Place-Based Learning across the Disciplines: A Living Laboratory Approach to Pedagogy

Faculty participants in a fellowship designed to engage students at an urban commuter college of technology in their general education curriculum evaluated and redesigned their courses to include place-based learning (PBL) using the Living Laboratory model of pedagogy. Focused on faculty perception of the relationship between PBL and its influence on general education, the study illustrates how faculty from across disciplines apply PBL techniques to revitalize general education learning outcomes. Findings include the influence of the fellowship on the design of PBL activities and perceived levels of student engagement, especially when compared to more traditional classroom instruction

“Our Stories”: First-year Learning Communities Students Reflections on the Transition to College

Analysis of diverse first-year and first-generation learning communities students’ reflective narratives shows this population of students at an urban commuter college of technology face significant challenges in the transition into college. Designed to assist in this transition, the “Our Stories” digital writing project incorporates reflective writing in the long established, yet recently revitalized, learning communities program. Through analysis of the “Our Stories” project, we examine how the structure of our learning communities program, together with writing on an open digital platform, builds community and has the potential to positively influence students as they identify, and begin to make sense, of the social, emotional, and bureaucratic challenges in their transitio

“Our Stories”: First-year Learning Communities Students Reflections on the Transition to College

Analysis of diverse first-year and first-generation learning communities students’ reflective narratives shows this population of students at an urban commuter college of technology face significant challenges in the transition into college. Designed to assist in this transition, the “Our Stories” digital writing project incorporates reflective writing in the long established, yet recently revitalized, learning communities program. Through analysis of the “Our Stories” project, we examine how the structure of our learning communities program, together with writing on an open digital platform, builds community and has the potential to positively influence students as they identify, and begin to make sense, of the social, emotional, and bureaucratic challenges in their transition into college. The role of peer mentors, faculty and administrators in this project is discussed

Our Stories of Becoming a College Student: A Digital Writing Project for First Year Students

This blogging assignment serves as a low-stakes activity that encourages students to make sense of the social, emotional, and bureaucratic challenges in their transition to college, and to simultaneously develop digital literacy

Turning Collective Digital Stories of the First-year Transition to College into a Web of Belonging

In this article, we present lessons learned from Our Stories, a digital writing project designed to assist students in the transition from high school to college. From the collective digital narratives of first-year and first-generation students at an urban public college, who are primarily Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low-income, and immigrant, and who participated in a First-year Learning Communities course, we examine the challenges of becoming a college student at a public college. Further, we explore how digital writing supports community-building and influences students\u27 transition experience, in particular, making sense of shared challenges. For these BIPOC students, the act of reflecting and writing about their college transition fostered individual and collective awareness and a sense of belonging as they began to negotiate college life. Their narratives also highlight the need for social justice pedagogies that are responsive to student experiences, use asset-based approaches, build community, and promote the active role of students in shaping their educational experiences

Involvement of KLF4 in Sulforaphane- and Iberin-Mediated Induction of p21 waf1/cip1

Sulforaphane (SF; 4-methylsulfinylbutyl isothiocyanate), a dietary compound derived from broccoli, may exhibit chemopreventive properties by inducing cell cycle arrest via induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21(waf1/cip1)), but the exact molecular mechanism has not been determined. Here we evaluate the role of the transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in mediating the induction of p21(waf1/cip1) and cellular differentiation by SF and iberin (IB; 3-methylsulphinyl propyl isothiocyanate), also derived from broccoli. Exposure of Caco-2 and Caco-2/TC7 cells to SF and IB increased expression of both KLF4 and p21(waf1/cip1), whereas exposure of HT29 cells resulted only in induction of p21(waf1/cip1). In Caco-2 cells, small interfering RNA knock down of KLF4 expression attenuated induction of p21(waf1/cip1) in response to either SF or IB treatment. Contrary to expectation, prolonged exposure to SF reduced sucrase isomaltase activity, a marker of small intestinal differentiation in Caco-2 cells. Additional support for the SF-mediated induction of p21(waf1/cip1) by KLF4 was obtained from analyses of gastric tissue of Apc(Min/+) mice following acute intervention with SF but not from the analyses of other tissue of the intestinal tract. These results suggest that induction of p21(waf1/cip1) by SF or IB may be partly mediated by KLF4 in some colon cancer cells and tissues

Our Stories Developing a Virtual Community of First-Year Voices

First Year Learning Communities (FYLC) at City Tech is structured to provide first-year students in linked courses an interdisciplinary learning experience. This approach creates opportunities for students to form bonds within the college community. A shared belief among faculty leaders in the potential for writing to transform the student experience led to the development of the “Our Stories” digital writing project. “Our Stories” offers FYLC students the opportunity to express their experiences in classes, seminars, lectures, study groups, and labs on the OpenLab, a digital platform for teaching, learning, and sharing. Through this project, students shared their stories and revealed an institution with a large immigrant population, evoking questions of vulnerability, cultural adjustment, and unspoken uncertainties about college life. During a two-part interactive workshop, we will utilize reflective writing to engage the audience, and participants will review “Our Stories” narratives to inform the conversation around the challenges in the transition to college. We seek to amplify the diverse voices of our first-year students into participants’ conversations and thought processes with emphasis on first generation and diverse populations. Through this process we intend to develop a sense of how we as educators and administrators can support the student transition to college and reveal the need for continued advocacy and funding to develop innovative programs to support diverse students emotionally, economically, socially, and academically