Abundant Recursive Mathematics Curricula Possibilities

Lixin Luo

PhD Secondary Education, Education

"A mathematics curriculum often seems be designed or delivered as linear: a sequence of predetermined, sometimes unrelated, topics with little chances for learners to revisit them from different perspectives. This suggests learning as accumulation with predictable outcomes. However, learning, observed through a complexfied worldview, is neither linear nor predictable. Learning is a self-organizing process through which a learner and her environment co-evolve, and a recursive elaboration through which a learner transforms her previous understanding. This view demands a recursive curriculum that changes along its formation. What might such curriculum be like in theory and practice is my research focus. This fractal-like image is a working visualization of recursive curricula. The nodes represent equivalent contents. Each branch represents certain mathematical/curricular event(s) that allow a content to change into or connect to another. The infinite spiral is made of loops that represent different development stages of an entry content (highlighted in green) and are ordered by the level of abstraction. The nodes on the same loop are different forms of the same content. Any node can be an entry point for many recursive curricula in the same or different dimension. This image represents abundant curriculum possibilities rather than a fixed one."

Steps Towards Meaningful Physical Education

Jodi Harding-Kuriger 

PhD - Elementary Education, Education

"These snowshoes were made by my Dad and Grandpa Fern. First steps: build a snowshoe form, steam lengths of straight pliable wood, bend it over the form to shape the shoes, rivet ends together, remove shoes from the form and allow to dry. Second steps: cut moose rawhide strips, once frame has dried, weave the rawhide through all the predrilled holes in the frame to create the webbing of the snowshoes. Third steps: attach the leather harnesses to the snowshoes.

Research is ceremony because it is life changing and it requires preparatory steps long before the final event (Wilson, 2008). First steps: using the Meaningful Physical Education (MPE) approach (Beni, Fletcher, & Ní Chróinín, 2017; Ní Chróinín, Fletcher, & Griffin, 2018), piece together flexible lesson plans using experiences that are enjoyable, challenging, communal, personal, and improve abilities. Second steps: weave student choices, culture, context, and community into the plans. Third steps: Reflect on teachers’ and students’ physical education experiences in all environments: air, water, land, snow & ice. Harness physical education to life long love and joy for physical activity."

Biochar Bloom

Konstantin von Gunten

Re-Packing My Library: A Collection in Understanding
Lily Climenhaga

PhD - Drama, Arts

“Re-Packing my Library” depicts the collection process that goes into writing a dissertation. It shows a collection of books, papers, pamphlets, programs, and notes amassed over three years of research packed (once again) hastily into my father’s old bag the night before yet another departure.

Taken in my small Munich apartment, this picture shows material collected over the past three years about the Swiss-German director Milo Rau and his production company, the International Institute of Political Murder, for my dissertation. The documents in and around the suitcase are the result of the numerous research trips to performances, political actions, conferences, lectures, and interviews that have taken me – and my battered suitcase – across Europe. These research trips have helped me understand Rau’s theatre – his political aesthetic, complex themes, and directorial choices – and has given me a greater respect for Rau’s research trips (to Moscow, Bukavu, Kigali, Bucharest) in his near-obsessive search to understand war, genocide, and justice. The collection of papers and books spilling out of the suitcase are a reminder of late nights, cheap hotels, long waits at airports, and even longer train rides, but also the physical, material proof of my own obsessive, international search for understanding."

Probability

Taleana Huff

"Here, we have experimentally measured the wavefunction of a single buried arsenic atom peeking through a silicon surface. Its complex form perfectly captures one of the most fundamental properties of quantum mechanics: the location of an electron is based on probability and is never fixed. While we tend to think of electrons as being perfect little spheres existing in a single position, they really can be found everywhere around the atom. Bright spots in the wavefunction show areas with a higher probability of finding one. Arsenic atoms in silicon are used as the building blocks of quantum computers, so understanding its elusive electrons helps with more advanced designs."

Sunset: Uncertainties and opportunities

Deanna Joyce Neri

Masters - Anthropology, Arts

"After a long day of drifting at sea, fishers go home with either a boatload of fish or nothing at all. Sunset marks the end of a day’s work of a fisher who sails on a daily basis to make ends meet. This photo was taken during my ethnographic fieldwork in Davao Oriental, Philippines. Fishing as a livelihood closely embedded in the environment is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The acute changes in weather patterns compounded by the influx of commercial fishing companies forced small-scale fishers to go further offshore which increases the costs of every venture. In a landscape marked by environmental degradation and marine resource depletion caused by natural and human-induced calamities, fishers are prompted to engage in a myriad of economic activities. In this research, I take a closer look at how these fishers navigate through the waves of uncertainty. Farming and wage labor becomes the community’s adaptive strategy in the midst of economic instability. As they safely moor their boats, fishers see the sunset as a symbol for the arbitrariness of their lives. The cyclic nature of the sun setting over the ocean brings the hope of a new dawn with new opportunities."

• Societal statistics including employment, poverty, health, and population
• Company, industry, brand, and consumption data
• Media and marketing statistics
• Sales, forecasts, revenue, and users
• Information from 21 countries, including Canada

One of the key things I learned is that Daguerreotypes were printed on a sheet of silver plated copper, and they can easily be identified by their mirror-like surface. Daguerreotypes as were often encased in a frame to prevent tarnish. 

Ambrotype example

11:00 AM -12:00 PM, Senate Chamber (326 Arts and Convocation Hall)

Has the Open Access Movement Ossified? What Gains Remain to be Had and What Work Needs to be Done

As the 10th annual Open Access (OA) week begins, it is important to not just celebrate the gains made but also interrogate what the future holds for the OA movement.

Michael B. McNally from the School of Library and Information Studies will argue that with many substantive gains already made, from the adoption of OA in various funding models to the emergence (and capture) of OA as business model for scholarly publishing, that the OA movement has evolved into an increasingly ossified movement. The dream of OA as the mode for scholarly communication is dead. 

Dale Askey, Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian, will respond to the presentation and provide his insights on what the future of scholarly publishing holds and what this means for advocates OA advocates. After the presentation and response there will be time for questions and discussion with the audience.

Registration now open!

3:30 PM - 5:00 PM 

Documentary Screening: Paywall the Business of Scholarship

Join us at MacEwan University 

Details and registration

Who Cares about OER ?

As a large campus building up professionals for a variety of fields, the knowledge of OER is something that our students can take into their professionals lives to have continued access to scholarly dialogue and encourage lifelong learning.

"The integration of an OER in your classroom means you are removing barriers for students to connect with course content. Therefore, students are more engaged in the class, they produce higher quality work, and have an enjoyable and accessible experience at a leading institution in Canada."
The University of Alberta's VP Academic Akanksha Bhatnagar

Upcoming Events

Open Educational Resources Showcase
December 30, 2018 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Cameron Basement B-12

Remixing and Revising Free Teaching Materials
November 19, 2018 12:00 PM - 1:20 PM
Cameron Basement B-12

Open Educational Resources Showcase
December 6, 2018 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Cameron Basement B-12

Taking Action

There are many low barrier ways to explore an interest with OER, or just learn about your community supports. Read more about the open education movement on the UA Libraries Open Education libguide and consider contacting our OER Subject Librarian. You may also want to check out the Centre For Teaching and Learning's Open Education page and consider booking a consultation, or join the UofA OE Interest Group.

Click here to sign up for Browzine account. 

Anna Chakravorty

Master's - Arts, Visual Communication, Design

"Most people who suffer phobias (around 60–80%) never seek treatment and of those who do seek treatment, approximately 25% either refuse exposure therapy when they hear what it entails or drops out of therapy. One of the reasons for this refusal data could be that the main feature of exposure is confronting the feared stimuli, which some people may find too frightening. New efforts are needed to increase the number of phobia sufferers who benefit

from exposure therapy. Augmented reality systems give users a feeling of presence and reality judgment that can be exploited to treat some psychological disorders. My master's research focuses on understanding the human interaction with the technology and to determine if augmented reality can help people to overcome their phobias. To answer this, a series of testing would involve where the stimuli would render from basic shapes and forms to more real objects to a stage where the patient would be able to hold and interact with the stimuli. This would help people to expose themselves to their fears as well as act as a self-therapy."

Kim McCollum

Master's - Arts, Painting

“My research explores the relationship between textile work and abstract painting. This image is a digital collage that combines several photos of me learning to block print in India. These photos are mixed with digital paint and pattern to create an image that expresses the feeling of flow created when making something by hand. I wanted to visually capture the feeling of being so completely engrossed in the process of creating something that the creation and the creator become one. Making digital collages like this is the first step in my creative process. I combine digital painting with images of textile art to make connections between the two mediums and generate new ideas. My next step involves creating large-scale physical artworks inspired by my digital collages.  This involves using painted and hand-woven components to create woven paintings. Referencing the visual histories of both ‘high’ and ‘low’ art has potential to create new connections and break down barriers that limit the influence of certain work based on medium.”

Ron Wigglesworth

PhD - Education, Secondary Education

"Rapid development of digital technology is inevitable and will call for continued changes in education. If kinaesthetic drawing amplifies a student’s sensibility and sensitivity to what is being observed, then might we benefit by utilizing our haptic senses more broadly in our increasingly-digitized schools? Becoming aware of what we do not see enriches our understanding of what we do see. Perhaps slow drawing by hand might offer a powerful enhancement to the current ocularcentric domination in the sciences. Pedagogical implications from drawing could enhance understanding and observation skills in many fields where the mediated image is used. My research asks: what drawing can still offer in an increasingly digital/digitized world?  

Digital technologies offer powerful tools, but the immediacy of a digital image does not guarantee quality nor assure learning. The drawing process changes the subject; undergoing a change in sensibility. Drawing requires thoughtful observation, discipline and practice, all of which are essential skills in ensuring learning success. Faster is not better. Drawing has the potential to slow down students scrambling in a digital world. Learning is a process, and drawing is a way of opening the eyes and a way of thinking and feeling. Thinking emerges from the process of drawing as new perceptions are created."

William Northlich

PhD - Arts, Music

"Sans Escher is a graphic musical score. The aesthetic and design vision behind Sans Escher is musical indeterminacy, conveyed by abstract of conventional music notation. Such a graphic score may be observed as an independent piece of artwork, or as a musical score that may be performed by any number of players consisting of any instrumentation with the option of including additional staging and spatial designs, all of which may be determined by the ensemble. Precise elements of dynamics, articulations, length of musical passages, and pitch are also up to the discretion of the ensemble or individual player.

My doctoral research consists of the confluence of electronic music and improvisation, and how improvisatory methodologies are effective in representing performances of electronic music visually. Graphic scores are indispensable in visually representing unorthodox processes, gestures, sonic states, and aesthetic visions. Thus, audiences are able to make profound connections with related musical material by gaining insight into performative decisions, sonic results, and the composer’s inspiration."

Zohreh Valiary

Master's - Arts, Arts & Design

"An often-cited example of a country with a highly restricted society is Iran. Iranian women’s history is a labyrinthine road of darkness, patriarchy and suppression. After the invasion of Muslims, women started losing their equal rights, and the situation continued to be more or less the same until the end of the 19th century when some movements started to happen toward the emancipation of women. These movements, that still are going, on have a long way to go to reach the goal of equal rights and freedom for women in my motherland.

I based ""the Girls of Enghelab Street"" on the action of Vida Movahed, a young Iranian woman who, on December 27, 2017, stood on a platform in Enghelab street in Tehran, tied her white hijab (a symbol of protest against mandatory hijab created by Masih Alinejad, the founder of the online movement ""My Stealthy Freedom""), to a stick, and waved it at the crowd until the authorities arrested her. After Vida Movahed's action more women started doing the same to show their union and support for the movement. Twenty-nine women were arrested in the two months leading up to February 2018.

The aim of my research is to explore how visual communication design might provide a medium through which one can foster awareness and build empowerment in my target audience of young, educated Iranian women, aged eighteen to twenty-five."

Jennifer Zeller

Master's - Arts, Philosophy

“Politicizing Social Media” portrays everyday social media users and some of their political opinions. If inappropriately phrased or posted in an unfitting format, these perspectives tend to be disregarded and considered irrelevant or unpolitical by academics. This has resulted in unbalanced, if not ignorant, academic discourses on social media as most scholars have only focussed on the political potentials of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube – not their disadvantages or “unprofessional” contents. However, the original meaning of politics – from Greek polis – revolves around the ordinary people, not merely a political elite. Correspondingly, my research aims at constructing a philosophical and political theory of social media by analysing often disregarded, but nonetheless political contents and by using theories such as those from Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas and others. Thus, I am in the middle of the picture with my books, trying to make sense of how politics are made on social media around me from a scientific point of view.”

• Walk through of Library Spaces

• Focus Group discussing Library Accessibility

• Usability Testing on the library website 

The sessions will take between 1-3 hours depending on the assessment activity.

We are aiming to recruit students who identify as having a disability or find it challenging to access library resources.

By participating in this project, you will receive $25 in ONECard cash. 

If you are interested in participating in this project, please contact Kirsti VanDornick at kirstiv@ualberta.ca. 

You are also invited to complete this 10 minute survey about your experience with the library programs and services. Participation in this survey is unpaid. https://qtrial2018q1az1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3WCdazS7YrKG0wR

Victoria: For me, students journals are important for two reasons: experience and learning. This goes for the writers as well as the people behind the journal. It allows students to explore and share research is a non-threatening environment, which is so important for their growth and development in academia. In addition, it also provides them with a bit of exposure.

Katherine: I love working with student journals; they provide so many different opportunities. As an author you learn how to work with feedback. You get a taste for publication in a low-stakes environment and get a final product that looks impressive on a resume. It allows you to grow as a researcher and experience one of the processes that professionals in our field must go through as part of their careers. As a reviewer it will also improve your writing, reading, and ability to give constructive feedback.

Katherine: I have had the chance to work with three student journals at three different universities. My role has changed from an author to a reviewer and copyeditor, and more recently, an editor in chief for COMPASS. Each role brings different challenges but it has been incredible to see what I have learned with each experience and even more impressive to see how I have used this experience in my own academic and professional endeavours. I can genuinely say that over the last six years I have become a better writer because of my involvement with student journals. I have also become a better reader. Depending on your role with a journal you are looking for different things: grammar, style, referencing, formatting, etc. Each role requires you to read or review a paper differently, which changes how you approach reading for research. Now that I am an editor in chief I have experienced how to manage a team and work with the process through a new electronic forum which has been a lot of fun.

Victoria: The most important thing I learned is just how much work actually goes into putting together a journal. It seemed like a very straightforward process, but there were more steps involved than I initially assumed. It taught me the importance of time management.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in starting or volunteering for a student journal?

Victoria: Make sure you commit and you have the time to do it. As interesting and exciting as it is to start such an endeavour, you must realize nothing will happen if you don't put in the work. It will take time to review a paper, send it back to the author(s), review it again, copy-edit, etc. COMPASS started a year ago, but only now are we able to put out our first issue. Teamwork matters!

Katherine: If you have the time and are interested in becoming a better writer, editor, and reader of different works – just do it! The UofA’s campus is an incredible environment to help you get involved and succeed with your initiatives. There are lots of different student journals on campus that are always looking for people to help them. If there isn’t one that relates to your research, consider starting your own. That is what happened with COMPASS. We reached out to our department’s library liaison and he soon put us in contact with Sonya Betz, Digital Initiatives Projects Librarian. Not only that, but by contacting other student journals we were able to see what did or did not work for them. The Journal community is very supportive and a great resource.

Anything else you want to say about journal publishing?

Katherine: Work with people that you enjoy. People who have similar work ethics, goals, and understandings. My Co-Editor has been a huge help during stressful times throughout our project. Being on the same page about what we wanted to accomplish, how, and recognizing that this was a “for fun” volunteer initiative went a long way for our continued success together.

Victoria: Enjoy what you do. Everything will be a lot easier if you treat it as a fun side-project, not a job. As a student you'll always have a million things going on, so you need to make sure this isn't just another "chore".
_______________

In addition to COMPASS, the UofA Libraries supports several actively publishing student journals through its open access journal publishing service, including:

• Spectrum
• Past Imperfect
• Invoke
• Constellations
• Alberta Academic Review
• Multilingual Discourses

For more information about the Libraries’ free open access journal hosting service, please contact Sonya Betz, Digital Initiatives Projects Librarian (sonya.betz@ualberta.ca).

Browzine In Action

A snapshot of my BrowZine shelf for Communication journals.

As grad student embarking on my first major literature review process for my research, I tested BrowZine for a few weeks to see if it might help with the discovery research within my area of interest.  I took a moment and investigated in the Journal Citation Reports JCR database, which journals in my field of study were the most cited or had the highest impact factor and added these journals to my 'shelf' in BrowZine.

Over the course of several weeks, whenever I had a free moment,  I skimmed through my journals in BrowZine.

In a two-week period, I found:

• 8 research articles that I will be including in my literature review, 
• 4 articles using relatable research methods,
• and several others that I passed on to other fellow grad students. 

I also have a long list of interesting articles unrelated to my research that I want to return to when time permits.

My little trial of BrowZine has proven to me that browsing really does expose you to new ideas and avenues of research you never considered. BrowZine also keeps you abreast of the bigger picture of what is happening in your field by revealing the full contents of specific journal issues, allowing you to see trends in a broader sense.