Resistance versus Transformation: Exploring the Transformative Potential of High-Impact Service-Learning Experiences

Guided by the Social Change Paradigm of Service (Morton, 1995), this case study focuses on the service-learning experience emerging out of the partnership between the Community Development Program at Brescia University College and the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC) in London, Ontario, Canada. Critical to the experience is a relationship based on trust and mutual learning between the professor and community partner. Service-learning is conceptualized as a transformational learning model that has as its foundation, Cranton’s (2002) facets of transformative learning. Particularly important to this model are activating events. When an activating event occurs that does not fit with a student’s expectation of how things should be, two outcomes are possible: resistance or transformation. When combined with personal reflection and dialogue, the sharing of lived experience by a person connected to RHAC has been a powerful activator for moving students from being resistant towards personal transformation

The Virtual Reading Room: thinking globally, acting locally

The University of Melbourne and Sydney Libraries in Australia have unparalleled collections of special, rare and archival collections in the national academic library landscape. Both institutions are driven by the same ambition; to maximise engagement and use of these unique collection to further global scholarship.  During the peak of the global pandemic physical access to collections was limited which led to the development of digital solutions to provide a minimum level of access for scholars. On emerging from lockdowns, we engaged in a range of reflective practices about how we may transform and evolve service models in direct response to changing expectations of access for global scholars and regional communities, in particular Indigenous communities but also in tandem strengthen global professional networks. Over the last year, in partnership, the libraries at Melbourne and Sydney have developed distinctive and different approaches to piloting two new service models; Virtual Reading Room (VRR) and Virtual Teaching Space (VTS) which has been informed by the global practice emerging through the Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and International Alliance of Research Library Association (IARLA). This presentation will outline our motivations for exploring these service models and the benefits we see them realising. In addition, we will outline the power of strong and strategic partnerships across university libraries in developing new service models to increase the visibility and engagement with unique and distinctive collections for local and global communities

Resistance versus Transformation: Exploring the Transformative Potential of High-Impact Service-Learning Experiences

Guided by the Social Change Paradigm of Service (Morton, 1995), this case study focuses on the service-learning experience emerging out of the partnership between the Community Development Program at Brescia University College and the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC) in London, Ontario, Canada. Critical to the experience is a relationship based on trust and mutual learning between the professor and community partner. Service-learning is conceptualized as a transformational learning model that has as its foundation, Cranton’s (2002) facets of transformative learning. Particularly important to this model are activating events. When an activating event occurs that does not fit with a student’s expectation of how things should be, two outcomes are possible: resistance or transformation. When combined with personal reflection and dialogue, the sharing of lived experience by a person connected to RHAC has been a powerful activator for moving students from being resistant towards personal transformation

Climate Policy Constraints: Yet Another Negative Reverberation of Russia's War in Ukraine?

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian government was taking modest but meaningful steps to develop its domestic climate policy, prompted in part by incentives and pressures from the international market. Since then, however, Russia's war in Ukraine has heightened obstacles to addressing climate change: it has reinforced the importance of fossil fuel exports, further stifled climate activism at home, and increased impediments to international cooperation. The war’s longer-term impact on decarbonization remains uncertain

Honing the edge: an integrated model for supporting eresearch

Like many academic libraries, the University of Wollongong Library jumped into eResearch with the offer of Government funding through Australian National Data Service (ANDS). Contributing to the ANDS Seeding the Commons project provided the University with the opportunity to resource formative infrastructure development of eResearch services, however, without an institution-wide framework in place, the UOW Library\u27s involvement in these services failed to achieve the traction needed to enable these services to grow. As libraries and information professionals look to secure their place in emerging research-focused industries, it is becoming increasingly important to identify our relevant strengths and unique skills when defining the role we will play. With motivators such as the emergence of citation information for research data, and changes to funding body requirements, research data is gaining traction as its own marker of research impact and success. The push for making data open, reusable, and accountable is increasing, with libraries, including those in the non-academic sector, now faced with opportunities to demonstrate the relevance and flexibility of their traditional skills in this space. There has been much discussion on the re-skilling or redefining the roles of librarians, inevitably leading to the emergence of new Library roles and teams to support eResearch. Working within an academic environment in which research data has not yet achieved the same standing as publications, UOW Library took a pragmatic approach, integrating support for eResearch within existing roles and skillsets, bypassing the adoption of \u27edgy\u27 titles or complex specialised systems. The Library already has experience with managing publications, authority control, application of metadata, persistent identifiers, copyright advice, repository management, training, academic outreach, and has well-established relationships across the University. UOW Library is collaborating with the UOW Research Services Office (RSO), Information Technology Services (ITS), and a crosssection of academic researchers in the development of a simple, yet effective institution-wide eResearch framework to define support services for the registration, storage, description and discoverability of research datasets. Identifying and recognising that requisite skills already existed to support eResearch within existing structures, defined the Library\u27s role (and value proposition) within this framework, demonstrating that libraries can still be serious about supporting research data in a holistic service delivery approach. The methodology adopted by the UOW Library for defining its place in an eResearch framework has a broader application beyond academic libraries. The framework itself is scalable, and demonstrates that a library can support eResearch without recourse to major changes in roles and support systems: the skills needed are often available. As special and public libraries increasingly work with researchers and independent scholars who are generating their own data, the principles derived from UOW\u27s eResearch framework can assist other libraries in demonstrating their value in new ways to client communities

PFAS Tracking in Surface Water and Fish Tissue Following Multiple AFFF Releases to a River: A Case Study

A release of AFFF occurred to a New England river via a waste/stormwater conveyance system, resulting in visible foam on the river at and near the point of river discharge. Following immediate response actions to curtail the release, a river assessment was undertaken to characterize PFAS concentrations in surface water, sediment, and fish. Further complicating matters, a second, separate AFFF release to the same reach of river occurred during the river assessment, presenting challenges in understanding whether PFAS levels from the initial release were declining.   This presentation focuses on temporal trends observed in PFAS distribution and concentration in river media and discusses challenges associated with evaluating PFAS in a riverine system with multiple alternate PFAS sources. While PFOS was the primary contaminant associated with the AFFF releases, analysis for a suite of PFAS analytes in various media revealed important information about other PFAS contributions to the river and preferential uptake of PFAS in different trophic level fish.Ope

Control of Mammalian Cell Behaviour Through Mimicry of the Extracellular Matrix Environment

This chapter looks at the control of mammalian cell behaviour through mimicry of the extracellular matrix enviromen

ASD, Employment and Mental Health

Factsheet for HR Departments (and employers more generally). This leaflet is designed to help Human Resources departments understand Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the impact of mental health on individuals with ASD in the workplace. It provides information on how HR can help, and 'Top Tips' to support employees with ASD & mental health difficulties

ResearchFanshawe Magazine Issue 4

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