Browsing by Subject "Collaboration"

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Breaking Into Uncharted Territory: Collaborating On NIH Public Access Policy Compliance with the Sponsored Projects Administration
(2015-05) Chew, Katherine
Objectives: Non-compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy can severely hamper researchers’ efforts by delaying awards funding. Facilitating compliance with the policy can be a problematic process, especially across large institutions with numerous colleges, schools, centers and institutes. Collaborating with a department that spans all of these entities can ensure unlimited opportunities to provide compliance support and assistance.
Methods: In early 2013, librarians from the Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) were invited to meet with the training coordinator for the campus-wide Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) to discuss potential collaboration to help with the potential ramifications of NOT-OD-13-042; the NIH Public Access Policy (PAP) notification concerning the delaying of processing of awards with start dates 1 July 2013. As part of this collaboration, SPA and a HSL librarian would co-present SPA sponsored workshops on the public access policy, an eRA Commons account would be assigned to provide access to the Public Access Compliance Monitor (PACM) and the NIH Manuscript Submission System, public access policy questions, issues and My NCBI /My Bibliography training requests received by SPA would be routed to the librarian and the creation of a detailed Public Access Policy Compliance library webpage that featured library and SPA resources.
Results: Collaboration with SPA began in Spring 2013. A Public Access Policy dedicated HSL email address, public-access@umn.edu, was shared with SPA and non-compliance questions that arrived at SPA were routed to this address for trouble-shooting. Assignment of an eRA Commons account by SPA increased the ability to “diagnosis and treat” non-compliant articles, as it facilitated access to the PACM, NIH Manuscript Submission System and awards view in My Bibliography. A detailed, SPA-user friendly website devoted to the policy, NIH Public Access Policy & Compliance was developed that included cross-references to resources found on the SPA training webpage. The first co-teaching occurred in November 2013 and followed by co-teaching engagements at the SPA training site, an auditorium based recorded webinar and workshops at departmental in-service training. Coordination with SPA has led to helping NIH investigators campus-wide that would not otherwise have thought to turn to HSL for help on compliance issues -- law, statistics, bio-sciences, chemistry or from the coordinate campuses.
Conclusion: Collaboration with SPA on NIH Public Access Policy compliance has exponentially expanded the services and scope that the Health Sciences Libraries is able to offer NIH investigators in their grant and research efforts, resulting in more research dollars awarded
Bridging Brown County Case Study: Connecting Communities and Finding a Future
(University of Minnesota. Extension Service, 2006) Brandt, Erin
A case study of a first-grade teacher team collaboratively planning literacy instruction for English learners
(2013-06) Frederick, Amy Rae
Teachers, researchers and policy-makers in the areas of literacy and language development have recently touted teacher collaboration as an innovative approach to better serving elementary English learners. Collaborative planning and instructional approaches are becoming widespread in educational practice. And though research seems promising in terms of benefits for teachers and students, there is scant information about the collaborative meaning-making practices of teacher teams and the instructional decisions that result. In the current study I explore the practices and perceptions of one first-grade team as they collaborate to plan instruction for their English-learning students. My study is situated within a sociocultural framework (Vygotsky, 1978; Johnson, 2009) and uses case study methodology to provide an in-depth exploration of the actions and perceptions of teachers within a unique context (Merriam, 2009). I highlight three major findings: the team's planning practices were significantly influenced by multi-layered policies in both supportive and restrictive ways; the team's collaborative planning promoted practices that may improve the teachers' understandings of English learners and support improved classroom practice; and the participants, though dissatisfied with aspects of their collaborative practices, felt that overall they were better teachers because of them. Findings from this project add to the fields of professional development and literacy instruction for English learners by identifying the influences and tensions embedded in the teachers' work and exposing the everyday negotiations of complicated issues that teachers undertake.
Competition and community: exploring the inter-organizational relationships underlying dual credit programs.
(2012-03) Schefers, Oscar Carmody
Dual credit programs, in which a student takes a course that fulfills both high school and postsecondary requirements, are one method employed to increase the number of high school students matriculating into a postsecondary program. This study investigates how postsecondary institutions and high schools work together to develop student access to dual credit programs. Implementing this arrangement requires establishing new relationships between high schools and postsecondary institutions. Using qualitative methods, the research explores how institutions involved in a dual credit partnership manage the arrangements and are affected by them. Interviews were conducted with postsecondary faculty and administration, high school teachers, counselors, and administrators. As a result of the investigation, a framework focusing on the following elements of an inter-organizational relationship is proposed: Curriculum, collaboration, support services, and organizational structure. The study's findings suggest that when the curriculum for a dual credit program is jointly developed between the high school and postsecondary faculty, and is coupled with strong leadership in both institutions, dual credit programs have the ability to serve a wider range of students than traditionally continue on to postsecondary settings.
Course specific collaborative teams in high school: an analysis of collaborative work, relationships and products.
(2011-03) Edwards, Daniel Lee
Improved student achievement has arguably always been a goal of schools and school districts. Within the past thirty years as the focus on increased student achievement has intensified, various calls for school reforms have resulted. These reform initiatives have taken on many appearances including government mandates as well as self-imposed changes. One of the most recent examples of reform that schools and school districts have embarked upon to bring about change has been the development of learning communities. Learning communities, often times referred to as Professional Learning Communities (PLC's), have evolved quite significantly over the past ten to fifteen years, often being implemented in a variety of different ways across all levels of education. An approach that has been often implemented at the high school level is the development of course-specific teams of teachers working together collaboratively on a variety of tasks associated with teaching. As approaches to the creation of learning communities have varied across settings, there is much to be learned by studying the application of these different approaches to the creation of a learning community and specifically teacher collaborative work that is focused at the course level. This research examined course-specific teams of teachers brought together for the purpose of working collaboratively to develop curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessments. Through the process of observing five course specific collaborative teams during two of their team meetings, follow up individual interviews with each member of the team, and an analysis of documents created by the team, this research illustrates the work of these teams. Three major findings inform the field of education related to the practice of learning communities and specifically teacher collaboration in a high school setting. First, collaboration that involves teachers with interdependent teaching roles, i.e. common courses, can result in improved professional practice. Second, having the opportunity to work collaboratively with teaching colleagues resulted in decreased feelings of isolation. Third, teacher collaboration resulted in improved relational trust among members of the collaborative teams.
"Cultural Competency: A Framework for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Archival Profession in the United States"
(The Society of American Archivists, 2018) Engseth, Ellen
This article explores cultural competency in the context of the archival profession in the United States. The author reviews the cultural competency framework, the pertinent literature of archives, library, and information studies (LIS) and beyond, and surveys activity within the archival field. The author also connects cultural competency to archival principles and practice, and offers a call for further research to develop cultural competency within the profession. Cultural competency is offered as a framework for equity, diversity, and inclusion work that is accessible and available to all, and as one that provides a way forward particularly for dominant-culture archivists. Furthermore, archivists can contribute uniquely to the discourse on cultural competency within LIS; this article responds to the call for, and encourages more, discourse with LIS.
Developing evidence-based effective principles for working with homeless youth: a developmental Evaluation of the Otto Bremer Foundation's support for collaboration among agencies serving homeless youth
(2014-02) Murphy, Nora F.
The purpose of this research was trifold. First, it was an attempt to gain an understanding of the experiences of fourteen unaccompanied, homeless youth between the ages of 18 and 24, living in the Twin Cities metro area, who have utilized services at two or more of the six grantee organizations. The second purpose was to understand how the shared principles of these organizations have been implemented in practice. The third purpose was to explore the extent to which implementation of these principles helps lead to healthy youth development from the perspective of the youth. This study was conducted as part of The Otto Bremer Foundation (OBF) Support for Homeless Youth and is a component of a utilization-focused developmental evaluation. The researcher employed a multiple case study approach. Qualitative data were generated from interviews with the youths themselves, street workers, agency staff, and Foundation staff. Fourteen individual case studies were written, and a cross-case analysis was conducted. The analysis provides insight into how the principles are enacted, as well as how they support a young person's healthy trajectory. This study found that all nine principles were evident in case stories, albeit some more than others. All principles interacted and overlapped, but each added something unique to the organizations' approach to working with youth. Implications for practice, policy, and funding are discussed.
Expanding and Deepening Collaboration at the Northwest Family Service Center
(Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2013-05-08) Cowing, Adam; Malloy, Patrick
Exploring Reading Motivation and Engagement in Discipline-specific Classes
(2020-12) Lee, Yongjun
This three-paper dissertation was conducted to explore how motivation and engagement, in addition to cognitive aspects, should be considered in disciplinary literacy instruction and assessment in high school classrooms. The studies, which were based on a five-year collaborative school-university partnership, were conducted to explore the relation between literacy engagement and learning of high school students in social studies classes.In the first study, I explored the perspectives shared by social studies teachers in planning instruction and applying a disciplinary literacy approach in their classes. Specifically, I investigated how teachers’ discourse from collaborative planning sessions and interviews evidenced their understanding of and beliefs about the importance of teaching disciplinary literacy and engaging students in literacy and learning. From the analysis of the collaborative meeting conversation transcripts and interview data, three themes emerged: texts use, cognitive instructional practice, and motivation-enhancing practice. In the second study, I explored how one social studies teacher embodied motivation and engagement in her instructional practices in disciplinary literacy learning. Findings were gleaned through an in-depth analysis of field notes and classroom artifacts. The study clarified how the participating teacher incorporated cognitive and motivational aspects in literacy concurrently to engage students as part of disciplinary literacy instruction in an instructional unit. From the analysis, three main themes, teacher-led practice, multimodal text use, and student-centered activity, emerged. In the third study, I explored an approach to assessing students’ motivation and engagement related to reading in a discipline. Specifically, I studied how useful the SE components are in enhancing students’ reading engagement and achievement by analyzing students’ responses to SE components when reading a discipline-specific text and responding to open-ended and questionnaire items. The findings demonstrated that if these SE components are supported, enhanced, or taught by teachers, students’ reading engagement is improved. Overall, these studies demonstrate that teachers should make motivation and engagement more explicit in teaching disciplinary literacy in their classes. Future studies should augment and explore discipline-specific instructional practices to enhance student engagement in reading by considering a range of engagement dimensions that can supported with explicit instruction and guidance.
A formative evaluation of a Midwest District's integrated services pilot
(2014-06) Resch, Laurie J.
The purpose of the Integrated Services pilot was to develop models for the delivery of special education, supplemental programs, and English as a second language services that were based on a philosophy of inclusion. The intent was to provide all students with learning experiences in which they could be successful both academically and socially in the most inclusive environment. The pilot was conducted at four elementary schools in a large Midwestern public school district. The pilot schools served students with diverse needs and were situated in divergent communities, which provided four unique contexts for the pilot. Teacher collaboration and co-teaching were utilized at each pilot school to achieve pilot goals. The purpose of this formative evaluation was to inform pilot development and to determine if the Integrated Services Pilot should be expanded to other elementary schools in the district. To inform these decisions, qualitative and quantitative data were collected in five areas: (1) professional development and support; (2) collaboration and professional learning communities; (3) impact on teacher knowledge and practice; (4) impact on student engagement and achievement; and (5) overall perceptions of the pilot. Surveys, individual and group interviews, and student achievement data provided the data for analysis and evaluation of pilot results. Teachers, instructional coaches, and principals reported that the pilot positively impacted both student engagement and student achievement. Additionally, the Integrated Services Pilot had a positive impact on teacher practice and on the relationships between support service and classroom co-teaching partners. Participants indicated that they were eager to continue with the Integrated Services model and had no desire to return to past practice.
Gang task forces: formation, network structure, and effectiveness
(2010-12) Barrows, Julie S.
Gang task forces are multi-agency collaborations that seek to address and quell gang problems in the communities they serve. From a sociological perspective, gang task forces offer a rich topic ripe for study. Why do gang task forces form? Are certain demographic and political environments more conducive to gang task force implementation? Which agencies participate in gang task forces? What relationships exist between gang task force participants and non-participants? Are gang task forces effective in combating real or perceived gang problems? This study is the first attempt to answer these important questions by examining every gang task force in operation in the United States today. Using a mixed methods approach, this study compares original survey data collected from 197 of the 249 gang task forces in current operation to secondary data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA), and the FBI's Uniform Crime Report to examine whether certain metropolitan areas are more likely to implement a gang task force and whether gang task forces are successful in curbing youth violence. After describing survey responses about gang task force formation and presenting a life table of the survival and hazard rate of gang task formation, the results of the Cox regression analyses suggest that gang task forces are likely to form in politically liberal areas of relative affluence with high juvenile crime rates. Further, and again after describing survey responses about gang task force effectiveness, the results of the fixed effects models suggest that gang task forces may indeed lower official juvenile crime rates while controlling for geographic region, race, socio-economic status, and political affiliation. To complement the national study of gang task force formation, structure and effectiveness, a case study of one particular gang task force, the Metro Gang Strike Force in Minnesota (MGSF) is presented. After describing the organizational structure and network of relationships that exist in gang task forces according to national survey respondents, the case study provides a closer look into the structure of and relationships in the MGSF. A social network analysis examines the network positions of 27 of the 34 MGSF participants, and provides a visual depiction of their relationships. Overall, this national study of gang task forces and case study of the MGSF offers the first 1) attempt to explain why such multi-agency collaborations form, 2) glimpse inside the network of a gang task force, and 3) evaluation of the success of gang task forces. As the first study of its kind, results are preliminary and subject to the limitations of the available data and evaluation research. However, this comprehensive analysis can be extended to studies of other private and public sector initiatives, and paves the way for much needed future research on gang task forces specifically
Governance of academic planning in public higher education systems
(2013-03) Harmening, Todd R.
The recent interest in harnessing the collective capacity of public institutions of higher education is challenging long-held beliefs about system coordination. Constricted state resources, globalization, market forces, and new technologies suggest that new governance structures are not only a necessity but an opportunity to better connect system institutions. To build such collective capacity, public systems will be well-served to adopt new forms of governance and challenge historic or misaligned policies and activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the primary means by which system office staff coordinate institutional activities within academic planning. The study was constructed around identification of bureaucratic, market, and network practices in selected governing board systems to better understand the existing system policies and staff activities, as well as the shifts and associated challenges being experienced in the system governance of academic planning. The population for this study included six state systems of higher education consisting of 2- and 4-year institutions. An initial document analysis of state statutes, system policies, and recent system reports provided a base understanding of the policies and other factors driving each system’s academic planning activities. A subsequent survey of system chief academic officers and their staff identified the importance of the policy elements, associated activities, and critical stakeholders for system academic initiatives, and program approval and review. The subsequent interviews of survey respondents explored the context and meanings associated with the survey responses, as well as challenges and future shifts in the approaches to system academic planning. The findings and conclusions from the study suggest that system policies for program approval and associated system office staff activities are predominantly, if not exclusively, focused on system expectations of individual institutions with some limited but notable examples of interinstitutional program collaboration. Similarly, system office staff face significant challenges in simultaneously building collaborative capacity and balancing the policy interests of state policymakers, national organizations, and industry with the academic culture and local autonomy of system institutions. The state systems in the study noted recent and substantial shifts in system governance of academic planning resulting from enactment of state or system initiatives for degree completion, removal of bureaucratic elements that slow system processes, and/or delegation of more authority to system institutions. In addition, system office academic affairs staff noted their substantial interest and role in facilitating academic collaboration across institutions. Most of the state systems in the study are in the early stages of or stated interest in elevating support for interinstitutional collaboration, including changes to system policies, merging of administrative structures, and development of collaborative agreements to support interinstitutional activity. The study also indicates that system office staff are facing significant challenges in engaging faculty in collaborative activity across multiple and loosely coupled levels of administration. Significant shifts in system policies and staff activities are necessary to remove or better align the predominance of bureaucratic and market mechanisms with system efforts at academic collaboration. System leaders would be well served in engaging their institutional faculty and administration in casting a vision and clearing the way for network capacity to emerge.
Hey, maybe you can help me with this: chance encounters, geographic proximity, and innovative collaboration
(2021-06) Pennington, Keith
We know that proximity can influence collaborations, but it is unclear how proximity affects collaborator choice. Collaborator choice is important because it determines what knowledge is recombined, shaping the very nature of an innovation. In my dissertation, I consider both the context and mechanisms of proximity to explore the effect of proximity on collaborator choice. My first essay explores the context of proximity between knowledge workers’ residences, a setting that excludes some potential proximity mechanisms and modestly generalizes to between-firm spillovers. I show residential proximity predicts collaboration, as prior literature shows within a workplace. Notably, I show that only same-gender pairs seem influenced by residential proximity. This finding is potentially counterintuitive because, here, proximity leads to less diverse collaborator choices. I suggest homophily prohibits between-gender interactions outside an office from being substantive enough to increase awareness and influence collaborator choice. In the rest of my dissertation, I focus on the proximity mechanism of chance encounters as theoretically distinct from proximity. I predict and show that chance encounters should generally increase the variance of collaborator choice and diversity of knowledge in innovation. I also show that chance encounters do not seem to increase productivity. Instead, when chance encounters are less available, people turn to their prior contacts, limiting recombination potential. To empirically invoke variance in chance encounters instead of proximity, I develop and validate a measure using the flu to proxy for fewer chance encounters, borrowing from epidemiology findings that show when people fear a disease, they can engage in social avoidance behavior with proximate people.
Indigenous Phenology: An Interdisciplinary Case Study on Indigenous Phenological Knowledge on the Menominee Nation Forest
(2020-06) Kenote, Thomas
Climate change will have profound impacts on tribal forests and tribal communities. Indigenous phenology or Indigenous phenological knowledge is a collaborative concept that builds partnerships through planning, Indigenous knowledge, and scientific understanding of the natural world. Phenology is the study of re-occurring annual life cycle events within the natural world. This project is an interdisciplinary case study focusing on the forest understory community of the Menominee nation forest and partnership building through the unique process of Indigenous phenological knowledge. The first chapter seeks to answer if species that shift phenology with a shifting climate are more successful? We examined this throughout the 2017 growing season using a hybrid ecological-Indigenous knowledge approach in which we visited 278 individuals of 11 different species on 3 1-hectare plots on the Menominee reservation in northeastern Wisconsin. Observers looked for the following phenophases: flower buds, open flowers, unripe fruit, and ripe fruit. We extracted a suite of response variables: date of first flower buds, flowers, and fruiting of each species, date of last flowering and fruiting of each species. We used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to assess species and site differences in phenology. We also examined whether timing of flowering and fruiting affected the amount of fruit produced. Overall, we saw that individuals that flowered and fruited earlier tended to produce more fruit. The second chapter explores the idea of Indigenous phenological knowledge as a process that helps to build partnerships in order to further tribal and non-tribal partners institutional goals. It should be noted that Indigenous peoples performing phenology research on Indigenous lands is in itself Indigenous phenology. Through an analysis of a variety of project documents and my own participant observation as a Menominee tribal member on the aforementioned project, we aimed to define what Indigenous phenology is and show that Indigenous phenological knowledge helped to build trust, capacity, ethics, and reinforced tribal sovereignty. Partnerships embodied the principals of IPK as a process because Menominee tribal members actively engaged in phenology monitoring and information exchange.
Media Arts in Minnesota: Potential impacts of collaboration
(Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2014-05-08) Ferber, Nancy; McKennan, Patrick; Sindberg, Kari; Tade, Susan
The evolution of the media and arts has, particularly in recent decades, demanded an increase in collaboration between individuals and organizations in arts communities all over the world. Increased commercial rent, economic instability and cultural shifts have influenced the way artists and arts organizations function in today’s environment. Collaborative models are attractive to arts communities for their practicality and added value. The proposed media center collaboration in Minnesota has the potential to create opportunity and economic stability within the media arts community of the twin Cities. Our research team addresses the potential opportunities and challenges of a collaboration through this analysis, referencing the research question: How can these four organizations collaborate and best manage the collaboration?
Mindful Collaboration to Influence School Improvement
(2016-05) Skanson, Eric
School leaders use collaboration for a variety of purposes including school improvement. This study researched how school principals used collaboration for school improvement and examined the day-to-day impact on principals and their staff. A mixed method design was employed to answer questions about collaboration including fruitful areas to encourage, removal of barriers and addition of supports for successful collaboration. The Levels of School Collaboration Scale was developed as a quantitative measure of collaboration in schools to examine the perceived levels of collaboration between various nested relationships in schools of teachers and teams. The scale identified Pinewood Elementary as site of promising collaborative practice for further research. Findings from the case study found that school leaders play an executive role in establishing, supporting and maintaining a collaborative culture for school improvement. The implications for school leaders included the identification of a systematic mindful approach through four dimensions of collaboration to influence successful collaboration.
Multimodality, Makerspaces, and the Making of a Maker Pedagogy for Technical Communication and Rhetoric
(2019-05) Tham, Jason
This dissertation investigates how students create multimodal solutions to address complex problems via technology-enhanced maker practices informed by design thinking. It contributes to the ongoing scholarly conversations around multimodality and multimodal composition by understanding the new material affordances of rapid prototyping technology and dedicated spaces for collaborative invention, fondly known as makerspaces. By investigating how students compose and create multimodal artifacts through making and design thinking, this project identifies useful pedagogical intersections between the Maker Movement proper and technical and professional communication (TPC). To do so, I studied the use and operation of three academic makerspaces in the U.S. at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Minnesota. I then conducted a case study of a maker framework based on the findings from the makerspace ethnography. The deployment of the framework––tentatively known as maker pedagogy––occurred in a TPC course. Combining the results from my makerspace ethnography and the pedagogical case study, I discuss the implications of a maker pedagogy for TPC, including the cultivation of a maker mindset, disruption to conventional ideologies, and an exploration of the material dimension of writing. I also discuss ways in which making and design thinking can be assessed in the context of TPC pedagogy.
Nexus Project: three electro-acoustic compositions.
(2012-05) Wartchow, Brett A.
This Ph.D. dissertation consists of three compositions--a concert piece, an intermedia collaboration, and a structured improvisation--presented as digital audio recordings. This project aimed to meet two objectives. At the most conceptual level I attempted to explore how uniquely conceived electro-acoustic sound design could, as both a compositional tool and performance environment, simultaneously accentuate and obliterate the boundaries of individual performance gesture. My second goal was to create three elegantly conceived compositions and present them as digital audio recordings. This accompanying paper details the project's underpinning concepts and the creative processes resulting in its realization.
No Uniform Culture: Patterns of Collaborative Research in the Humanities
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017-07) Burroughs, Jennie
This study uses a campus scholarly networking and expertise system to examine trends in coauthorship in order to measure the prevalence of deep collaboration and readiness for team research. Bibliometric analysis of publishing patterns in four departments in the humanities shows significant differences in the rate of coauthorship by type of publication, by department, and by career phase. The data also show that coauthored research has become more common over time. Rather than a uniform culture, there is notable variation in collaborative practices between departments. This finding suggests that a more granular approach may be needed to incorporate humanities perspectives in team research.
Partnerships for Sustainability: Eco-collaboration between Higher Education and Ecovillages
(2014-03-03) Gladman, Kiernan
Higher Education Institutions are hierarchical organizational systems which implement sustainability initiatives on- and off-campus, some of which could benefit from forming ecological sustainability-oriented partnerships, or eco-collaborations. Eco-collaborations could be formed between their organizations and intentional communities, also called ecovillages. The systemic and complementary differences between ecovillages and Higher Education Institutions create opportunities for several types of partnerships. Mutual goals and missions may be used as a basis for an eco-collaboration for educational, research, or community engagement activities between Higher Education and ecovillages.

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