IUSB Master of Liberal Studies theses

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/20146

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    Exploring the Potential for a First Year Experience Online with Learning Styles
    (Indiana University South Bend, 2015-12) Kingsbury, Tabitha
    This research will fill a critical gap in the higher education field by reviewing learning styles in an online environment for a first year experience college success course. This is critical information for administrators and faculty as students are utilizing online platforms more than ever before in higher education. An increase in online education, demanding schedules, and preferences for online options drives many students toward online environments and it is crucial to understand what measures could be used to create success in online classrooms. This paper will be an inter-disciplinary review with a variety of concerns for a first year experience online with social science reviewing pedagogy, engagement, and technology. Science themes will then be incorporated relative to the various learning styles of individuals and how they learn as regarding the potential for an online first year experience and the methods of creating a first year experience online for the preferred learning styles of students. A first year experience can be created for the online environment if learning styles are effectively incorporated.
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    Growing a Sustainable Urban Food System: People, Produce, and Profits
    (2011-12) Bailey, Krista
    The impact of the current prevailing food system is far reaching and disruptive on many levels. Some may point solely to the economic or environmental or human health impacts of the current mainstream food system, but it is difficult to separate the three. In a study on the external costs of agricultural production in the U.S., researchers Tetgemeier and Duffy note that "consumers pay for food well beyond the grocery store checkout. We pay for food in our utility bills and taxes and in our declining environmental and personal health." This awareness is growing as individuals and communities begin to understand how food security is economic security is national security. In this thesis I will investigate the current state of the food system, how it got into an unsustainable situation, and examine the environmental, economic, and social effects. Drawing on historical data and current information, I will investigate some of the changes that have taken place in agriculture and community development. While much has been written about the challenges society faces from the current food system, few offer solutions based on growing urban community food projects. I will illustrate how change can begin and how seeds can be planted to grow a sustainable urban food system by highlighting case studies from South Bend, Indiana. This community is typical in many ways in terms of how the food system has shifted from a regional one to one that is reliant on a global marketplace. To provide examples of how and why a sustainable urban food system develops, the projects and programs that have begun in this city offer a reasonable starting place which can serve to inspire other communities and inspire widespread food system changes.