Meeting Day: Friday Professors:
Time: 9am-12pm Bethany Cutts (NRES) Andrew Greenlee (DURP)
Location: TBH 19 [email protected] [email protected]
Credit hours: 4 217-244-1921 (Office) 217-333-9069 (Office)
Office Hours:
Greenlee --By Appointment (please email 24-48 hours in advance) Cutts – Wednesday 3:30-5:30 in Turner Hal S 510
Course Overview and Objectives
This workshop is an exciting opportunity for students to complete collaborative research. Students will work in teams to investigate relationships between stream contamination and social vulnerability in the Lincoln Park-Milwaukee Estuary and Grand Calumet Research areas near Chicago. Students will work to develop and execute a research plan to produce new knowledge using quantitative GIS and qualitative video-based interview methods.
There are many learning objectives associated with this course. Students will:
Increase their knowledge about the environmental and political history of sediment remediation effort in the two Areas of Concern.
Practice applying social science methods to evaluate changes in social and environmental vulnerability.
Gain familiarity with terminology and cultures from multiple disciplinary and theoretical perspectives.
Develop and exercise leadership, communication, conflict management, and decision-making skills through collaborative research.
Gain practical experience drafting a manuscript that may be submitted for publication in a peer reviewed journal.
Prerequisites
This course is designed as an intensive workshop which will demand a substantial amount of time outside of class. This course has no prerequisites aside from graduate-level standing. Students are expected to complete Human Subjects Training prior to the first class meeting. Students will benefit from some prior knowledge of experience in GIS, community development, intensive interviewing, and/or urban stream contaminant removal, although these are not a required prerequisite. Please see us if you have any questions regarding whether this workshop is right for you.
Complete IRB Training Information can be found at:
http://irb.illinois.edu/?q=education/RequiredTrainingInvestigators.html
Please complete the following modules and submit your certificate of completion through Compass: CITI Training Module at the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) www.citiprogram.org.
History and Ethical Principles - SBR (ID: 490)
Defining Research with Human Subjects - SBR (ID:491) Assessing Risk in Social Behavioral Sciences - SBR (ID: 503) Informed Consent - SBR (ID: 504)
Privacy and Confidentiality - SBR (ID: 505)
Course Schedule and Readings
Through a team-based approach, groups of students will either (A) identify local shifts in patterns of environmental, place and social vulnerability by modifying existing indices developed for use with geographical information systems (GIS) or (B) describe shifts in attitudes and perceptions during active remediation efforts using community video as an interview method. Students will make several trips to field sites in the Chicago area, and should be prepared to be productive, independent contributors to group projects and discussion.
This workshop will split time between in-class work and field-based research. The sequence of course sessions is designed to help you quickly develop a working knowledge of important environmental and planning concepts, and will familiarize you with the instructor’s research approaches. As we learn more about these theories and concepts, you will apply them within a real-world context.
Assignments, Grading, and Attendance
This course requires your engagement both within and outside of the classroom. Grading criteria include contribution to the course environment, quality of writing, depth of analysis, and thoughtful engagement with community partners. You work will be graded on a 100-point scale
A 90 – 100 points Outstanding work
B 80 – 89 points Good work, needs minor revision C 70 – 79 points Work needs some revision D 60-69 points Work needs significant revision
F 0 – 59 points Work does not meet minimum standards
Consistent contributions to class, thoughtful engagement with course material, and other achievements may lead to adjustments in course grades. Your course grade will consist of the following assignments: Individual Assignments
Weekly field notes (20 Percent): On a weekly basis, provide a summary of your individual process and work activities.
Annotated bibliography (20 Percent): Produce an annotated bibliography that examines the intersection of social vulnerability and environmental remediation efforts.
CV and cover letter (5 Percent): Students will submit a CV and cover letter to be placed in the appropriate working group.
Participation, attendance, peer evaluation (10 Percent): You will be graded on your participation and attendance in class. You will also have the opportunity to provide an evaluation of your peers’ work and contributions to our workshop at the end of the semester.
Group Assignments
Group research plan (5 Percent): As a group you will develop a research plan that outlines your strategy for work and deliverables to be produced by the end of the workshop.
Research paper (25 Percent): As a group you will produce a scholarly research paper based upon your analysis of primary and secondary data.
Final data sets and metadata (15 Percent): As a group you will catalog and organize, catalog all of the primary and secondary data that you have collected over the course of the class.
All assignments should be submitted in the appropriate COMPASS 2g assignment folder as a PDF file (unless otherwise noted in the assignment). Late work will be automatically graded down by 5 points per day, and will only be accepted if you have made arrangements with the instructors prior to the assignment due date.
The learning environment in this workshop depends upon your presence and participation Full participation is expected for all course sessions (which are listed within the course schedule below). For each course session that you are absent from (excluding excused absences), 2 percent will be deducted from your final course grade. Excused absences will be granted on a case-by-case basis, but must be approved by the instructors prior to the course session from which you are absent.
The role of the instructors
This course will be facilitated by Dr. Bethany Cutts and Dr. Andrew Greenlee. Through the course, our primary role is to mentor research and discussion leaders, although we may occasionally lecture on key methods or theories and the ethics of group work and collaborative research and publishing. Each group will be assigned either Dr. Greenlee or Dr. Cutts as a primary mentor and will meet with her/him in the weeks devoted to group work.
Resources
SoftwareAtlas Ti- Qualitative data analysis software which we will use to analyze primary and secondary data (transcribed video and audio, pictures, notes, etc.). Student licenses are available via the UIUC Webstore
ESRI ArcGIS 10.2- Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software which we will use to visualize data and perform some analysis. Student licenses are available via the UIUC Webstore for free.
Collaborative meeting space and computing
The Cutts Lab - Turner Hall Room S 409. There are 5 desktop computers available. ArcGIS is currently installed on one machine and can be added to others. Other programs can be added as needed, with the administrative permission of Dr. Cutts. Students can be granted access to the machines by sending their Netid to Dr. Cutts. They can be granted keys to the building and the room if needed. They must be returned at the end of the semester. There is wireless internet access as well. Please leave the room in good shape and shut down and turn off the dang computers when you leave!
Temple Buell Hall Room 227 – Computer Lab with video editing software (Adobe Premier) as well as ArcGIS and other useful software that requires spendy licenses. This is a classroom, so it is sometimes occupied. With your UIN, Dr. Greenlee can have you granted key card access.
Honor Code and Learning Environment
The Illinois Student Code states: “It is the responsibility of the student to refrain from infractions of academic integrity, from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from conduct that aids others in such infractions.” Note that you are subject to the Honor Code, as well as procedures for addressing violations to the Code, regardless of whether you have read it and understand it. According to the Code, “ignorance is no excuse.”
To meet this standard in this course, note the following: in written work, all ideas (as well as data or other information) that are not your own must be cited. Note that ideas that require citation may not have been published or written down anywhere. While you are free—and indeed encouraged—to discuss assignments with your peers, all of your data collection, analysis, and writing should be your own. The consequence for violating these expectations may include receiving no credit for the assignment in question, and at the discretion of the instructor, may include automatic failure of the course.
The course instructors are committed to maintaining a learning environment that promotes an atmosphere of mutual respect in all activities, including discussions, and field work. See Student Code Article 1-Student Rights and Responsibilities, Part 1. Student Rights: §1-102.
Course Schedule
There are no required texts for this class. All readings will be provided online via the course COMPASS 2G website. A summary of each course session is provided below:
1/24 Week 1. Introduction to the project.
1/31 Week 2. Discussion of readings in SOVI and Community Voice. 2/7 Week 3. Preliminary Site Visit (all day).
2/14* Week 4. Discussion on methods, planning for the field. 2/21 Week 5. Group research plans and division of responsibility. 2/28 Week 6. Field Work and Individual group meetings.
3/7 Week 7 Field Work and Individual group meetings. 3/14 Week 8 Field Work and Individual group meetings.
3/21 Week 9. Cross group interaction – presentations and plans to finish 3/28 SPRING BREAK
4/4* Week 10. Field Work and Individual group meetings.
4/11* Week 11. Field Work (if needed) and Individual group meetings (for analysis and writing).
4/18 Week 12 Field Work (if needed) and Individual group meetings (for analysis and writing).
4/25 Week 13. Field Work (if needed) and Individual group meetings (for analysis and writing).
5/2 Week 14. Final In-class presentation.
5/9 FINAL Community/stakeholder presentation, paper and data deposit. (exact time and date TBA depending on the finals schedules of student). Final exams are May 9-May 16)
Students should plan to spend an entire day off campus for each field site visit. The trip in Week 3 is mandatory, but additional field trips made by each group should be planned with the commitments of group members and the research relationships both in mind. If it does not present an ethical or methodological concern, not all group members need go to on each field visit.
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