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Learning from Students: How Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Research Can Change What We “Know”
No full textDr. Sara Goldrick-Rab is author of Paying the Price, College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, senior fellow at Education Northwest, sociology professor at the Community College of Philadelphia, and founder of Believe in Students, the #RealCollege movement, and the original Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice.
Nearly 1 in 2 college students starts college but does not finish. Colleges and universities are full of professionals with opinions about why. This session will share what happened when researchers engaged in longitudinal mixed-methods research to examine this challenge among a group of 3,000 low-income students. We’ll think together about how iterative and multi-facted data collection can facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge, test emerging hypotheses, and lead to new conclusions.
This session is moderated by Claire Nickerson and Ashley Wilson.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/irdl-speakerseries-2025/1001/thumbnail.jp
Beyond Recreation: Uncovering the Hidden Environmental Wealth of Northeast LA’s Urban Parks
No full textParks are routinely recognized for their recreational benefits, yet the magnitude and value of other ecosystem services parks provide are often overlooked. In this study, we quantify the ecosystem services, the free benefits given by nature to humans, provided by twelve urban parks across three council districts in Los Angeles. Specifically, we focus on quantifying carbon sequestration, rainfall-runoff avoided, ozone removal, nitrogen dioxide removal, PM2.5 and PM10. The species of each tree, its location within the park, tree condition, and the diameter at breast height were recorded for all trees over three meters in height at each park (n = 2,176). These data were analyzed in the tree-benefit estimation tool, i-Tree Eco, generating park-specific ecological (e.g., lbs of CO2 stored) and economical (monetary) values. i-Tree Canopy was also used to evaluate ecosystem service benefits of canopy coverage in the twelve urban parks. Results suggest that neither age of the park nor size of park drive ecosystem service values, while higher percentage of canopy coverage increases ecosystem service values. Additionally, tree composition (native versus nonnative) seems to have minimal impact on ecosystem services, though when examining the size makeup of the two types, larger nonnative trees may have a disproportionate impact while native trees are more consistent in their contribution. This research plays a significant role in advocating for the thoughtful design and assessment of urban parks, particularly in underserved communities in Los Angeles. By supporting the goals of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Park (RAP) and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), it underscores the need to increase and expand access to park spaces that promote sustainable management and environmental stewardship
Increasing the 1%: Investigating the Most Appropriate and Profitable Form of Disability Representation in Advertising
No full textDespite making up 14% of American adults and a $21B market potential, people with disabilities are only featured in 1% of marketing and advertising communications. (Elfein, 2024; Visibility of disability, 2021). For these reasons, this study showed three types of ads that include individuals with disabilities to individuals with and without physical disabilities to see how they may affect brand perception and willingness to purchase. The three advertisements shown were 1) features an individual with a disability interacting with a product specifically designed for them, 2) features an individual with a disability interacting with a product designed for all where the individual’s disability is not mentioned, and 3) features an individual with a disability interacting with a product designed for all where the individuals’ disability is mentioned. This study found that all participants from both focus groups were found to prefer the ad that does not focus on the actor’s disability, meaning including individuals with disabilities in general advertising efforts may lead to substantial company profits. It was also found that some individuals in both focus groups were more likely to purchase from the brands advertised than an unknown brand due to their inclusion/portrayal of individuals with disabilities. However, if a product is advertised for individuals with disabilities, both focus groups called for the ad to show how the product specifically benefits the individual(s) highlighted. Regardless, subsequent increased advertising that features individuals with disabilities may lead individuals to have more positive and accurate connotations of individuals with disabilities
Decoding Power: AI Literacy as Liberation in Library Communities of Color
No full textIn these interesting times of rapid technological change, artificial intelligence is reshaping our information landscape—often without our input or consent. This workshop addresses the urgent need for librarians of color to position themselves at the forefront of AI literacy, not just as passive consumers but as active, critical participants.
As information professionals serving diverse communities, we face a pivotal question: Will we become architects of how AI serves our patrons, or will we and our communities merely become targets of systems designed without our perspectives?
The workshop examines AI literacy as a critical equity issue, exploring how algorithmic biases and digital divides disproportionately impact communities of color. We\u27ll discuss concrete strategies for: Developing personal AI literacy skills that empower you to evaluate AI tools critically Creating accessible programming that builds AI competencies among patrons from all backgrounds Advocating for diverse representation in AI development and implementation Identifying ethical concerns specific to library contexts and marginalized communities
This session creates a counterspace for reflection and resistance, acknowledging that people of color must not only understand AI\u27s implications but actively shape its role in society. By building our collective capacity to engage critically with these technologies, we fulfill our professional mandate to cultivate an informed citizenry capable of navigating—and challenging—the digital landscape of these interesting times.
Join us in exploring how librarians of color can transform AI literacy from a professional development goal into an act of community advocacy and resistance.
Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Identify specific ways algorithmic bias affects marginalized communities and explain these concepts to library patrons Create programming and learning opportunities that build AI competencies among patrons from diverse backgrounds Advocate for diverse representation in AI development and implementatio
Highlights of the Special Collections and Archives at Loyola University New Orleans
Full text linkThis article highlights unique and prominent collections in the Special Collections and Archives at Loyola University New Orleans. It includes a sampling of physical and digital collections that align with Ignatian values and reflect the research needs of the Loyola community and beyond
Queera Personalis: Theorizing a Queer Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm in First-Year Writing
Full text linkThis article argues that putting the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) in conversation with Queer Composition Pedagogy can support LGBTQIA+ students and their often-fraught positions at Catholic universities. Beginning with my history as a gay Catholic at a Jesuit college, I examine the Jesuit value of cura personalis or “care for the whole person” by asking how queer students at a Catholic college can be wholly cared for in an institution that marginalizes queer people. Locating this conversation in the context of the first-year writing classroom, a contact zone where students come from diverse personal and disciplinary backgrounds, this article links queer composition pedagogy to the five phases of IPP. The assignments and conversations possible in a queer IPP first-year writing classroom provide models for LGBTQIA+ students to view their identities on Catholic campuses as rhetorically situated. Queering IPP embraces contradictory, uncertain, and open-ended conclusions, which leaves more room for students to see the synergistic relationship between themselves and the classroom. Ultimately, this can lead to queer students receiving more support in their evolving identities at Catholic colleges through a lens of new kind of care: queera personalis
Returning to Nature: A Virtue-Based Approach to Urban Sustainability
Full text linkThis paper advocates for a pragmatic and virtue-ethics-based approach to urban sustainability initiatives that prioritizes the consideration of moral responsibility. Looking at literature on rewilding, this paper argues that the principle of ecophronesis, and the larger discipline of ecopracticology, offers a compelling framework for integrating diverse opinions on the future of conservation from different disciplines and ecological stakeholders. Ultimately, an ecophronetic approach to urban sustainability initiatives facilitates a sense of conceptual rewilding that disregards the nature-culture dualism paradigm limiting Western environmental thought and may help address the perceived alienation from nature characterized by nature-deficit disorder