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Surviving Monolingualism: Embracing Translingual Perspectives and Trans-semiotizing
Get PDFThis thesis is an attempt to contribute to the deconstruction of the monolingual myth that has dominated language attitudes and the language classroom in the U.S. for centuries. Its main proposition is that by promoting and advocating for translanguaging and trans-semiotizing in the classroom and in daily life, we can affirm the linguistic and cultural identities of students, individuals, and groups that are marginalized or oppressed by hegemonic monolingual ideologies and improve our language teaching practices. Through literature review and personal narrative, the author has endeavored to demonstrate how translanguaging offers potential solutions to some current linguistic conflicts and how monolingualism undervalues all language users, no matter the number of languages spoken. The author contends that all speakers practice translanguaging and trans-semiotizing when making meaning dialogically. Suggestions are then offered for what educators and individuals can do in the classroom and in their personal lives to incorporate and more fully embrace translingual practices and thus begin to change the linguistic narrative
Transition Towns and the Transition Model: An Investigation into the Movement\u27s Use of Strategic Planning
Get PDFThe Transition Movement has spread around the globe in less than a decade, reaching 32 countries and 421 communities, with hundreds of projects, and harnessing the collective genius of tens of thousands of people. Despite the spread of the movement, no in-depth research of multiple initiatives within the movement has been done prior to this study. The main question investigated by this research is what tools and processes are Initiatives in New England using for SP and visioning, and how does this relate to their ability to transfer leadership and grow
Siena College Summer Institute: A program design for a short-term program for students from Siena\u27s international exchange universities.
Get PDFThis is a proposal of a program design for a three week summer program at Siena College for international students from Siena’s partner universities in Brazil and Columbia. The current trend of increased participation in short-term programs abroad has lead to the need for more programs. This is especially the case for thematic short-term programs for international students in the United States, as there is a lack of affordable options that offer college credit. The program’s curriculum is based on the Holistic and Emerging Adulthood development theories to ensure it meets the cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal needs of the students. It includes two credit-bearing courses in “Global Business English” and “United States Culture”. In addition to in-class coursework, the curriculum includes site visits to relevant local businesses and organizations and cultural activities and excursions. This proposal details the components and strategies for planning and implementing the Summer Institute as well as an evaluation plan for the program. The goal is to create a sustainable program that can be repeatedly implemented annually. With a sustainable base structure in place, it will also allow the program to easily grow and expand in number or participants and partner universities involved
Reimagining the College as a Safe Haven: The Marlboro Community Asylum Seekers Project
Get PDFThis paper introduces a program design for Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont that combines a credit-bearing course on asylum, displacement, and community-engaged learning with a collaborative initiative to host asylum seekers who might otherwise be held indefinitely in immigration detention at the college. Inspiration for the Marlboro Community Asylum Seekers Project arose from a campus-community partnership working to bring asylum seekers to Marlboro in 2019 and the acknowledgement by many stakeholders of the learning potential for all parties, including students at the college. The program curriculum is grounded in experiential and critical service learning theory and reflects a preliminary needs assessment conducted among college faculty and staff and community members. By laying out a comprehensive program design for the Marlboro Community Asylum Seekers Project, this paper seeks to capture how Marlboro College and its neighbors are partnering in this initiative; demonstrate how hosting asylum seekers on campus might be incorporated into the college’s curriculum in the future; and add to the small but growing body of literature exploring ways in which communities and higher education institutions are innovating in response to increasing displacement and migration
The Okanogan Highlands: A Case Study on Economic Access, Food Security, and Local Development
No full textA community food system is defined as a collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies – ones in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption are integrated to enhance the economic, environmental, and social health of a particular place. Since food is essential for both individual health and collective well-being; then community food systems represent a nexus for exploring local community development processes and outcomes (especially in known food deserts) because it aids in both food security and economic self-sufficiency.
However, there are parts of the country (including the Okanogan Highlands) that are vapid of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthful foods. These are places that are federally-recognized by USDA as known food deserts. These deserts are largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmer’s markets, whole food providers, and other healthy food options; and are usually found in more impoverished, low income and/or low access communities. In the US (alone), at least 1 out of every 8 Americans struggles with some form of food insecurity and because economic insecurity is known to drive food insecurity, it becomes very difficult to maneuver such a veracious cycle in a small town and/or rural community.
Yet, there are opportunities to improve both economic access and food security in these known food deserts by positively impacting their built, natural, social, and economic environments through local food and local ownership (i.e. entrepreneurship). These small businesses and other cooperative enterprises are essential for community subsistence, prosperity, and sustainability. Therefore, creating jobs, growing businesses, and supporting people’s livelihoods is what ultimately leads to greater resilience and better functioning communities. Here in the Okanogan Highlands; this means finding alternative ways to increase economic access, food security, and local development by empowering local residents, encouraging area entrepreneurs, diversifying the economy, enhancing the community (and its infrastructure), and conserving more of the local landscape (and its natural resources)
Educational Neuroscience for Adult Education Students in the U.S. and Maine
Get PDFCumulative scientific evidence over the last seventy years has established that the brain has a lifelong ability to change itself which has almost revolutionary implications for educators and mentors. No longer is the brain thought of as fixed, with a gradual loss of potentiality. Rather, experiences have been shown to have the ability to alter and prune the neural connections in the brain, allowing for lifelong learning, and, not as once thought, learning in youth only. This paper will explore such neuroplasticity from an educational perspective, in particular how various pedagogical approaches and experiences can sculpt the adult brain. The newer studies of the brain have merged with studies from other disciplines such as psychology and education and their results have broad implications for the educators/mentors of learners attending adult education and community education programs. Federally funded adult education programs in the U.S. and in Maine will be reviewed, as well as the factors that pose barriers for the basic literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) students attending them. We will conclude by bringing to the attention of mentors and educators some approaches that nurture brain growth, enhance self-motivation, increase autonomy, and promote lifelong learning
Facilitating Social Change: Bridging Participatory Methodology with Training Design to Support Equitable Community Development in Kent, Washington. A Journey of Learning and Development.
Get PDFIncluding community members in decisions that affect their lives is an agreed upon practice in participatory development. When exercised without attention to key details like defining the need for a participatory approach, understanding the history of a given community, and how this all influences training design, it can be used to uphold inequitable development practices. This Training Course-linked Capstone combined participatory development approaches with training theory and design to support my growth as a development professional and facilitator. Through this study, I sought to support the Kent Community Development Collaborative’s efforts to encourage diverse participation of Kent residents on a twelve-member Community Advisory Council. Training pedagogical frameworks and methodologies explored included: Experiential Learning Theory with a focus on co-creating effective learning environments, strategic questioning, change management, and learning evaluation. The specific participatory methodology used was Participatory Learning and Action. Results of this study showed the impact of participatory approaches on training design evidenced through various design components from the needs assessment to the evaluation. Barriers to participation on the Advisory Council were discovered, and strategies for building trust and relationships on short-term development projects were explored. In addition, an increased awareness of the important role and responsibility a facilitator holds in supporting equitable community development was discovered through self-critical reflection
Community Forest in Liberia: The Interface between Sustainable Charcoal Production and Deforestation
Get PDFThe available data establishes a direct correlation between charcoal production and forest degradation and deforestation in Liberia. Charcoal is the primary energy source for Liberians, especially in urban areas where the bulk of the population lives. It is expected to be the mainstay energy source for years to come because it is affordable, accessible, and convenient to use compared to other forms of energy (i.e. electricity and petroleum gas). However, the current model of charcoal production, based on indiscriminate felling of trees, poses a danger to the environment as it results in widespread forest degradation and deforestation. Therefore, any successful effort to combat deforestation in Liberia must necessarily tackle the current unsustainable nature of charcoal production. One way of doing so is to empower Liberians who have ownership rights to their forests through what is known as the authorized forest community program to develop sustainable yet profitable charcoal enterprises that rely on strategic methods of sourcing fuelwood and producing charcoal while maintaining the health of Liberia’s precious forest ecosystems
Root Causes Not Symptoms : Sustainable Organizational Structures, Réseau de Lutte Contre la Faim: The Decision-Making Process in Combatting Systemic Issues
Get PDFThis paper attempts to understand the basis for how an organization structures itself and their vision. This research draws its focus to the civil society sector in Cameroon, particularly looking at Reseau de Lutte Contre la Faim (RELUFA) and their organizational structure in the battling against systemic issues. The main research question for this study looked at how RELUFA reflects and monitors its performance to keep the organization sustainable in the long-term. For this research the methodology included interviews, observations and secondary resources along with tertiary resources that offered the context for the analytical part of this research. The interviews were advantages as they offered information about the organization, an insight into how the organization itself functioned and how the members that make up this organization understand the systemic approach and the vision talked throughout RELUFA’s mission statement and constitution. This led to a fruitful collection of data which supported a few of my hypothesis while expanding and opening new ways of thinking of the others. The data presented is an analysis of RELUFA’s organizational structure, systemic approach and decision-making strategies. It includes a discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, bringing the research forward to answering the question of sustainable organizational structure. RELUFA’s organizational structure allows for key actors to shine through and, in turn, it is successful in its systemic approach to finding solutions for the root cause of systemic issues that perpetuate hunger, poverty, and social-, economic- and environmental injustice.
Cet article tente de comprendre la base sur laquelle une organisation se structure et sa vision. Cette recherche s’applique au secteur de la société civile au Cameroun, en particulier au Réseau de lutte contre la fraude (RELUFA) et à sa structure organisationnelle dans la lutte contre les problèmes systémiques. La principale question de recherche pour cette étude portait sur la manière dont RELUFA reflète et surveille ses performances afin de maintenir la viabilité de l’organisation sur le long terme. Pour cette recherche, la méthodologie comprenait des entretiens, des observations et des ressources secondaires ainsi que des ressources tertiaires qui ont fourni le contexte pour la partie analytique de cette recherche. Les entretiens ont été des avantages car ils ont fourni des informations sur l’organisation, un aperçu de son fonctionnement et de la manière dont les membres qui la composent comprennent l’approche systémique et la vision exprimée dans la déclaration de mission et la constitution de RELUFA. Cela a conduit à une collecte de données fructueuse qui a conforté quelques-unes de mes hypothèses tout en élargissant et en ouvrant de nouvelles façons de penser des autres. Les données présentées sont une analyse de la structure organisationnelle, de l’approche systémique et des stratégies de prise de décision de RELUFA. Il comprend une discussion sur les forces et les faiblesses de l’organisation, permettant à la recherche de répondre à la question de la structure organisationnelle durable. La structure organisationnelle de RELUFA permet aux acteurs clés de se faire remarquer et, en retour, elle réussit dans son approche systémique à la recherche de solutions à la cause fondamentale de problèmes systémiques qui perpétuent la faim, la pauvreté et les injustices sociales, économiques et environnementales
Local Democracy and Education Policy in Newly Federal Nepal
Get PDFIn 2017, Nepal held its first local elections in twenty years. These were the first elections held under Nepal’s new constitution, ratified in 2015, which transitioned the country from a unitary state to a Federal Democratic Republic. This case study analyzes the effect of the transition to federalism on decision-making and community representation in local governance in Annapurna Rural Municipality in West-Central Nepal. This study focuses specifically on education policy, one of the more public and contentious policy responsibilities devolved from the federal level to the local units under the new constitution. This research is based on interviews with government officials, teachers, and other stakeholders in governance and education policy. It finds that although there is general support and optimism for the federal transition, there remain many challenges to implementation, especially in terms of lack of capacity and the persistence of old institutions. These challenges limit the extent to which the constitution’s goals of local democracy and inclusive government can be realized, especially in rural and mountainous areas of Nepal