A Chance at Birth: An Academic Development Activity To Promote Deep Reflection on Social Inequities

I describe the structure and implementation of an activity I use in academic development, aimed at introducing higher education faculty to social inequities in a profound way. The activity is structured such that previously naïve practitioners as well as those somewhat engaged in equity pedagogies are provided new ways of thinking about the role classroom practices play in social inclusion. Here I reflect on the activity’s genesis, provide suggestions for its use, and present considerations for academic developers interested in using it for their own practice

Context Determines Strategies for \u27Activating\u27 the Inclusive Classroom

A number of reports have called for the transformation of college science pedagogy. For instructors interested in transforming their own classrooms, the number of approaches, tools, and literature on pedagogical transformation can be overwhelming. The literature is rich with examples of the positive significant effects of active learning, but is lacking on frameworks that can help guide implementation. In this manuscript, I use Fink’s conceptual framework for “creating significant learning experiences” and a conceptual framework for inclusive teaching and learning to focus on how situation-specific drivers inform the choice of active learning strategies. I argue essentially that while, on average, active learning may promote greater academic outcomes, the context of the implementation matters. Using personal examples and evidence from the literature, I provide a Perspective here on why context considerations should be the main drivers of effective pedagogies

On Faculty Development of STEM Inclusive Teaching practices

Faculty development of inclusive teaching practices has become more common in response to significant differences in STEM student retention between underrepresented minorities in the USA and students from other ethnic groups. Approaches to solve this have shifted from focusing on student deficits to changing campus culture, including the mindsets of instructors who teach STEM courses. In this article, I argue that based on the literature informing the conceptual frameworks used for faculty development in inclusive teaching, faculty developers should reframe the message of their workshops to focus participants more on the scope of the journey, and shift the direction of overall efforts some to redevelop pedagogical training at the graduate and postdoc levels. Informed by historical as well as recent theories on the role of higher education to society, I highlight the areas of the literature that can effectively inform our current approaches to inclusion. I also briefly review the reasons why this approach is needed, and include suggestions for new faculty development approaches for long-term sustainable change in STEM inclusive education at the postsecondary level

ATHENE : Assistive technologies for healthy living in elders : needs assessment by ethnography

Numerous assistive technologies to support independent living –including personal alarms, mobile phones, self-monitoring devices, mobility aids, software apps and home adaptations –have been developed over the years, but their uptake by older people, especially those from minority ethnic groups, is poor. This paper outlines the ways in which the ATHENE project seeks to redress this situation by producing a richer understanding of the complex and diverse living experiences and care needs of older people and exploring how industry, the NHS, social services and third sector can work with the older people themselves to ‘co-produce’ useful and useable ALT designs to meet their needs. In this paper, we provide an overview of the project methodology and discuss some of the issues it raises for the design and development process

Artificially induced aggregation of fauna and their effects on nutrient regimes and primary producers in an oligotrophic subtropical estuary

In order to investigate the role of faunal aggregations in concentrating nutrients in the oligotrophic landscape of Florida Bay, I manipulated faunal densities in Florida Bay sea grass beds by constructing artificial reefs. The effects of reefs and faunal aggregations on nutrient availability and benthic community structure were assessed. Over a year-long sampling period, artificial reefs had an average population of 50 fishes and crustaceans of various species. Faunal aggregation resulted in significant sediment organic matter decreases and sediment phosphorus increases. Plots with high fauna populations also had shorter seagrass blades presumably due to the effects of grazing. Chlorophyll-a concentrations in the sediment and periphyton samplers were mainly affected by reef presence or exclosure type and not due to the presence of aggregating fauna. Our results suggest that faunal aggregation may have more top-down effects on primary producers than bottom-up effects over smaller temporal scales

An Act of Hospitality: From Clinical to Trauma-Informed Academic Support

Higher education environments tend to sustain interpretations of student success that place the responsibility on students alone. This perspective, often described as deficit thinking, shapes educational responses into remedial ones. In this view, students who struggle do so because of poor study skills or habits. Academic support, then, fills the students with what they lack. This approach assumes that all students access learning in the same way, and that all students are equally able to make good academic choices. However, research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) finds that many students bring with them a history of trauma, which changes the way they learn and respond to new stressors. A trauma-informed approach recognizes the institution’s responsibility to acknowledge the impact of trauma and to design support according to trauma-informed principles. This organizational improvement plan examines the institution’s role in academic support, with a change plan designed for one Canadian university. The discussion is rooted in interpretive organizational theory and social cognition as an approach to change, with specific attention on sensemaking. Using the change path model and a servant leadership orientation, I develop a three-loop plan that employs a community of practice (CoP) as the mechanism for change. I suggest the initiation of the CoP, strategies to mobilize change through social and institutional learning, mechanisms for monitoring the change path, and communication strategies to encourage second-order change. With a metaphor of hospitality, I consider how to open the educational space for all students to enter and thrive. Keywords: academic support, trauma, servant leadership, interpretivism, sensemaking, community of practice, hospitalit

Barriers to Inclusive Deliberation and Democratic Governance of Genetic Technologies at the Science-Policy Interface

Advances in 21st century genetic technologies offer new directions for addressing public health and environmental challenges, yet raise important social and ethical questions. Though the need for inclusive deliberation is widely recognized, institutionalized risk definitions, regulation standards, and imaginations of publics pose obstacles to democratic participation and engagement. This paper traces how the problematic precedents set by the 1975 Asilomar Conference emerge in contemporary discussions on CRISPR, and draws from a recent controversy surrounding field trial releases of genetically modified mosquitoes to explicate the ways in which these precedents undermine efforts to engage publics in decisions at the science-policy interface

Service-Learning Project Models and Subject Matter Achievement of Middle School Students

Many of the experiences that occurred in an educational context, sometimes by design and more often by accident, equaled turning points in my development. I learn best by doing; and, I learn the most important things I know, by doing. Most of my learning by doing happened as a result of being a part of performing arts groups or involvement in student government, or as a young employee in various jobs

Getting Started: Growing a Service-Learning Curriculum

The Michigan K- 12 Service-Learning Center is a part of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. Supported in part by the Michigan Department of Education with funds from the Corporation for National Community Service and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Center is dedicated to the promotion of service-learning as an effective strategy for educating young people from diverse communities. The Center provides assistance, consultation and clearinghouse services to school districts, community organizations and universities in the state of Michigan and surrounding states in the Great Lakes region. The focus of the Center is to assist in infusing service-learning into K-12 schools. As educators we are challenged by reports that we are not adequately preparing our children for their future in the 21st century. Reform efforts urge us to thoughtfully look at not only what we teach but how we teach it. Service-learning is a way to refocus school on central issues in American education; how to help make schools become decent, democratic learning communities, authentically connected to and supporting the larger communities in which schools are located. Community service and volunteerism have rich histories in American public and private schools. Service clubs, and co-curricular service activities enjoy wide acceptance and have provided benefits to students and their communities alike. Service-learning incorporates into the classroom the important lessons learned through young people interacting with their communities in empowering ways. It is through the act of community service that the academic and pro-social lessons are learned in ways that are meaningful and relevant to students lives. The integration of community service into the academic curriculum has profound implications for school reform and therefore deserves our most thoughtful planning. We offer you this tool to help facilitate a process for growing a service-learning curriculum. Our intention is that it will be used by classroom teachers as a workbook, entering and exiting as is needed. As Connelly and Clandinin state in Teachers as Curriculum Planners, Curriculum development and curriculum planning are fundamentally questions of teacher thinking and teacher doing. We invite you to draw on your personal and professional knowledge of what you know to be good education as you nurture and grow your service-learning curriculum