collection information below) includes similar tabulations from multiple classes at Linfield, all documenting insect type and number found. Dr. Dirks-Edmunds compiled her students\u27 research into various reports on her study\u27s progress. Dr. Dirks-Edmunds graduated from Linfield College in 1937; she returned to teach in the Biology department at Linfield from 1941-1974

Whānau Advisory Group research project

This report examines the impact of the Whānau Advisory Group, an initiative that aspires to foster quality engagement between schools and their Māori communities in order to improve Māori student achievement. Executive summary The success of the Whānau Advisory group initiative across diverse communities and contexts is determined by a set of key components including a core group of committed whānau with diverse skills and experiences and, the total support of the school’s principal. These components, in particular, provide the necessary platform for the ‘Whānau Advisory Group’ to progress, guided by realistic aims and objectives thereby providing a strong basis for recruiting and encouraging other whānau and community members to participate. While whānau members of the Whānau Advisory Group are both directly and indirectly involved in strategic decision-making as whānau or through positions of governance on boards of trustees, there is little evidence of a correlation between the Whānau Advisory Group and Māori educational achievement. However, schools claim a positive connection between Whānau Advisory Group and Māori achievement but based on anecdotal evidence. Nonetheless, an improvement in Māori student educational achievement was definitely seen to be influenced by the Whānau Advisory Group. The report emphasises the positive contribution of key whānau with skills and experiences to attract other whānau to the initiative, based on their standing and mana within a school’s community. Without these core members the Whānau Advisory Group would not succeed according to the initiative’s wider aims. Consequently, Whānau Advisory Group success factors, engagement strategies and narrative evidence of Māori student achievement in addition to the support of the Ministry of Education and local Iwi rūnanga are recognised as effective pathways for establishing and sustaining the Whānau Advisory Group initiative. Finally, while the report also documents areas of limitations and the various contexts in which the seven Case Study schools are located, the overall findings support the Whānau Advisory Group initiative as a worthwhile intervention to address the goals of Ka Hikitia - Accelerating Success 2013–2017 and Māori educational achievement

“Contemporary Latinx Media” Digital Humanities Research Project

As part of the “Contemporary Latinx Media” Digital Humanities Research Project, students explore and analyze different aspects related to the representation of Latino/as in contemporary digital media. Using the digital platform Scalar, the students produced a digital research essay as the final project of the course