Open social scholarship in action

Author(s):  
Randa El Khatib ◽  
Alyssa Arbuckle ◽  
Caroline Winter ◽  
Ray Siemens

Abstract Open social scholarship highlights outreach and partnerships by emphasizing community-driven initiatives in an attempt to bridge the gap between the practices of the university and the goals of the community. Over the last few years, the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab at the University of Victoria has introduced a number of initiatives to this end, including the Open Knowledge Program and Open Scholarship Awards. In describing these initiatives, the article engages the larger framework of community engagement and public-facing scholarship. The guiding questions for this article and our work more broadly are: how can we productively put open social scholarship into practice? What type of scholarship is considered public facing? What is the best practice around co-creating knowledge in the humanities with communities that are academic-aligned or non-academic?

Author(s):  
Lise Kouri ◽  
Tania Guertin ◽  
Angel Shingoose

The article discusses a collaborative project undertaken in Saskatoon by Community Engagement and Outreach office at the University of Saskatchewan in partnership with undergraduate student mothers with lived experience of poverty. The results of the project were presented as an animated graphic narrative that seeks to make space for an under-represented student subpopulation, tracing strategies of survival among university, inner city and home worlds. The innovative animation format is intended to share with all citizens how community supports can be used to claim fairer health and education outcomes within system forces at play in society. This article discusses the project process, including the background stories of the students. The entire project, based at the University of Saskatchewan, Community Engagement and Outreach office at Station 20 West, in Saskatoon’s inner city, explores complex intersections of racialization, poverty and gender for the purpose of cultivating empathy and deeper understanding within the university to better support inner city students. amplifying community voices and emphasizing the social determinants of health in Saskatoon through animated stories.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M. Sampselle ◽  
Kenneth J. Pienta ◽  
Dorene S. Markel

The ultimate aim of the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) initiative is to accelerate the movement of discoveries that can benefit human health into widespread public use. To accomplish this translational mandate, the contributions of multiple disciplines, such as dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, and bioengineering, are required in addition to medicine. The research community is also mandated to establish new partnerships with organized patient communities and front line health care providers to assure the bidirectional flow of information in order that health priorities experienced by the community inform the research agenda. This article summarizes current clinical research directives, the experience of the University of Michigan faculty during the first 2 years of CTSA support, and recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of future CTSA as well as other interdisciplinary initiatives. While the manuscript focuses most closely on the CTSA Community Engagement mission, the challenges to interdisciplinarity and bidirectionality extend beyond the focus of community engagement.


2020 ◽  
pp. 105345122096310
Author(s):  
Kristin L. Sayeski

John Wills Lloyd is Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia and co-editor of Exceptional Children. He earned his PhD from the University of Oregon and spent most of his career at the University of Virginia. Dr. Lloyd has been an integral part of many professional organizations, including the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Learning Disabilities, where he served as president and later as the executive director, and the Division for Research. Dr. Lloyd’s work has focused on the identification of effective instructional practices, best-practice in single-case design research methodology, and facilitating a deeper understanding of learning disabilities. He has produced numerous scholarly articles, foundational textbooks, and web-based materials that continue to inform readers about effective practice in special education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Simon Feldmeth ◽  
Mario Stoll ◽  
Frank Bauer

The radial load of a radial lip seal indicates how strongly the sealing lip is pressed on the shaft. The radial load significantly affects the function of the seal. The German standard DIN 3761-9 describes the measurement of the radial load according to the split-shaft method but leaves room for interpretation. During the revision of the standard, a parameter study was conducted at the University of Stuttgart. This study analyses the influence of the measurement device, the mandrels and the measuring procedure on the results. Based on the study results, recommendations are derived and summarized in a best-practice guideline, which should enable an appropriate and reproducible measurement of the radial load.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-95
Author(s):  
Barbara S. Spector ◽  
Cyndy Leard

This retrospective emergent design qualitative evaluation study documents the development of a unique model for community engagement and engaged scholarship in higher education. The primary novel aspect of the model is participatory involvement of both the target audience for the program and representatives of various stakeholder groups who initiated, conceptualized, tested, assessed, and evaluated the courses and program with the professor. Members of the target audience and stakeholder groups also recruited participants, contributed to refining the courses and program to meet the needs of the stakeholder groups, and contributed to redesigning courses for online learning. The model emerged while developing and evaluating the Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program (ISI Program) at the University of South Florida. Garnering the resources of a previously untapped audience, the informal science education (ISE) community, presented the university with a way to increase enrollment. Also reported are sample benefits accrued to learners in the program, to the ISI community, to the community at large, and additional benefits to the University.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Richards ◽  
Vaughan Ellis

PurposeA retrospective action-research case study of one branch of the University and College Union (UCU) is used to show how threshold requirements of the Act can be systematically beaten.Design/methodology/approachThe paper responds to calls for “best practice” on how trade unions may react to member voting threshold requirements of the Trade Union Act 2016 (the Act). A broader aim is to make a theoretical contribution related to trade union organising and tactics in “get the vote out” (GTVO) industrial action organising campaigns.FindingsFindings are presented as a lead organiser's first-hand account of a successful GTVO campaign contextualised in relation to theories of organising. The findings offer “best practice” for union organisers required to beat the Act's voting thresholds and also contribute to theories surrounding trade union organising tactics.Research limitations/implicationsFurther development and adaptation of the proposed model may be required when applied to larger bargaining units and different organising contexts.Practical implicationsThe findings can inform the organising practices/tactics of trade unions in relation to statutory ballots. The findings also allow Human Resource (HR) practitioners to reflect on their approach to dealing with unions capable of mounting successful GTVO campaigns.Social implicationsThe findings have the potential to collectively empower workers, via their trade unions, to defend and further their interests in a post-financial crisis context and in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis is the first known empirical account of organising to exceed voting thresholds of the Act, providing practical steps for union organisers in planning for statutory ballots. Further value lies in the paper's use of a novel first-hand account of a GTVO campaign, offering a new and first, theoretical model of organising tactics to beat the Act.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Geraldine D. Villaluz, RSCJ

This paper is aimed at presenting an implemented community engagement of the University of San Carlos School of Education with the communities of Agusan del Sur, Philipines, in close partnership with the Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation-IDC, (JPIC-IDC) Incorporated of Agusan del Sur as a response to a felt need in the early childhood education program of the province. In 2004, JPIC pooled together concerted resources from provincial and local government units, non-government organization and academe to create and develop a cul-ture-based curriculum guide for early childhood education that is appropriate and responsive to the needs of indigenous groups in Agusan del Sur, Southern Philippines. To address these needs, an ethnographic commu-nity engagement framework was utilized and initiated by JPIC-IDC team and the University Of San Carlos School Of Education. The community engagement framework facilitated the partnership of Agusan del Sur government leaders, a non-government organization in Germany, community cultural masters, Day Care Teachers and the University of San Carlos School of Education to create a developmentally appropriate and culture-based cur-riculum for Day Care with a supporting handbook for mother-teachers in early childhood education. As a result of this framework, children drop-out decreased from 80% to 10% while parent-community involvement in-creased from 30% to 90% in 2009 (JPIC-IDC, 2007). Ongoing teacher trainings and community orientations on the culture-based curriculum have been extended to 42 additional communities in 2012-2018 from 35 com-munities in 2007 upon request from the provincial governor. Two editions of a culture-based handbook have been published and a third edition is currently prepared for District 2 communities with guided participation by Day Care teachers as co-authors. This community engagement framework, initiated by the Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation of Agusan del Sur Philippines involving all stakeholders from the provincial leaders to the recipients of early childhood education, serves as a model to community extension service programs (CES) of schools and universities as well as to curriculum practitioners and administrators. Three principles involved in this particular community engagement concretely demonstrate that program sustainability is a product of partnership, sensitivity to culture and context and relevance to community’s need.


2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Bekessy ◽  
K. Samson ◽  
R.E. Clarkson

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the impact and value of non‐binding agreements or declarations in achieving sustainability in universities.Design/methodology/approachA case study of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University is presented, analysing the reasons for lack of progress towards sustainability and evaluating best ways forward. Using a timeline and analysis of historical records for the 12 years since RMIT first engaged in the sustainability agenda, major trends in the process of implementing policies are identified. Secondly, 15 semi‐structured interviews with university leaders and key sustainability stakeholders from across the university are analysed to provide insight into how and why the university has failed to achieve sustainability.FindingsNew implications for successfully achieving sustainability arise from these findings. Accountability is a key issue, as RMIT appears to reap benefits from being signatory to declarations without achieving genuine progress. To ensure that declarations are more than simply greenwash, universities must open themselves up to scrutiny of progress to determine whether commitments have been honoured.Practical implicationsRelying on small‐scale “club” activities establishing demonstrations and raising awareness is unlikely to lead to permanent change. The evidence of RMIT's engagement with sustainability shows that, for example, even when successful pilot studies are conducted, these initiatives may do little to affect the mainstream practices of a university unless certain conditions exist. Furthermore, given the on‐paper commitments institutions have made, and the role of the university in society, small‐scale and gradual changes in university practice are a far from adequate response to the urgent sustainability imperative.Originality/valueThe initial engagement of RMIT University with the sustainability agenda 12 years ago marked it as a world leader in sustainability best‐practice. Analysing how and why such a disappointing lack of action has resulted from such promising beginnings provides insight into future directions for implementing sustainability in universities. The paper argues that considering the key responsibility of universities in leading the sustainability agenda, a more systemic and serious response is required.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document