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Room 2: Fostering Belonging and Success Through Open Engaged Pedagogy
Get PDFAs teachers, we’ve struggled with glazed eyes, blank looks, and preparing lectures that seem to go nowhere. As students, we’ve struggled to stay awake and complained about course content and materials that don’t seem to make a difference in our lives.
Open, engaged pedagogy using open educational resources addresses this struggle by changing the paradigm. Learning is a practice of freedom. In this model, learners are teachers, and teachers are learners.
We’ll describe our journey with the Guided Pathways Project with Open Oregon Educational Resources. Together, we developed 12 free textbooks and courses in Sociology, HDFS, and Criminal Justice. But more than saving money, we increased learner confidence and teacher efficacy. And we supported DEI too.
How did we do it? By using principles of open engaged pedagogy - the idea that students come into the classroom with strengths, that they can create knowledge, and that this knowledge can become part of a wider, more inclusive project
Ditch the textbook! Free textbooks for all!! Welcome, AI overlords!!! 15 years of keeping learning at the center OER
Get PDFJen Klaudinyi is a librarian at Portland Community College who has tried to keep learning at the center of OER for the 15 years she\u27s been working in the movement. Join this keynote for reflections on where we\u27ve gone right, where we\u27ve gone wrong and how we can remember what we\u27re all here for
Therapeutic Potential of Follistatin mRNA-Loaded Lipid Nanoparticles for Skeletal Muscle Healing in a Cardiotoxin-Induced Injury Model
No full textSkeletal muscle regeneration and maintenance remain critical challenges in treating various muscular disorders and injuries. While follistatin (FST) has shown promise as a therapeutic agent, its delivery and controlled expression present significant hurdles. This study investigates a mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery system for FST to enhance muscle healing during regeneration and prevent atrophy. Using a cardiotoxin (CTX)-induced muscle injury model in C2C12 myotubes, we demonstrated that Fst mRNA-LNP treatment significantly protected against cell death and promoted muscle hypertrophy. The treatment maintained cell viability at approximately 6,000 fluorescence units compared to near-zero levels in CTX-only treated cells (P\u3c 0.01) and increased myotube diameter by 30-35% compared to controls (P\u3c 0.0001). Mechanistically, FST acts as a potent antagonist of multiple TGF-β superfamily members, including myostatin and activin A and B, leading to decreased SMAD2/3 phosphorylation and increased Akt phosphorylation. The mRNA-LNP delivery system provided enhanced control over FST expression and improved cellular uptake compared to traditional approaches. These findings provide crucial insights into FST\u27s therapeutic potential and establish a foundation for developing targeted treatments for muscle wasting conditions and injuries
Unseen Connections: A Storymap Exploring Case Studies in Water-Energy Transitions and Environmental Justice
Get PDFClimate change is one of the most important challenges in the world today. Communities and decision makers at many levels, from local to international, are working to ensure that energy, water, and other societal infrastructures can transition and adapt to address climate change (IPCC, 2023). One major mitigation strategy involves the decarbonization of energy systems (Rockström et al. 2017). Despite wide recognition of the need to decarbonize globally, renewable energy infrastructures and technologies are often locally controversial, involving claims of environmental injustice and disputes over land and water (Cantor, Turley, and Maxfield 2023; Jerez, Garcés, and Torres 2021; Turley et al. 2022; Voskoboynik and Andreucci, 2021). Issues such as “sacrifice zones” have been raised with regard to energy transitions (Cantor and Knuth 2019; Mulvaney 2019; Zografos and Robbins 2020). Water in particular interacts with climate change and renewable energy efforts in complicated and place-based ways (Gunda et al. 2024). Renewable energy infrastructures and activities can jeopardize water quality, quantity, and distribution and can affect communities unevenly (Blair et al. 2022; 2024; Cousins, Cantor, and Turley 2024)
Is Education Regulation the Solution to Help Lower Substance Use Rates and Substance Use Disorder in Oregon Youth?
Get PDFHow can we lower Oregon’s youth substance use disorder (SUD) and overdose rates? Oregon is third in the country for SUD, with 5.77% of adolescents (12-17) having documented SUD. Some claim that it is because of the decriminalization of drugs, like Senator Art Robinson, but another reason relies on how we are educating Oregon youth. Oregon education standards outline requirements for drug and alcohol education as well as Senate Bill 238. By analyzing school districts current prevention programs in high overdose-rate counties (Multnomah, Lane, and Josephine) and low overdose-rate counties (Washington, Yamhill, Linn, Deschutes, Marion, and Clackamas), a lack of quality of education and resources was found. Due to this, a new standard of operations needs to be created that incorporates science-backed education, mental health services, life-skill development, and the creation of an oversight committee. Bardach’s Eightfold Path was used to develop this policy outline having three different outcome options: low (no change), medium (education change), and high (education and resource change), each evaluated on three parts of William Dunn’s evaluative criteria. The strongly preferred option for Oregon schools is the highest prevention measure due to it having the greatest impact on Oregon’s youth futures and current SUD epidemic
Shadowed Identities: The (Mis)Representation of Communities of Color in Classic Film Noir
Get PDFThis thesis is an inquiry into the (mis)representation of women, Latinx, and BIPOC individuals in classic film noir, examining how race, gender, class, and sexuality intersect to perpetuate stereotypes in Hollywood. Through a deep analysis of films like Gilda (1946) and Touch of Evil (1958), this project explores how the conventions of film noir, such as chiaroscuro lighting, moral ambiguity, and non-linear storyline, work to expose and also reinforce social hierarchies that preserve whiteness and oppression of minorities. The research positions these films within the postwar socio-political context of the United States, addressing the influence of the Hays Code, Cold War anxieties, and the era\u27s fears of communism that contributed to Hollywood\u27s artificial constructions of racial and gender identity. By subverting film noir\u27s traditional structure, this thesis argues that the genre can be a critique of institutional power and an advocate for more equitable and accurate representations. The project aims to contribute to the conversation about diversity and representation in the entertainment industry, advocating for a more inclusive practice of filmmaking that genuinely reflects the complexity of our society
Digital Strategies and Non-Conventional Sources of Innovation: Analysis of Causal Relationships Using Interpretive Structural Modeling
Get PDFDigitalization appears to have sped up in recent years, and many companies have seen their business models changed irreversibly. In this context, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should adopt different business approaches that help these firms thrive and maintain and/or create sustainable competitive advantages. SMEs’ specificities can present obstacles to this adaptation process, yet these challenges may turn out to be the greatest allies of these companies if they stimulate swift, quick transformations. This study sought to develop an analysis system that identifies appropriate digital strategies and non-conventional sources of innovation, which can thus promote sustainable SME innovation. To achieve this goal, the research applied constructivist logic and combined cognitive mapping and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to identify and analyze key variables and their respective cause-and-effect relationships that enhance successful innovation processes. A panel was formed of experts with professional experience and knowledge in this field, whose participation provided added value to the study’s decision-making process through the incorporation of objective and subjective variables. The results and the analysis system’s potential practical applications were validated in a final consolidation session with an expert from Portugal’s Agência Nacional de Inovação (i.e., National Innovation Agency). Theoretical and practical contributions are also discussed, as well as the limitations of the selected methodologies
Mourning Doves: Father\u27s Daughter
No full textA hybrid of poetry, prose, and fragment, this collection asks how intergenerational cycles of addiction and mental illness inhabit the somatic and spiritual realms. Haunted by literal and figurative ghosts, the work traverses themes of grief, inheritance, doubling, and the loss--and transformation--of self. This thesis seeks to transfigure personal narrative into a body that reaches towards a collective resonance through its engagement with memory, myth, and spectral presence
Rebellion in the Streets: Activist Art as a Tool for Resistance
Get PDFThis paper explores the connection between art, anarchism, and Black liberation through the works of Emory Douglas, the AfriCOBRA collective, and Betye Saar. It argues that these artists create a visual language as an expressive form of resistance. One that challenges state violence, capitalist exploitation, and the cultural distortion and marginalization of Black individuals. Framed through anarchist theory, including April Carter\u27s The Political Theory of Anarchism along with writings by Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons, the project places activist art within a broader tradition of anti-authoritarian ideology. Therefore, by staying rooted in community and rejecting centralized control, these creative practices confront entrenched systems of power.
Set against the backdrop of the Black Power and Black Arts Movements, the paper examines how Douglas\u27s graphic work for the Black Panther Party functioned as political communication and mutual aid; how AfriCOBRA\u27s collective aesthetics fostered joy and empowerment through cultural pride; and how Saar\u27s assemblage art reclaims racist imagery, transforming it into defiant tools of survival and reclamation. Through a close reading of visual materials and historical context, the paper contends that these practices reflect a kind of joyful anarchy--art that not only critiques systems but imagines alternative futures grounded in freedom, care, and autonomy.
Ultimately, this research positions activist art as a crucial form of cultural work--one that merges aesthetics, politics, and community resistance to create spaces of liberation and self-determination. In doing so, it reaffirms the power of art to subvert dominant narratives, resist commodification, and enact visions of collective transformation
It Had to Stop : Content Analysis of Fox News Library Censorship Discourse
Get PDFLibrary censorship poses a threat to inclusive communities by foreclosing the possibility of finding diverse representations through media. Certain demographics are more dependent on libraries for media access than others. Censorship is therefore especially concerning for those who cannot purchase media or afford subscriptions themselves. The most vocal proponents of contemporary library censorship are ideologically conservative; therefore, conservative media ecosystems play a key role in library censorship discourse. Fox News television is the most watched television news channel by a wide margin in the U.S. and therefore has an outsized influence on U.S. adults. This research involved a qualitative content analysis of Fox News transcripts for discursive themes and a brief inductive moral panic inquiry. By closely analyzing transcripts regarding objections to certain library materials featured in Fox News television broadcast segments from 2019 to 2024, this research suggests that an ongoing moral panic could be produced and influenced by conservative media networks. While further research must be performed before a moral panic is proven, these transcripts feature conceptually aligned aspects. The emergent themes regarding library materials and events from the transcripts include 1) lacking value, 2) prurient/obscene, 3) constructing an enemy, 4) harm to children and the adult/child dichotomy, 5) something must be done to stop this, 6) appeals to common sense and generalizations about opposition, and 7) ideological indoctrination and agenda advancement. These themes reveal efforts to raise widespread concern regarding diverse media and events in U.S. libraries with an emphasis on a perceived threat to U.S. children should censorship not occur