Visual communication of and for minorities: interrogating the campus images in Iowa State recruitment/promotional materials

Visuals are an integral and critical part of all recruitment/promotional materials. This thesis examines the role that visuals play in Iowa State University\u27s recruitment/promotional materials specifically as they pertain to minority students. Twelve minority students of different American ethnic backgrounds were interviewed about the recruitment/promotional materials they received about Iowa State prior to their attendance. The interviewees were shown a selection of recruitment/promotional materials from different years and then asked to recollect what expectations were created about Iowa State when they received the materials. They were then asked how their actual experiences matched those expectations

\u3cem\u3eSomething Fills the Soul\u3c/em\u3e, \u3cem\u3eOn the Threshold of Wishing\u3c/em\u3e, \u3cem\u3eTime Utters It\u3c/em\u3e, and \u3cem\u3eI Color My Name\u3c/em\u3e by Yousef el Qedra

Translated from the Arabic by Edward Morin, Yasminn Snounu, and Yasser Tabbaa

Rearing of catfish (Clarias batrachus Lin.) larvae with live and prepared feeds

Provision or live feed (Tubificid worms) attributed significantly better weight gain in the five days old Clarias batrachus larvae when reared for another 28 days compared to those fed mixed feed (live and artificial) and artificial feed only. Larvae fed mixed feed showed significantly better weight gain compared to those fed only artificial feed and the survival rate was similar to those fed only live feed. Both the weight gain and survival rate were the lowest for the larvae reared only on artificial feed

Supporting and Sustaining Equitable STEAM Activities in High School Classrooms: Understanding Computer Science Teachers’ Needs and Practices When Implementing an E-Textiles Curriculum to Forge Connections Across Communities

While the last two decades have seen an increased interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) in K-12 schools, few efforts have focused on the teachers and teaching practices necessary to support these interventions. Even fewer have considered the important work that teachers carry out not just inside classrooms but beyond the classroom walls to sustain such STEAM implementation efforts, from interacting with administrators to recruiting students and persuading parents about the importance of arts and computer science. In order to understand teachers’ needs and practices regarding STEAM implementation, in this paper, we focus on eight experienced computer science teachers’ reflections on implementing a STEAM unit using electronic textiles, which combine crafting, circuit design, and coding so as to make wearable artifacts. We use a broad lens to examine the practices high school teachers employed not only in their classrooms but also in their schools and communities to keep these equitable learning opportunities going, from communicating with other teachers and admins to building a computer science (CS) teacher community across district and state lines. We also analyzed these reflections to understand teachers’ own social and emotional needs—needs important to staying in the field of CS education—better, as they are relevant to engaging with learning new content, applying new pedagogical skills, and obtaining materials and endorsements from their organizations to bring STEAM into their classrooms. In the discussion, we contemplate what teachers’ reported practices and needs say about supporting and sustaining equitable STEAM in classrooms

Youth, Technology, and DIY: Developing Participatory Competencies in Creative Media Production

Traditionally, educational researchers and practitioners have focused on the development of youths’ critical understanding of media as a key aspect of new media literacies. The 21st Century media landscape suggests an extension of this traditional notion of literacy – an extension that sees creative designs, ethical considerations, and technical skills as part of youth's expressive and intellectual engagement with media as participatory competencies. These engagements with media are also part of a growing Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, movement involving arts, crafts, and new technologies. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework and a language for understanding the multiple DIY practices in which youth engage while producing media. In the review, we will first provide a historical overview of the shifting perspectives of two related fields—new media literacies and computer literacy —before outlining the general trends in DIY media cultures that see youth moving towards becoming content creators. We then introduce how a single framework allows us to consider different participatory competencies in DIY under one umbrella. Special attention will be given to the digital practices of remixing, reworking, and repurposing popular media among disadvantaged youth. We will conclude with considerations of equity, access, and participation in after-school settings and possible implications for K-12 education

Safeguarding Play in Virtual Worlds: Designs and Perspectives on Tween Player Participation in Community Management

Managing problematic interactions in online communities has been a challenge since the days of early text-based, multi-user environments. Research in this area has mostly focused on adults and older teens. In this article, we examine the interactions and commentaries of tween players in Whyville.net, a virtual world with (at the time of the study) more than 1.5 million registered players ages 8–16. To understand how tween players define problematic behavior and what they observe in their own community, we draw from an archive of online postings to Whyville’s newspaper. The postings cover the period from 2000 to 2009 and consist almost entirely of player-generated content. Complementing these tween writings are observations of an after school gaming club in which, over a period of three months, about 20 youth players ages 9–12 met almost daily to play for an hour on Whyville.net. We highlight one particular incident observed in the gaming club because it illustrates how club members dealt with problematic behavior experienced online. Finally, we address the challenges and opportunities that tween player participation in community management presents for managing online behavior and player safety

Paper and Pixels: Mobile Learning Practices at Smith College

In Spring 2013, Smith College Educational Technology Services (ETS) implemented a tablet program that allows students and faculty to borrow iPads for semesterly projects. The iPad program began with 60 students in 5 courses from disciplines ranging from Exercise & Sports Studies to Chinese. Since then, 40 faculty have implemented iPads in over 50 courses across the campus. In the Spring 2016 alone, the program includes over 100 students in 9 courses. From its inception, the Smith iPad program was intentionally designed to promote a culture of innovative, effective, and experimental pedagogy. To ensure equity, we provide all students with the same iPads and software, as well as hold in-class tutorials. We protect student privacy and ensure ongoing stability by carefully vetting apps used in our courses. In order to privilege pedagogy above technology, we work in collaboration with faculty to identify learning goals and design course maps. Throughout the course, we conduct assessments to determine the effectiveness of the technology, gauge student experience, and inform future iterations. In this presentation, we’ll discuss the insights we’ve gained through refining and reiterating projects, our methods for evaluating apps, the technical specifications of how we make our program work, and share some of the creative projects students have completed in courses

Gaming Fluencies: Pathways into Participatory Culture in a Community Design Studio

Many recent efforts to promote new literacies involve the promotion of creative media production as a way to foster youth’s literate engagement with digital media. Those interested in gaming literacies view game design as a way to engage youth in reflective and critical reading of the gaming culture. In this paper, we propose the concept of “gaming fluencies” to promote game design as a context in which youth not only learn to read but also to produce digital media in creative ways. Gaming fluencies also present the added benefit of addressing equity issues of participation in the new media literacy landscape. We report on an ethnographic study that documented urban youth producing digital games in a community technology center. Our analyses focus on an archive of 643 game designs collected over a 24-month period, selecting a random sample to identify evidence of creative and technical dimensions in game designs. In addition, we highlight three case studies of game designs to identify different pathways into the participatory culture. Our goal is to illustrate how gaming fluencies allow for a wide range of designs, provide low thresholds and high ceilings for complex projects, and make room for creative expression. In our discussion, we address how gaming fluencies represent a complementary pathway for learning and participation in today’s media culture

Paper and Pixels: Mobile Learning Practices at Smith College

In Spring 2013, Smith College Educational Technology Services (ETS) implemented a tablet program that allows students and faculty to borrow iPads for semesterly projects. The iPad program began with 60 students in 5 courses from disciplines ranging from Exercise & Sports Studies to Chinese. Since then, 40 faculty have implemented iPads in over 50 courses across the campus. In the Spring 2016 alone, the program includes over 100 students in 9 courses. From its inception, the Smith iPad program was intentionally designed to promote a culture of innovative, effective, and experimental pedagogy. To ensure equity, we provide all students with the same iPads and software, as well as hold in-class tutorials. We protect student privacy and ensure ongoing stability by carefully vetting apps used in our courses. In order to privilege pedagogy above technology, we work in collaboration with faculty to identify learning goals and design course maps. Throughout the course, we conduct assessments to determine the effectiveness of the technology, gauge student experience, and inform future iterations. In this presentation, we’ll discuss the insights we’ve gained through refining and reiterating projects, our methods for evaluating apps, the technical specifications of how we make our program work, and share some of the creative projects students have completed in courses