Month: January 2015

UAP Wins Exemplary Program Award

This evening, the Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) program received Virginia Tech’s Exemplary Program Award. The three other award recipients were the Department of Chemistry in the College of Science, the Department of Psychology also in the College of Science, and  VT Engage in the Division of Student Affairs.

The 2014 award focused on recognizing groups that are developing and sustaining innovative and effective departmental approaches to fostering Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) at the undergraduate or graduate level.

I have posted a few pictures from the event below, along with a video I took through Glass of Diane Zahm receiving the award on behalf of UAP.

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Studio Reading Exercise

For my studio today, I challenged the students to prepare a review of 11 international development-related reports and papers (listed below). The combination of these documents led to some interesting discussions about the purpose of development assistance (from public, non-governmental, and private entities) and the emerging trends that are occurring within the sector. In the list below, I have included some of the questions the students raised after reviewing each reading. Please feel free to respond to any of these questions if you have an interest in this subject matter.

Studio Reading Exercise

1. World Bank (2015) World Development Report: Mind, Society, and Behavior.

  • What areas of international development do think stand to benefit from a greater consideration of psychological and social behavioral drivers?
  • Do you think development efforts focusing on human behavior and decision making will be more effective at a global, national, community, or person-to-person scale?

2. World Bank (2014) World Development Report: Risk and Opportunity.

  • Would the creation of a transnational risk board be more effective at the international or regional level?

3. Oxfam (2011) The Politics of Partnership: How donors manage risk while letting recipients lead their own development.

  • How feasible are partnerships involving the management of risk? Could they end up doing more harm than good?

4. Brinkerhoff, D. W. (2010) Developing Capacity in Fragile States.

  • With limited resources, is it possible to balance short term stability with long term development in a fragile state?
  • In fragile states with pressure to provide a quick response, how can interventions reach people without undermining the government?

5. Global Health Strategies initiatives (GHSi) (2012) How the BRICS are reshaping global health and development.

  • Although this paper focused on health related issues, the proposal to create a “multilateral bank that would be exclusively funded by developing nations and finance projects in those countries” was mentioned. This proposal has been explored further since this paper was published, and it has been said that the BRICS bank could rival the World Bank. What types of impacts could a BRICS bank have?

6. Kharas, H. and Rogerson, A. (2012) Horizon 2025. Creative destruction in the aid industry.

  • If you were directing an aid agency, what strategies would you use to remain nimble/adaptable? How would you monitor your relevance or vulnerability as global needs and the aid landscape changes over time? What are the benchmarks or red flags that might convey your relevance or stagnancy as an institution?
  • This paper is based on finance driving and shaping international development. To what extent do you agree that this is true?

7. European Commission (2011) Aid Effectiveness 2011. Progress in Implementing the Paris Declaration.

  • What are the key challenges to delivering effective aid? How might these challenges be met to improve aid effectiveness?
  • How would the design of national development strategies for aid effectiveness affect other development objectives and goals?

8. OECD (2014) Making Development Co-operation More Effective – 2014 Progress Report. 

  • Different countries have different cultures and values. Thus, different priorities can be set concerning development co-operation principles. How can we approach these differences constructively in the monitoring process?
  • The Busan Partnership Agreement is a voluntary commitment. Would a more compulsory agreement be a more effective way to meet the specified targets?

9. Zimmermann, F. and Smith, K. (2011) More Actors, More Money, More Ideas for International Development Co‐operation.

  • How can we prevent aid fragmentation between DAC and non-DAC aid recipients?

10. USAID (2013) USAID’S Legacy in Agricultural Development: 50 Years of Progress.

  • In addition to measuring income and higher productivity, how else could we assess the long-term effectiveness of agriculture development? 

11. USAID (2014) 50 Years of Global Health: Saving Lives and Building Futures.

  • What are some of the failures in international development? Do you think the changes are as positive as those documents in the report?

Advice to MURP and PGG Applicants

The Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) program is looking to fill two doctoral level research assistantships in the Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) Ph.D. program and one master’s level graduate research assistantship in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program beginning Fall 2015. We are especially interested in receiving applications from minority and first generation college students.

If you would like to apply for either of these opportunities, I encourage you to carefully review the UAP Research Needs Statement to identify the subject area and faculty with whom you would like to work. Please include this information in the personal statement submitted with your application.

2015-01-26_0920

Update on Google Glass and Apps

Following the announcement that Google will no longer be selling Glass, I thought I’d provide an update on my plans for using Google Glass and Apps this coming semester. Essentially, not much will change. I will continue to use the platform to support my courses and plan to test new ways of interacting with students in the classroom, such as using ParticiPoll to ask questions during a presentation.

My experience with learning and using Glass and Google Apps has transformed the way I approach my teaching. I no longer use VT’s Scholar system and run all of my courses using VT-supported Google Apps. I’m more willing to try new things and can easily walk away from ideas that simply didn’t work. I’m sure the spirit of the Explorer program had something to do with this. Below is the welcome message from Google that came with Glass device.

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During the Fall 2014 semester, I tested Google Classroom in one of my courses and will now rollout this App in all of my courses. I would describe the App as a useful assignment management tool that eliminates the need to download/upload assignments and streamlines this aspect of administering a course. While it took a while to understand exactly how files were being shared – this process is managed in the Classroom App – I’d recommend the App to anyone who is comfortable using Google Drive.

Towards the end of this semester, I plan to conclude an assignment-feedback study I have been undertaking with Mary English that should reveal the value of providing video feedback in addition to written comments. With Glass being phased out for now, I plan to start testing alternative video recording devices and software to capture my feedback. The suite of Google Apps I use to support my courses will not change.

I have included a short article below that was published in the Engineers’ Forum magazine (pp. 14-15) that talks about my use of Google Glass and Apps. The title of the article reflects my jump into the Google Inc. universe. A jump that I have yet to regret.

2015-01-19_2022

TRB 2015 Annual Meeting

Having just returned from a intellectually stimulating SOS meeting in Washington, D.C., I’m looking forward to traveling back to DC next week for the 2015 TRB Annual Meeting. During this meeting I will be supporting the work of the ADD40 Committee on Transportation and Sustainability.

2015-01-08_1050While ADD40 is supporting a number of workshops, sessions, and meetings at the annual meeting, the following list outlines the committee-led events:

 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday