Journals@UC (University of Cincinnati)
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Breaking Images: a method for improving design students’ visual literacy
No full textIn looking for a competitive edge, a growing number of organisations are adopting design thinking strategies, with a focus on visual methods. The future may be more about visual design as a thinking tool, and less as an end in itself. Graphic designers, illustrators, and those that educate them, must start to concern themselves with how pictures can be put to use with deliberate intent.
Our pedagogical approach is to encourage students to break an image down into pictures of different levels of fidelity. To develop these competences some principles are borrowed from J.J Gibson, who separated the definitions of image and picture . This allows students to think about the tasks towards which they put images, and to consider what kind of picture—specific or more universal—is most appropriate to fix the image down.
Lessons provoke students to imagine a world without text, where deliberate visual communication can only be had with the appropriate choice of pictures. These methods, intended to improve the visual literacy capabilities of students, are developed against the challenging backdrop presented by a contemporary culture which assumes that effective depiction is accurate depiction and that pictures are necessarily more vague than words
Successful Teacher Education Models to Address Teacher Shortage and Retention
Full text linkColleges and schools of education are tasked with preparing the students who enroll in their programs and meeting the needs of school districts that depend upon their graduates. Faced with the current teacher shortage, critical discussions between teacher preparation programs and local communities attempt to provide stop-gap measures to move teachers into classrooms more quickly while maintaining rigorous professional standards. The examples provided in this program description include paid residencies, allowing students to return home to student teach, and course redesign to give paraprofessionals opportunities to earn certification while remaining in the classroom
The Pictorial Trapezoid: Adapting McCloud’s Big Triangle for Creative Semiotic Precision in Generative Text-to-Image AI
No full textGenerative AI is rapidly being adopted in diverse research contexts that, given the specificity of theoretical frameworks and research objectives, require a high degree of semiotic precision in AI output. With text-to-image generative models, the selection of subject matter and subsequent stylistic variation both have the potential to influence measurable desired outcomes. A major challenge in using generative models in design research is achieving a form of fidelity between a visual representation and a corresponding concept that must be conveyed. Scott McCloud’s Big Triangle categorizes a broad range of visual representational stylistic variation, largely based on comic art. We extend McCloud’s work with a more systematically described framework called the Pictorial Trapezoid, which offers greater control in producing new pictures with generative AI. We provide a case study of the process by which we developed the Pictorial Trapezoid, and demonstrate its efficacy for an additional two research use cases. In each case we differentiate project-specific criteria for selecting what is being represented and visualizing that selection. Finally, we describe how an AI might be trained for semiotic precision in distinct research contexts using the Pictorial Trapezoid
Assessment of the Fatliquor’s Degree of Sulfitation Impact on Leather Quality
No full textThe fatliquors used in leather provide characteristics such as tensile strength, tear resistance, impermeability, softness, flexibility, and elasticity. Although sulfited fatliquors are widely used in the industry and their properties are well known, the relationship between the degree of sulfitation of the fatliquor and the characteristics of the leather produced still needs to be studied. Thus, this work investigated how various degrees of sulfitation impact the quality of the leather. The methodology consisted of carrying out the sulfitation process of soybean oil by adding oxygen followed by the addition of sodium metabisulfite. The fatliquors obtained were tested for iodine number, ash content, water content, active matter, and combined SO3. The fatliquors were applied to the leather on a pilot scale. The obtained leather was evaluated for softness, grain distension, tear resistance, tensile strength, percentage of extension, and color change in accelerated aging. Results showed that oxidation with airflow produced sulfited fatliquors with a combined SO3 percentage of 2.13%, 3.05%, and 4.27%. The sulfited fatliquor with 4.27% SO3 provided the best results of softness, grain distension, and less color change in accelerated aging. Physical-mechanical tests accomplished results required by the standards
Growing Stronger: Incorporating Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Practices in Garden-Based Education
No full textGarden-based education (GBE) improves student motivation and connection to nature. Because gardening connects people and traditions, this study sought to understand how GBE educators incorporate student cultural identities. This qualitative study analyzed participant-created digital stories and subsequent interviews representing garden programs at secondary schools in the United States. An analysis of themes, based on the New York State Education Department\u27s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CR-S) Education Framework (2019), evaluated common principles of environment, instruction, assessment, and professional learning. Results indicate commonalities such as building relationships and facilitating student leadership. Stakeholders may benefit from GBE resources focused on justice and cultural sustainabilit
The Lonely Collaborator: Exploring AI-supported reflective writing in preservice Teacher Education
Full text linkThis piece explores what happens when the typically solo task of reflection is interrupted by a new kind of partner: artificial intelligence. It introduces the concept of the lonely collaborator: one who values dialogue in writing but frequently writes in isolation. Curious about how AI might shift this idea, the instructor invited students to use AI tools while engaging in reflective practice.
Personal Reflections on AI and Teaching Practice
No full textA reflection on adapting a course project to integrate AI as a learning tool, with a focus on prioritizing assessment of process over product and reimagining our approach to pedagogy in this opportunity presented by the challenges of generative AI.
Lessons Learned from Integrating Artificial Intelligence into a Writing-Intensive Research Methods Course
Full text linkAs psychology (PSYC) instructors, one of our main goals focuses on information literacy. This skill is especially relevant for students majoring in PSYC, who are required to complete a junior-level research methods course, PSYC 301 Research Methods in Psychological Science. During the Spring 2025 semester, we each piloted a number of introductory assignments that gave students a scaffolded exploration in the scholarly use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). In this personal reflection, we explore how integrating AI tools into a writing-intensive research methods course challenged our assumptions, supported student learning, and left us with a deeper understanding of both our pedagogy and ourselves as instructors. By understanding the ever-changing benefits (e.g., quickly identifying sources) and limits (e.g., accuracy) of AI, students can be better prepared for their academic careers, and instructors can continue to develop effective tools that foster scientific inquiry (APA, 2023).
Bringing the "Inter-" Back to "Inter-Work" in the age of AI: Reframing assignments in my Advanced Integrative Writing course
Full text linkIn this personal narrative, I describe the moment that I realized over half of my class had relied on AI to complete an essay assignment. Reflecting on the history of that assignment, I recognize that it had become so predictable as to invite the AI usage. In response, I revise the assignment in ways that position students as autoethnographers. Through this reframing, students\u27 own considerations of subject matter are explicitly invited along with any other resources they might consult, including AI