Jolie speaks with Dr. Steven Cady, the Director of the Institute for Organizational Effectiveness at BGSU, and Professor Charles Kanwischer, Director of the School of Art. They discuss collaborative leadership during times of crisis and the lessons we’ve learned about adaptive teaching, effective communication, and more.

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University and The Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Welcome to the BiG Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American Culture Studies and Director of the ICS. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we're not in studio, but are recording remotely via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees.

Jolie:

Bowling Green State University is located in the Great Black Swamp, long a meeting place of the Wyandotte, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Fox, Pottawatomie, Erie, Miami, Peoria, Chippewa, and Seneca Indian tribes. We honor the rich history of this land and its indigenous inhabitants past and present.

Jolie:

Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by two guests, Dr. Steve Cady and Professor Charlie Kanwischer. Steve is the director of the Institute for Organizational Effectiveness at BGSU. He's world-renowned for his expertise in organizational behavior and development, specifically with the focus on whole system change. His current work involves collaborating with others to develop the best of both online and in-person learning environments.

Jolie:

Charlie is the director of the School of Art and a professor of drawing at BGSU. He's a six time recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. In his administrative role, Charlie studies data to determine what students need to succeed in online learning environments. Steve and Charlie, thank you for joining me today to talk about leadership. Well, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly exemplified the need for the kind of work you do to model collaborative leadership and meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff to deal with this swiftly changing academic landscape. Steve, could you start us off by talking about how your work was immediately impacted in March when the university moved to distance learning and what changes you made?

Steve:

So my work is on two levels, one is in the classroom with my students and then on the second level is my work with my colleagues, you two, and others at BGSU and beyond. On the first level, I immediately talked with my students and when I saw what was coming on the horizon, that we'd likely close down and we'd likely shut classes or go into a online setting, I talked with my students and I talked to them about various scenarios. I talked with him about scenarios in the class, "If we go online, this is what's going to happen. This is what we're going to meet online. This is how we're going to make it work. And this is how I'm going to handle the class, how we're going to handle your learning as well as your grading." And those kinds of things, and really made sure they had their questions answered. I also encouraged them to think about how they were going to handle it, what their scenarios were and what they were going to do.

Steve:

And I gave that advice to some other faculty that I was talking to, and they did that. And they said that it was pretty amazing that all of the sudden, when it happened, their students knew what to do, where to go. It's kind of like that emergency, like in a fire or whatever, where do we

This episode is the final chapter of a mini-series focusing on the NEH-funded project "Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis.” Stevie Scheurich guest hosts and shares the personal stories of precarity and uncertainty for non-tenure track and contingent faculty members in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. These participants discuss how the pandemic brought to light pre-existing crises and economic insecurity within academia and share how they are navigating these challenges as instructors. 

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University, and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Stevie:

Hello, and welcome back to the Big Ideas Podcast, brought to you by the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University.

Stevie:

I'm Stevie Scheurich, a PhD student in BGSU's American Culture Studies program, and a graduate teaching associate in BGSU's Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies program. I'll be guest hosting this episode, which is part of a mini-series focusing on the National Endowment for the Humanities' sponsored project, "Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis: Adaptive Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University during COVID-19."

Stevie:

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not recording in the studio, but from home via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees.

Stevie:

Bowling Green State University is located in the Great Black Swamp, long a meeting place of the Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Fox, Pottawatomie, Erie, Miami, Peoria, Chippewa, and Seneca Indian tribes. We honor the rich history of this land and its indigenous inhabitants, past and present.

Stevie:

For today's episode, we will be doing things a little bit differently. Building on our previous episode, featuring members of the grant team working on Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis, today, I will be talking to the non-tenure track faculty members who participated in the summer camp devoted to reflexive teaching and learning. Campers were comprised of graduate teaching associates and contingent faculty who experienced differing levels of precarity due to their positioning within academia.

Stevie:

Since we here at Big Ideas are big believers in the transformative power of storytelling, this episode will feature members of the Summer Institute sharing their personal experiences of precarity and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Stevie:

I began by asking everyone about how the pandemic has brought to light preexisting crises and precarity within academia. These crises are disproportionately experienced by people who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, queer, and working class folks at all levels of academia.

Stevie:

I asked everyone how they saw these inequalities affecting their students and themselves as non-tenure track faculty. Everyone immediately began by reflecting on how their students were being affected. Megan Rancier, an Associate Teaching Professor of Ethnomusicology was concerned by major gaps in access to internet and technology.

Megan:

I think I've definitely noticed those inequalities kind of more outside the university than within it. But I think you're absolutely right that once we kind of all went into crisis mode, all of these obstacles, all of these inequalities, suddenly became much more obvious to people who previously probably were oblivious to them, like me.

Megan:

For example, I'll talk about one thing with faculty and one thing with students, and I'll start with the students because obviou

This episode is part three of a four part mini-series on the NEH-funded project "Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis.” Jolie speaks with Dr. Rachel Rickard Rebellino, an assistant professor in children’s and adolescent literature, and a “camp counselor” for a month-long summer program for humanities faculty on adaptive teaching and learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Tiffany Scarola, an instructor in the University Writing Program, joins to share her experience as a camp attendee. They discuss building just and equitable learning communities within larger, and frequently inequitable, institutions.

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Hello, and welcome back to the BG Ideas podcast brought to you by the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer. This episode is part of a mini series focusing on a National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored project called "Toward A Pedagogy From Crisis: Adaptive Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University during COVID-19."

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not recording in the studio, but are at home talking via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on the podcast are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees. Bowling Green State University is located in the great black swamp, long a meeting place of the Wyandotte, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Fox, Potawatomie, Erie, Miami, Peoria, Chippewa, and Seneca Indian tribes. We honor the rich history of this land and its indigenous inhabitants past and present.

Today I'm very pleased to be joined by Dr. Rachel Rickard Rebellino and Tiffany Scarola. Rachel serves as one of the NEH project's camp counselors during the summer camp. She teaches courses on children's and adolescent literature for the English department. Her research examines digital youth cultures, girlhood studies, and social justice themes and children's literature. Tiffany is an instructor in the University Writing Program where she teaches first year composition, and she was in an NEH camp participant this summer. Her research interests include encouraging student cognitive processing and establishing a cult of vulnerability in classroom environments. Rachel and Tiffany, thank you very much for joining me today.

Rachel:

Thank you for having me.

Tiffany:

Yeah. Thank you for having us.

Jolie:

Equity, accessibility and social justice are clear priorities in the NEH project, and they're also at the heart of the research and the teaching that both of you do. Rachel, could you start off by talking about how your research on youth literature is a catalyst for conversations about equity injustice? Is this a relatively new phenomenon in children's literature or is there a longer history of that kind of connection?

Rachel:

That's a great question. There is a pretty long history of youth literature being a tool for conversations around equity and justice. So I'm thinking specifically of the example of The Brownies' Book, that was a magazine that was specifically put out to address perceived gaps, real gaps, in the literature that was being written for Black and brown youth. And the purposes of that magazine were very, very explicit that it would be to lift up Black youth, to help them to really see their value in a society that was devaluing them. And this was in the 1920s, I don't think I said that initially.

Rachel:

And since then, youth literature has definitely served kind of a conservative function in upholding social values in some capacities, but there has always been youth

This episode is part two of a mini-series focusing on the NEH-funded project "Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis.” Jolie is joined by Dr. Lauren Salisbury, a graduate of BGSU’s rhetoric and writing PhD program and an online instructor, and Dr. Matt Schumann, who has taught in the department of history. They served as "camp counselors" for a month-long summer program for humanities faculty on adaptive teaching and learning during the COVID-19 crisis. They discuss the importance of intentionality, reflexivity, and building community in virtual course design. 

Announcer:

The is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Hello and welcome back to the BiG Ideas podcast brought to you by the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer.

Jolie:

This episode is part of a miniseries focusing on a National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored project Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis: Adaptive Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University During COVID-19. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we're not in the studio but are recording from home via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast or those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees.

Jolie:

Today, we are speaking with Dr. Lauren Salisbury and Dr. Matt Schumann. During summer 2020, they served as camp counselors for a month-long summer program for humanities faculty, which was a central component of the NEH-supported grant.

Jolie:

Lauren is a graduate of BGSU's Rhetoric and Writing PhD program and is an instructor in the department. Her research explores how space and place shapes student experiences in online courses. Matt has taught classes in our history department, receiving the Elliott Blinn Prize for Instructor/Student Basic Research for Innovative Design in his historiography course. He's also studied the scholarship of teaching and learning including how technology can be used effectively in humanities classrooms.

Jolie:

Lauren and Matt, thanks for joining me to talk about big ideas. I want to start with just giving a little background on the summer camp. The camp focused on humanistic pedagogy for digital environments. Can you explain who you were designing the camp for and some of the main goals you set for yourself and for your campers? Matt, you want to start that question off?

Matt:

Sure. I guess I'd like to start by saying we wanted to de-center technology just a little bit because the COVID crisis really forced a bigger conversation about our priorities and identities as instructors. What we really wanted to do was gather faculty from as broadly as we could across the humanities and have a conversation about, "Well, what does teaching look like in this strange new world that we're encountering in the midst of this pandemic?" Having that question really right at the center of our organization efforts for the summer camp, that really determined a lot about how we organized it and how we arranged our material.

Jolie:

For you, Lauren, a lot of times, when we are talking about and thinking about teaching online, we're talking about technology tools and using new tools. You made the choice not to explicitly center the camp around learning new technologies. Can you explain why not and what you felt was more important in this moment?

Lauren:

Yeah, absolutely. There's nothing to say that technology isn't important. We didn't want to say that at all. But, technology comes and goes. It evolves constantly. What was cutting edge last week, isn't this week. Although having those tools in our back pocket is really important, it's more important, as teachers, to start at the end

This episode is the start of a four part mini-series focused on the NEH-funded project “Towards a Pedagogy from Crisis.” Jolie speaks with project directors Dr. Amílcar Challú, department chair and associate professor of history, and Dr. Chad Iwertz Duffy, an assistant professor in rhetoric and writing. They discuss the important role that interdisciplinary collaboration in the humanities can play in building just and equitable learning--whether online, remote, or in-person.

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University, and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Hello, and welcome back to the BG Ideas podcast, brought to you by the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we're not recording in the studio, but from home via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees.

Jolie:

Bowling Green State University is located in the Great Black Swamp, long a meeting place of the Wyandotte, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Fox, Potawatomi, Erie, Miami, Peoria, Chippewa, and Seneca Indian tribes. We honor the rich history of this land and its indigenous inhabitants past and present.

Jolie:

Today's episode is one of a mini series focusing on a National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored project, Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis: Adaptive Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University During COVID-19. Today I'm joined by the project's directors, Dr. Chad Iwertz Duffy, and Dr. Amilcar Challu. Chad is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Writing in the English department. Amilcar is Department Chair and Associate Professor of History at BGSU.

Jolie:

Thank you both for joining me today. I'd like to start with some backstory on the project. The project focuses on the current global pandemic, which has completely restructured our personal and professional lives. Can you describe how the project came together and evolved into what it is now, and especially what is the role of pedagogy in this project?

 Chad:

I think, speaking specifically to pedagogy, one of the reasons why it's so important is because everybody pretty much in the world at this point, has moved to online education. And, even though that's something that has a fairly rich tradition in my field, I don't believe there are very many fields that have been really seriously thinking about online education. So, pedagogy is kind of our entree into thinking about how, when we have to all learn virtually, how you do that, and how you do that well, and how you value your students, especially right now in this time of crisis.

Jolie:

And Amilcar, from a practical standpoint, how did you and Chad connect on this project, and how did you evolve its shape and what you were imagining you were seeking to study and do?

 Amilcar:

Well, it was connections that someone else said. You're both thinking about this at the same time, and so why don't you talk with each other, and that was it. I think it highlights the importance of those informal interactions in getting things done, and pushing things forward. It advanced really, really fast. We both started talking about what we have in mind. It was something different, what each of us have in mind, but we knew that there was a lot that we were trying to accomplish that have the same goals. And, it was a very quick, fast process, and I was surprised about that. And it was part of the one great joy, I think, of putting this together.

Jolie:

Chad, I'd like to talk a bit about your spec

BiG Ideas, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University, is excited to announce The Enlightenment, a bite-sized podcast, written and hosted by ICS intern Taylar Stagner. In this episode, Stagner speaks with graduate students, and professors who share how the Covid-19 pandemic, and the campus shut down it has caused, have affected their lives as researchers and working parents.

Jolie:

Hello, you're listening to the BiG Ideas podcast. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, Associate Professor of English and American Culture Studies and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University. This is not a typical episode. The conversation you are about to hear was recorded during the COVID-19 crisis, so you may very well notice a difference in our sound quality. You'll also notice that we've got a different format. We wanted to capture some of the incredible challenges facing BGSU students, faculty, and staff during this world historical event, as well as document some of the incredible creativity, resiliency, and generosity we've seen. Now more than ever, we believe it's important to hear thought provoking and inspiring stories about BiG ideas featuring members of our community. The following episode is one of several short form stories being produced and reported by Taylar Stagner, a master's student in the American Culture Studies Program and an ICS intern. We're calling this series, The Enlightenminute. We hope you enjoy it. Stay safe out there.

Taylar:

Research, draft, edit, submit, edit again. Resubmit, publish, research. Research, draft, edit, submit, edit, resubmit, publish research. Research, draft, edit, resubmit, edit, publish research. This is how you stay relevant in academia. It's a cycle of drafting and submitting to journals for publication. Constant research is how professors argue for tenure, master's students finish theses, and graduate students finally get the letters PhD next to their name. But what if a worldwide pandemic shuts down how people actually do research? With K through 12 schools shut down, kids are at home. Many research projects require in-person observation. And how do you stay calm and go with the flow when the whole world is turned upside down? Here at ICS, our director, Dr. Jolie Sheffer, is usually very busy with her own research and service projects, sometimes up to 15 projects at a time. But now, her energy focuses more towards her students' wellbeing.

Jolie:

Now, there was no guarantee that our students even have housing, that they have food, that they have enough money, those bare necessities, and even internet access to be able to participate in the classes. That priority list looks really different. So in some ways, I have fewer things on my plate now, but the stakes of those things feel much higher.

Taylar:

With a young child and a partner who also works from home, finding time to write is a challenge. But when Sheffer finds time to write, it becomes a necessary reprieve from the current circumstances.

Jolie:

I am trying to still write most days between 15 minutes to 30. There are a few days I've been able to get in an hour if my husband's able to watch my son. And that's actually been really helpful for my mental health. I mean, I really like losing myself in the research and getting back into those kinds of thorny problems that help me forget about COVID-19 and all of that uncertainty.

Taylar:

There exists so much uncertainty, especially with kids at home. Adam Cohen is a doctoral student here at BGSU. And the last couple months have been especially challenging because he and his wife recently had twins.

Adam:

Which they came three months premature. They were supposed to be born at the beginning of April. And due to some complications, they were actually delivered on New

BiG Ideas, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University, is excited to announce The Enlightenment, a bite-sized podcast, written and hosted by ICS intern Taylar Stagner. In this episode, Stagner speaks with undergrads, graduate students, and professors who share how the Covid-19 pandemic, and the campus shut down it has caused, have affected their lives.

Jolie:

Hello. You're listening to the Big Ideas podcast. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American culture studies and the director of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University. This is not a typical episode. The conversation you are about to hear was recorded during the COVID-19 crisis, so you may very well notice a difference in our sound quality. You'll also notice that we've got a different format. We wanted to capture some of the incredible challenges facing BGSU students, faculty, and staff during this world-historical event, as well as document some of the incredible creativity, resiliency, and generosity we've seen.

Jolie:

Now more than ever, we believe it's important to hear thought-provoking and inspiring stories about big ideas featuring members of our community. The following episode is one of several short-form stories being produced and reported by Taylar Stagner, a master student in the American culture studies program and an ICS intern. We're calling this series, The EnlightenMinute. We hope you enjoy it. Stay safe out there.

Taylar:

Welcome to EnlightenMinute, a bite-sized podcast from the desk of ICS. I'm Taylar Stagner with more on how students and faculty at BGSU are dealing with the drastic shift in university life. Online video applications, like WebEx, Zoom, and Skype, help peers and instructors converse with each other during the statewide shelter in place order. No unnecessary travel is permitted and all classes and projects have been moved online. In the shuffle to switch instruction online to slow the spread of COVID-19, one of our interns at ICS is missing out on her last semester of college. Renee Hopper is getting her bachelor's degree in creative writing with a minor in German. To finish her minor, she was going to go to Germany before the shutdown.

Renee:

And I wasn't planning on being on campus next year at all because of study abroad. And now that summer is canceled, I have to figure out a way to take German online at a different university this summer and transfer it over, which I've heard is a rough process.

Taylar:

After BGSU moved to online instruction, Renee moved back to her home outside of Columbus in Dublin, Ohio with her parents and older brother. I asked her how that was going.

Renee:

Most days, pretty good, now that we're used to it. I've established my own little space in our dining room where my mom literally took our own Snuggies and hung them in the doorways so that I have my own enclosed little office. Absolutely innovative. But when I'm in there, I can pretty much be counted on that they're not going to come in and I can work.

Taylar:

While Hopper can make do, she can't help but feel like her undergraduate career ended anticlimactically. She had to go and empty out her dorm room during spring break.

Renee:

It was really melancholy. I wasn't expecting it, especially because there are so many fun things to prod at about dorm life, like you don't have a kitchen and you really miss food. But just the fact that I hadn't been expecting to start packing up so quickly made it harder to walk in the room and be like, "Oh, all of this is coming back with me right now." And it was really strange that I couldn't even go get food and use a bit more of my Falcon dollars before we left. I had to order one of those little robots and it brought us Dunkin and we had a l

In this special COVID-19 episode of the BG Ideas podcast, we talk with Dr. Lori Liggett, who researches popular images from the women's suffrage movement. Liggett is a Teaching Professor in the School of Media and Communication and a Spring 2020 Faculty Fellow.

Announcer :

From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show him this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Welcome to the Big Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, Associate Professor of English and American Culture Studies, and the Director of ICS. This is a special episode of the podcast, which we are recording during the COVID-19 pandemic. That means we're not in the studio, but are talking via phone and computer. Our sound quality will be different as a result.

Jolie:

But now more than ever, I thought it was important to share with you some of the amazing work being done by members of the BGSU community. Even, or especially when conditions are challenging, we need to recognize and celebrate great ideas. As always the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees. Today I'm speaking with Dr. Lori Ligate, a Senior Lecturer at BGSU in the School of Media and Communication who's teaching and research focus on gender and visual culture. She's a spring of 2020 ICS faculty fellow who is doing public scholarship focused on images of womanhood in popular media during the era of women's suffrage. I'm really pleased to get to talk with you today, Lori. Thank you for being flexible and joining me, virtually.

Lori:

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Jolie:

To start off, could you tell us a little bit about how you got interested in studying the era of women's suffrage? And what have been some of the more interesting and surprising directions that this research has led you?

Lori:

Right. Well, basically I got involved in studying the suffrage movement about 25 years ago, and it wasn't my original intent. I was studying women's service magazines of the late 19th century. Women's service magazines are things like Godey's Ladies Book, which was one of the first one. Then you segue into things like Good Housekeeping.

Lori:

I was interested in motherhood, domesticity from a sociopolitical point of view. As I was doing decades of looking at literally every issue of Good Housekeeping, I started seeing this pivot from talking about new household technologies, and cooking procedures and new techniques for mothers, and into more political stuff. And immediately I was hooked. And of course, I knew a little bit about the suffrage movement, but I hadn't seen it within that context. And it shocked me, because there were actual literary essays that would appear in the service magazines.

Lori:

I also started seeing it in advertising, just references were popping up everywhere. And when I really got into it was probably around the, I would say, 1908, 1910 issues. When you started seeing, and remember this as Good Housekeeping, references to militarism, to women becoming militant, to radicalism. Now, this is Good Housekeeping. I guarantee you, if you were to go to the newsstand today and pick up a Good Housekeeping, you would not see anything on radicalism and militancy. I was shocked.

Lori:

This was largely due to what was going on in Great Britain at the time. And a leader in Great Britain, one of the leaders, is the famous or infamous Emmeline Pankhurst. And the British movement had become militant at that point. We started to see the beginnings of that in the American suffragist

In this special COVID-19 episode of the BG Ideas podcast, Melody Freeland, a BGSU grad student and winner of the ICS ICS Student Research Award, and Dr. Cyndi Ducar, associate professor in World Languages and Cultures at BGSU, sit down to discuss teaching strategies in application to students learning math without English as their first language.

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Musical Intro:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie:

Welcome to the Big Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American culture studies and director of ICS.

Jolie:

This is a special episode of the Big Ideas podcast, which we're recording during the COVID-19 pandemic. That means we're not in studio but are recording via phone and computer. Our sound quality will differ as a result, but we thought it was important to share with you some of the amazing work being done by members of our BGSU community. Perhaps now more than ever, we want to celebrate big ideas. As always, the opinions expressed are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees.

Jolie:

Today, I'm joined by two guests, Melody Freeman and Dr. Cynthia Ducar. Melody is a BGSU alum with an undergrad degree in mathematics education for ages 7 through 12 who is currently working on a master's degree in Spanish, also at BGSU. She received an ICS student research award for her project "Analyzing and assessing the preparedness of math teachers to meet the needs of students for whom English is not their native language". Her faculty mentor is Dr. Cindy Ducar who teaches graduate and undergraduate Spanish courses and topics such as applied linguistics, Hispanic socio-linguistics, and heritage language pedagogy. Welcome, Melody and Cindy. Thanks for being with me today.

Melody:

Hello.

Cynthia:

Good to see you.

Jolie:

Melody, could you start us off with a description of your project and what motivated you? What questions were you trying to answer?

Melody:

Yeah, so my project, the official title is BGSU in mathematics education graduates self-efficacy for the teaching of Hispanic English language learners. So this project kind of focuses on looking at our own program at BGSU, which I went through as an undergraduate. So it's kind of a unique thing where I can kind of look at that program for mathematics education, but specifically at those who are studying to get their degree in a 7 through 12 grade certification for teaching math and those same students who are going through the program or have just recently graduated, kind of like myself and my colleagues, who I graduated with at BGSU, and looking at and studying or investigating their levels of self-efficacy specifically for teaching students whose native language is Spanish or who are classified as English language learners.

Melody:

I guess I would say that where this project came from, why this question, why this project, I think part of it comes from the fact that I did go through the same exact program as an undergraduate, so I have kind of this firsthand experience and our program is one of the top in the nation. But any program still has gaps or things to work on, and so I did notice or take note of a few things as I did go through the program myself, one of those gaps in preparation, which is related to preparing our future teachers who teach math specifically, to be able to do that efficiently and effectively for this student population specifically. So I think that those are kind of the main components of wha

In this special COVID-19 episode of the BG Ideas podcast, we talk with Dr. Albert Dzur, professor of political science at BGSU and a Spring 2020 ICS Faculty Fellow. He studies collaborative governance and how citizen engagement with government institutions might impact the opioid crisis.

Transcript:

Announcer:

From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas.

Intro Music:

I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment.

Jolie Sheffer:

Welcome to the BG Ideas Podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American studies and the director of ICS. This is a special episode of the BG Ideas Podcast, which we are recording during the COVID-19 pandemic. That means we're not in the studio, but working via phone and computer. Our sound quality will be different as a result. But now more than ever, I thought it was important to share with you some of the amazing work being done by members of the BGSU community. Even or especially when conditions are challenging, we need to recognize and celebrate great ideas.

Jolie Sheffer:

As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees. Today I'm speaking with Dr. Albert Dzur, a distinguished research professor of political science at BGSU. He studies citizen participation and power-sharing in criminal justice, healthcare, public administration and education. He joins me today to talk about research undergone in spring 2020 as an ICS faculty fellow. This project considers the opioid epidemic, particularly within Ohio, as a wicked problem. Thanks for joining me, Albert. I appreciate your flexibility here.

Albert Dzur:

Thanks for putting this on, Jolie.

Jolie Sheffer:

Obviously, due to COVID-19, a lot has changed in the world since the beginning of the semester. As an ICS faculty fellow, you were already released from teaching and service to focus on research. How has your work in life changed due to the coronavirus restrictions?

Albert Dzur:

So much academic research is already done inside, so as long as you have a good chair, a good table, internet, you can do it anywhere. But there was field work, part of this research, face-to-face interviewing, which is really important. That has to be set aside temporarily. Interlibrary loan services stopped for now and professional talks that I had scheduled on this have been postponed in some cases to one year later. But, I have to say the biggest negative impact is emotional. A lot of people found it very disorienting to have to think about health and wellbeing all the time. It's in the back of our minds all the time. Our loved ones, our friends, our colleagues, right? We care about them, but it's way in the back of our brain,. But this COVID-19 epidemic puts it at the forefront such like you're constantly thinking about it, and if you're a news junkie like myself, you read and listen to the news all the time.

Albert Dzur:

Anyway, I turn on my New York Times app and it's like looking at a gravestone every day. It's really sobering. I mean, I heard an interview the other day on BBC Radio with a woman who had lost her mom to COVID-19, and she was talking about how she had been watching the news on TV, and every day I guess in Britain they have cases, case numbers on the left and mortality rates on the right, and she was just talking very methodically about how she was watching this as an outsider and then one day her mom became one of the numbers on the left, and then a week later her mom became one of the numbers on the right. It was heartbreaking, and it was l