Where Participatory Approaches Meet Pragmatism in Funded (Health) Research: The Challenge of Finding Meaningful Spaces

The term participatory research is now widely used as a way of categorising research that has moved beyond researching "on" to researching "with" participants. This paper draws attention to some confusions that lie behind such categorisation and the potential impact of those confusions on qualitative participatory research in practice. It illuminates some of the negative effects of "fitting in" to spaces devised by other types of research and highlights the importance of forging spaces for presenting participatory research designs that suit a discursive approach and that allow the quality and impact of such research to be recognised. The main contention is that the adoption of a variety of approaches and purposes is part of the strength of participatory research but that to date the paradigm has not been sufficiently articulated. Clarifying the unifying features of the participatory paradigm and shaping appropriate ways for critique could support the embedding of participatory research into research environments, funding schemes and administration in a way that better reflects the nature and purpose of authentic involvement

Report on Director of Faculty Mentoring Experience

Report written to document the author's experience as Director of Faculty Mentoring in IUPUI's Office of Academic Affairs from January 2018-February 2019

Green Infrastructure Can Combat Combined Sewer Overflows

Every year millions of gallons of raw sewage are dumped directly into our local waterways here in Buffalo, NY. Combined sewer overflows (or CSO’s) are the cause of this environmental and human health hazard, and they occur an average of 68 times per year, whenever we have heavy rain or snow. Currently the Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) is negotiating with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to come up with a cost-effective means to prevent CSO’s from occurring and thus bring our local waterways into compliance with water quality standards. BSA is required by law to develop and implement a CSO Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) that explores all viable options for remedying the situation

Excepts from The Barn

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. We laughed, more at his incredible ability to let things roll off his back, than at the song. For a minute it was silent, though, and it seemed like we were all thinking the same thing- one of these days, Kevin is just going to explode. But the mood lightened when Jaime suggested that he take his cute little rhyme straight to Susie\u27s class

New ways of mediating learning: Investigating the implications of adopting Open Educational Resources for tertiary education at an institution in the United Kingdom as compared to one in South Africa

Access to education is not freely available to all. Open Educational Resources (OERs) have the potential to change the playing field in terms of an individual's right to education. The Open University in the United Kingdom was founded almost forty years ago on the principle of 'open' access with no entry requirements necessary. The University develops innovative high quality multiple media distance-learning courses. In a new venture called OpenLearn, The Open University is making its course materials freely available worldwide on the Web as OERs ( see http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn). How might other institutions make use of these distance-learning materials? The paper starts by discussing the different contexts wherein two institutions operate and the inequalities that exist between them. One institution is a university based in South Africa and the other is a college located in the United Kingdom. Both institutions, however, deliver distance-learning courses. The second part of the paper discusses preliminary findings when OERs are considered for tertiary education at these two institutions. The findings emphasise some of the opportunities and challenges that exist if these two institutions adopt OERs

Investigating supported or unsupported individual and group work in open forums in an open educational resources repository

Open Educational Resources (OERs) can play a part in advancing the lifelong learning and social inclusion agendas (Geser, 2007). The focal point of this paper is on how learners of different ages will be encouraged to adopt OERs by their teachers and facilitators. The discussion starts by looking at how the facilitators will support their learners in an open arena. This is followed by the facilitators approach to individual and group work in an open access environment. The discourse then moves on to whether open forums attached to OERs will be used instead of closed and password protected areas. This paper gives initial feedback about the intended usage of OERs for co-operative and collaborative learning