Week 7
Week7 Jacques Pelman Cinq387 Blog update
I contacted my professor about the funding for my project. Since we are still in the development/research phase we will not have any funding this semester. Since my project is still quite small I don’t have many partners outside of the university. There are three partners that I have identified inside the university. The creative inquiry office, Professor Luis, LTS, and various NGOs that I will interview. The create inquiry office is here to help me develop and optimize my project. Professor Luis is the main guide in developing the trajectory of the project. LTS helps me find resources that will directly help me with completing the project. The various NGOs provide a supplemental viewpoint on the data. Most of my partners are inside Lehigh so they are here to provide guidance. Lehigh gets the results of the research that I am doing but mostly there are providers to my project and less of a partner. The NGOs are mostly there to provide a differing viewpoint on the data that is collected from the databases, news articles, and journal articles.
I, unfortunately, don’t have a coalition that can be created but I can define my project’s goal and the overall goal. My project’s goal is to prove the disproportionate effects that the COVID 19 pandemic has on poor non-white neighborhoods. The overall goal of the project is to provide some insight into how this problem can be fixed or at least the situation for the people living in these communities can be improved. There is no clear way to measure the success/effectiveness of my project. One way I think I can measure the number of reads or downloads that the project gets. The lack of partners and the lack of project progression makes coming up with a reasonably accurate model of a coalition for this project extremely difficult. Below is the LVSIF watershed group with who I was working with to organize their ideas for this assignment.
- (STEM EDUCATIONAL CENTERS)
LGNC, NNC, D&L, Jacobsburg Environmental Education
What do we get from relationships?
- Leveraging their social capital
- Have access to their audience.
- Access to a broader range of age, and different levels of education.
- Leveraging their political capital
- Share connections.
- Sharing spaces, equipment, and risk.
- Cooperative brainstorming sessions that combine what we are doing in our research and how it works in the field
What do they get from relationships?
- Since we are a University group, we bring credibility.
- We bring expertise, a passionate-driven workforce.
- We bring research. While they do a lot of work on the ground, we bring the research expertise (e.g., writing papers, knowledge/findings dissemination)
- We spearhead the innovation/ development work
- PUBLIC LIBRARIES
What do we get from relationships?
- Outreach
- Social capital — the audience their services in their local areas
- Access to younger audiences and their families as potential research participants.
- Research implementation site and participants.
What do they get from relationships?
- A new model for increasing public engagement & learning
- New technology
- Improved relationship with the university.
- CREATIVE INQUIRY OFFICE
What do we get from relationships?
- Social capital, connections, and relationships to people in various departments and levels of authority
- (Initial) Funding
- University approval/legal handling for research
- Networking benefits
What do they get from relationships?
- Aligns with the mission of creating social impact through innovation and research
- Good publicity, outreach.
- Increase in credibility if our project is published and successful
- Get more funding allotted to them if more projects are successful
- Helps them facilitate other projects in the future if credibility is increased with other partners
→ (STEM EDUCATIONAL CENTERS)
Lehigh Gap Nature Center (LGNC), Nurture Nature Center (NNC), Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L), Jacobsburg Environmental Education
- Dr. Bodzin, our PI, has fostered this partnership and similar relationships through his previous work over the past several years.
- They provide design feedback and assist in decision making with regards to development. We also receive media resources from them such as historical photos and geographical information. We provide insight into the design process for learning modules such as this game because we explain our workflow during team meetings. The module is also being created for their use to increase public engagement.
- Yes, because they provide the space and audience, and we provide innovative learning technologies. Partners are collaborating and co-designing each other’s games with us.
→ Each informal STEM center and the library has a dedicated and flexible space for public programs.
→ Each location has existing education and outreach programs that can include the iVR gaming experiences. These include:
- LGNC – Holiday Open House, Watershed Workshops, Watershed Camp.
- NNC’s exhibit space features an interactive watershed exhibit. The iVR gaming experience will be available to visitors during our open house times on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, as well as during group visits for SOS programming.
- D&L – The iVR gaming experience will be available to visitors during select times as well as during group visits.
- Jacobsburg – Conservation Leadership Academy, Adventure Camps, Scout programs, Community Program Nights, Envirothon Prep programs, and Visitor Center Impromptu programs.
→ Professional development will take place at each site to ensure that staff can successfully use each iVR with public programs.
- This partnership is working well in the development phase but when it comes to implementation, we can strengthen this by also playing a part in the publicity of the technology. Also, if the partner organization had people who were interested in learning how to use the programs we use, we could teach them how to use it.
→ PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Allentown Public Library; Bethlehem Area Public library; Emmaus Public Library; Memorial Library of Nazareth; Parkland Community Library, Southern Lehigh Public Library, Whitehall Public Library.
- Still at initial stages.
3.
During the project’s duration, new immersive VR programs by each library will be created. Each library has special programming days for many learning events (for example, Maker spaces, Tinkerlabs, etc.)
→ Professional development will take place at each site to ensure that staff can successfully use each iVR with public programs.
4.
→ CREATIVE INQUIRY OFFICE
- Internal office from the university.
It all started in the summer of 2018 (Mountaintop Summer Experience).
- They helped us:
- This partner has helped us with (Initial) Funding until our project can land a bigger grant.
- Providing student interns, as well as offering our project as one of the LVSIF projects.
- Building capacity in entrepreneurship and scholarship for global impact and change.
We help them:
- Representing the office nationally and internationally.
- Building credibility by showing that their work is efficient.
3.
4.
BHAG: Change people’s beliefs/attitudes and behaviors towards the local environment they live in
| Organizations | University | STEM centers | Public libraries |
| How it will transform the issue? |
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| Leadership and coordination? |
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Five Partnerships: 10
Complete explanations: 10
All different: 10
Overall: 10