Exploring How Secondary STEM Teachers and Undergraduate Mentors Adapt Digital Technologies to Promote Culturally Relevant Education during COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to K-16 educators, including the closing of educational agencies and the abrupt transition to online teaching and learning. Educators sought to adapt in-person learning activities to teach in remote and hybrid online settings. This study explores how a partnership between middle and high school teachers in an urban school district and undergraduate STEM mentors of color leveraged digital tools and collaborative pedagogies to teach science, technology, and engineering during a global pandemic. We used a qualitative multi-case study to describe three cases of teachers and undergraduate mentors. We then offer a cross-case analysis to interpret the diverse ways in which partners used technologies, pedagogy, and content to promote equitable outcomes for students, both in remote and hybrid settings. We found that the partnership and technologies led to rigorous and connected learning for students. Teachers and undergraduates carefully scaffolded technology use and content applications while providing ongoing opportunities for students to receive feedback and reflect on their learning. Findings provide implications for community partnerships and digital tools to promote collaborative and culturally relevant STEM learning opportunities in the post-pandemic era.

COVID-19 Crisis Response of Higher Education Institutions

This chapter explores the preparedness and initial responses to the COVID-19 crisis of two higher education institutions, Tampere University in Finland and the University of São Paulo in Brazil, using a crisis management framework. The crisis has disrupted teaching and research operations and caused unforeseen challenges to universities. While the crisis is still ongoing, and the long-term impact of the crisis cannot be assessed, this chapter focuses on the initial phase of the crisis, crisis preparedness, and response. The findings suggest that the Finnish case university applies a very systematic and centralized crisis management strategy, while the Brazilian case university has a more decentralized approach coming from its collegial mode of governance. Cross-case analysis shed light on similarities and differences in their capacity to respond to crises such as COVID-19.

Lessons Learned Framework for Efficient Delivery of Construction Projects in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has the largest construction market in the gulf region. Nevertheless, the sector faces issues related to inefficiency and ineffectiveness in project delivery. This research aims to explore the impact of current practices across projects lifecycles, and to utilize findings to develop an integrated strategic construction project management framework (ISCPMF) that may pave the way to efficient and effective project implementation. To achieve this objective, the authors have traced the implementation processes of nine projects for data collection. This was based on a deductive approach with preconceived themes. Within-case and cross-case analysis was conducted. The data was complemented by holding three separate focus-group discussions with a total of nineteen participants, and the initial findings were cross-checked with six experts. The deficiencies that surround the pre-construction phase and disconnected activities that are carried out in different timespans represent the first barrier to implement projects successfully. This is coupled with low capacities contractors and non-proactive construction teams that lack a management toolbox to alleviate accumulated issues and control project progress. The unavailability of infrastructure and utilities did not ease construction nor made inspection possible, which led to late occupancy of facilities, waste of resources and failure to deliver the desired benefits effectively. The adoption of ISCPMF will institutionalize and bridge project phases. This may play a vital role in implementing projects efficiently and effectively and building data to benefit future projects. Though the research is limited to higher education facilities, the findings may be generalized to public construction projects.

Influence of Building Characteristics and Building Lifespan on Condominium Operating Expenses

This paper is an exploration of building lifespan, building characteristics, and operating expenses. The main objectives are to identify the building component lifespan, including architectural components and engineering components, to determine the pattern of building component replacement life cycle and to examine the relationship between building characteristics and facility operating expenses. The investigation was undertaken through a study of thirty-nine residential condominiums located in Bangkok. The expense data were collected through document searches and surveys with key juristic persons of each condominium. The building service life document was collected from international references and standards. The data were examined using cross-case analysis to identify the lifespan of the buildings and to identify the relationships between the condominium operating expenses and the characteristics of the buildings. It was found that the typical building replacements occur on a broad 60-year cycle that can be subdivided into several phases. Further findings indicate that a significant pattern of building component replacement shifts every two decades through the building lifespan. It was also found that the condominium operating expenses vary according to the building age and building characteristics. Direct variation, inverse variation, and joint variation from the characteristics of the condominium building can be identified. The findings add to the understanding of condominium operating expenses based on building characteristics. The study can provide a reference for consideration of building selection criteria and replacement plans, and for building budget planning based on age and building characteristics.

Towards a curatorial continuum or How to fire a gun and time-travel

<p>This thesis questions the ethics of curatorial agency: an issue that has plagued the profession since the influence of institutional critique of the 1960s. The proliferation of the ‘curatorial turn’ during the 1990s developed out of this legacy of institutional critique by grouping a diverse range of alternative practices that aimed to question curatorial agency. Curator Maria Lind defines this shift by making a methodological distinction between ‘curating’ and the ‘curatorial’. This is a binary division that posits curating as conventional practice that maintains hegemonic power structures and the curatorial as progressive and emancipatory. However, critics and curators such as Paul O‘Neill and Nina Möntmann argue that methodologies of the curatorial turn have become compromised by personal, institutional, political and economic motivations. Due to this, it is apparent that a shift in methodology alone is not sufficient to question the ethics of curatorial agency and that Lind's dichotomy of curating and the curatorial requires revision. This study therefore explores how curators practice by studying different methodologies and to understand why curators practice by considering to what extent motivations influence the application of a curator’s methodology. The research specifically addresses these questions in relation to contemporary art curating within the broader framework of museum and heritage studies. To do so, I have put my own curatorial practice under scrutiny, using a range of mixed qualitative methods such as autoethnography, in order to delve deep into the decision-making process. My research consists of six exhibition case studies that pertain to one of three common exhibition forms: group, solo or process-led exhibitions. Through a cross case analysis of these different exhibitions my findings suggest that there is not a distinct division between curating and the curatorial. Instead, I reveal that there is a complex interplay between spectrums of methodology and motivation. From this perspective, I argue for a new philosophy of curating that considers curatorial practice as an emergent spectrum charged with infinite possibilities, what I call the curatorial continuum.</p>

Towards a curatorial continuum or How to fire a gun and time-travel

<p>This thesis questions the ethics of curatorial agency: an issue that has plagued the profession since the influence of institutional critique of the 1960s. The proliferation of the ‘curatorial turn’ during the 1990s developed out of this legacy of institutional critique by grouping a diverse range of alternative practices that aimed to question curatorial agency. Curator Maria Lind defines this shift by making a methodological distinction between ‘curating’ and the ‘curatorial’. This is a binary division that posits curating as conventional practice that maintains hegemonic power structures and the curatorial as progressive and emancipatory. However, critics and curators such as Paul O‘Neill and Nina Möntmann argue that methodologies of the curatorial turn have become compromised by personal, institutional, political and economic motivations. Due to this, it is apparent that a shift in methodology alone is not sufficient to question the ethics of curatorial agency and that Lind's dichotomy of curating and the curatorial requires revision. This study therefore explores how curators practice by studying different methodologies and to understand why curators practice by considering to what extent motivations influence the application of a curator’s methodology. The research specifically addresses these questions in relation to contemporary art curating within the broader framework of museum and heritage studies. To do so, I have put my own curatorial practice under scrutiny, using a range of mixed qualitative methods such as autoethnography, in order to delve deep into the decision-making process. My research consists of six exhibition case studies that pertain to one of three common exhibition forms: group, solo or process-led exhibitions. Through a cross case analysis of these different exhibitions my findings suggest that there is not a distinct division between curating and the curatorial. Instead, I reveal that there is a complex interplay between spectrums of methodology and motivation. From this perspective, I argue for a new philosophy of curating that considers curatorial practice as an emergent spectrum charged with infinite possibilities, what I call the curatorial continuum.</p>

Towards a Connected Commons: Two case studies examining New Zealand collecting domain establishing Open GLAM practices for digital collections

<p>As pressure grows for cultural institutions to provide online access to images of collection objects, issues regarding copyright and reuse of materials arise. Yet little research has been conducted on the way heritage institutions within New Zealand have tackled these copyright issues and how they reach decisions to allow the reuse of digital content from their extensive online collections. Furthermore, there is a lack of academic investigation into what value any newly introduced reuse practices and policies can bring to cultural institutions and users of their digital content. My research explores how and why New Zealand’s two collecting domains, the National Library of New Zealand and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, provide openly licensed digital images of artefacts through online collection databases. While literature on the topic of reuse of digitised documentary heritage collections is limited, previous research shows that there are myriad barriers surrounding the reuse of digitised collection objects, some of these include finding best practice for orphan works, acknowledging indigenous sensitivities, dealing with issues of trust and balancing commercial imperatives with public expectations. The body of literature also shows the opportunities and benefits that international cultural institutions have gained from establishing reuse practices for their digital collections, yet none offer insight from a New Zealand context. Guided by this gap within the literature this dissertation investigates the establishment of use and reuse policies and practices by the National Library of New Zealand and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and what value they feel this practice may bring to the sector. It explores each respective institution’s journey towards a connected commons through two in-depth qualitative case studies and concludes with a cross-case analysis. Within the cross-case analysis an Open GLAM Licensing Framework is proposed for Aotearoa that draws on the work that these institutions, along with other leading cultural institutions, have done in establishing reuse practices and policies for digital collections. This research contributes to Museum and Heritage Studies discourse by providing a snapshot of reuse in a New Zealand context and provides a valuable framework to evaluate the current motivations and processes of institutions establishing Open GLAM philosophies.</p>

Towards a Connected Commons: Two case studies examining New Zealand collecting domain establishing Open GLAM practices for digital collections

<p>As pressure grows for cultural institutions to provide online access to images of collection objects, issues regarding copyright and reuse of materials arise. Yet little research has been conducted on the way heritage institutions within New Zealand have tackled these copyright issues and how they reach decisions to allow the reuse of digital content from their extensive online collections. Furthermore, there is a lack of academic investigation into what value any newly introduced reuse practices and policies can bring to cultural institutions and users of their digital content. My research explores how and why New Zealand’s two collecting domains, the National Library of New Zealand and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, provide openly licensed digital images of artefacts through online collection databases. While literature on the topic of reuse of digitised documentary heritage collections is limited, previous research shows that there are myriad barriers surrounding the reuse of digitised collection objects, some of these include finding best practice for orphan works, acknowledging indigenous sensitivities, dealing with issues of trust and balancing commercial imperatives with public expectations. The body of literature also shows the opportunities and benefits that international cultural institutions have gained from establishing reuse practices for their digital collections, yet none offer insight from a New Zealand context. Guided by this gap within the literature this dissertation investigates the establishment of use and reuse policies and practices by the National Library of New Zealand and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and what value they feel this practice may bring to the sector. It explores each respective institution’s journey towards a connected commons through two in-depth qualitative case studies and concludes with a cross-case analysis. Within the cross-case analysis an Open GLAM Licensing Framework is proposed for Aotearoa that draws on the work that these institutions, along with other leading cultural institutions, have done in establishing reuse practices and policies for digital collections. This research contributes to Museum and Heritage Studies discourse by providing a snapshot of reuse in a New Zealand context and provides a valuable framework to evaluate the current motivations and processes of institutions establishing Open GLAM philosophies.</p>