Parafskite solar cells have been successfully demonstrated at the laboratory scale but need to be adapted for industrial use. Large scale manufacturing and processing methods have been developed to enable the transition from lab scale to industrial scale production. These include printing, coating, and vacuum slash vapor deposition techniques, which can be used to produce large area cells and modules. Additionally, flexible substrate production allows for the development of roll-to-roll production, which has numerous advantages for various applications. This article was authored by Stefano Raza, Sergio Castro-Hermosa, Aldo De Carlo, and others.


Leaver Brothers Company, makers of swan, the soap with the exclusive super-creamed blend, presents... The Swan with my friend Irma. Starring Mary Wilson as Irma and Kathy Lewis as Jane. Friendship, friendship, just a perfect friendship. When other friendships have been forgotten, theirs will still be hot. Girls share an apartment together. I don't think one has any business telling the other how to live. However, if your roommate gets out of line once in a while, I believe it's perfectly alright to drop a gentle hint. After all, a word to the wise should be sufficient. Of course, if your roommate happens to be Irma Peterson, brother, there just ain't enough words in the dictionary. Now please understand me, me, Jane Stacey. I love the girl. Now go along with her, although sometimes it isn't easy. For instance, the other night I was telling Irma about the lovely dinner party that I attended. I remarked that the table was set with community plate and Irma said, Community plate? I wouldn't want everybody eating from the same dish. These things don't bother me. After living with Irma a while, you begin to feel like a handball court. Things just bounce off of you. Besides, today is a day for celebration. Irma and I have bought a cute little spin at piano for our apartment. Of course it's a luxury, but Irma and I are both working, and by skimping here and there, we'll be able to meet the payments. That reminds me, honey. What, Jane? You know, we're going to make a payment on the piano today and on the 19th of every month, so I've worked out a little budget for us. Well, I'll do just as you say, Jane. That'll be swell, honey. Yeah, I gotta look over this work I brought home from the office. Oh, gee, Jane, your boss is such confidence in you. He trusts you with everything. Well, most bosses do. Not my boss. Mr. Clyde doesn't trust me with anything. He even puts pencils in the pencil sharpener for me. Why? I don't know. Maybe he's tired of pointed erasers. What happens once in a while? No, only yesterday he called me a bonehead. What for? Well, just as I was opening my lunch, he asked me to get the bank deposit ready, and I got confused. Confused? Yes, because he called me from the bank and said they would not pay interest on three tuna-sip fish sandwiches. Well, honey, all jobs have their shortcomings. Not yours, Jane.  Mr. Clyde is always yelling at me, telling me I don't know my work. He can't find anything in the files, and when I run out of stamps, I have no business sending a letter COD. You should do something about it. I am. What? You're going to ask for a raise.  Oh, wait a minute, sweetie. You can't do that. We're skating on thin ice right now. We just bought a piano. They're payments to be met. And what if Mr. Clyde fires you? Me? It's insensible. I'm going right down and talk to him. Irma, listen, sweetie, for a minute. Now, don't worry, Jane. Now, just leave it to me. I know how to handle Mr. Clyde. Besides, he's hinted many times that I'm insolid with him. Insolid with him? Yes, he's often said I had a head like a rock. Wait, Irma. Listen to me, honey. Wait, Jane. When I come back, my position will be different. Goodbye. Well, Miss Peterson, what are you doing here on your afternoon off? I want to speak to you, Mr. Clyde. Please make it brief. This is the only chance I get to decipher what you've done all week. By the way, as long as you're here, where did you file the letter to Smith and Smith? Where it belongs under C. C? Mm-hmm. Cloth drops. Thank you. I had no trouble finding you let it live a pool. I looked under G. Oh, how did you know? Simple. Just remember your system. Liver is meat. A pool has water. Water and meat makes gravy. Look under G. Now, what's on your mind, Miss Peterson? Mr. Clyde, you know the things I do around this office? Yes. You know how I talk to the clients? Yes. You know how I take care of everything? Yes. Well, I guess there isn't more to be said. There isn't. You're fired. Hello, Jane. Oh, hello, Richard. I didn't expect you. What's on your mind? Oh, nothing. I just thought you'd be passing by. And say, what's this? When did you get the piano? Just today. Oh, say, it's nice looking. Oh. They're a nice tone. Yeah. Irma and I always wanted one. It's expensive, but we'll pay it off slowly. Well, you should have a lot of money. Does Irma play? She knows one piece. Kitten on the keys. Oh. How does it sound? Like the cat is caught under the piano. But then we both wanted it. Since we're both working, it won't be hard to... Excuse me, Richard. Hello, honey. Where have you been so long? What do you mean, places? What happened with your raise? I didn't get it. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Where did you get the raise? I didn't get it. Oh. Well, cheer up, honey. Maybe some other day. Yes. Some other company. Irma, won't you ever learn? How could you let yourself get fired at a time like this after we just bought a piano? We've got payments to meet up. Don't worry, Jane. I have something good to tell you when I get home. Where are you? Around the corner. I wanted to break the news to you first. Well, hurry home. All right, Jane. I'm in the middle of a banana... Hi, honey. Oh, what is she up to now? No, don't let it upset you, Jane. Oh, Richard, where does that girl get her talent for doing the worst possible thing at the wrong time? So help me if she wanted to join the daughters of the American Revolution, she'd get Tokyo Rose to sponsor her. Well, is there any way that I can be of help? No, no, no, Richard, please. Now, Irma and I bought this piano we're going to pay for. I can meet my share of the obligation and Irma will just have to pay hers from the $100 savings she has in the bank. Richard? Hello, Irma. I was just leaving. I'll see you later, Jane. Goodbye. Bye. Jane, you're not angry at me because I was fired. Well, frankly, I am, Irma. You were a fool to get yourself fired just when we needed the money so badly. But you'll probably get another job in a week or so. We can make the payment on the piano today because I just remembered that you have $100 in the bank. Irma? You have $100 in the bank? Irma, why are you looking up at the ceiling? When flies walk upside down, does the blood rush to their backs? Irma Peterson, answer me. You have $100 in the bank? Please tell Janey you have $100 in the bank. It was like this. Oh, no. But it's good news. I have a chance to get a job as a receptionist next week at the number one park avenue shop. A receptionist? Honey, that's the smartest shop in town. Well, all their receptionists come from the finest finishing schools. Honey, they're very ultra. The epitome of culture and refinement. I know that. That's where I use my $100. I don't understand. Well, I want to get that job, so I bought a course in refinement. It's all here in this book. Oh, let me see it. How to become a lady in a week. Oh, Irma, you didn't spend $100 on... Oh, Irma. It's only me, Professor Kropotkin. Hello, Janey and Irma, my two little candles. One with a flame, the other with a wacky wick. What, Professor? Excuse me, a little joke I picked up in the hardware store. Girls, I hope you don't mind my coming in here, but I'm hiding from Mrs. O'Reilly. She wants the rent. Why don't you pay it, Professor? By me, it's a principle.  Yes, in my room, they feel safe. They know even a dog wouldn't go in that place. Oh, Professor, we have our troubles, too. What has Irma done this time? Well, you know the piano. The piano? I didn't notice it. You mind if I play it? All right, but you better play something short. I have a feeling your piano isn't going to be with us very long. Why not? I lost my job. Yeah, not only that, but you spent every cent she had on a phony course in self-improvement. Irma, darling, don't try to become a lady.  It's so sweet and simple. Return the course and get your money back. Yes, that's exactly what you're going to do now, honey. Come in. Hello, girls. Oh, so they are, Professor. Hello, Mrs. O'Reilly. Don't you hello me. I understand you've been going around till in the tenant you'd like to see me hanging from the rafters. I never said that. Well, that's better. I don't want to be charged extra for the decorations. Now, look here, you. Now, please, please, the two of you. I'm sorry, Mrs. O'Reilly. I don't want to be curt, but after all, I have a terrible problem here. Irma's lost her job and she spent every cent she has on a fake course in self-improvement. Oh, Irma, you poor dear. Where did you buy the course? From a man named Sam Bauer. Glory be to thee. A checkered jacket and talk fast? Yes. Oh, that crook. How could you go to a man like that? Why, how do you know he's a crook? He sold me a book on how to preserve me youth. Mrs. O'Reilly, if you'll excuse me, I think he sold you the wrong book.  Looks more like it's been pickled. Push up. Now, Professor, let's let the girls alone. We'll go up to your room and talk about an operation. What operation? The one you're going to need if you don't give me the rent. Bye, girls. And Irma, get your money back. Now, sweetie, that's exactly what you're going to do because you're out of a job. And we need that hundred dollars desperately or they'll take the piano and we'll be the laughing stock of the neighborhood. Oh, I understand, Jane, but please don't mention a word of this to Al. Why not? Well, I want Al to have confidence in me because you see, when he and I get married, I want to handle the money in the family. Yeah, well, I think that's fair. After all, you'll be the only one who's working. And now Suzy Swan sings to us. Listen. My advice says Suzy, when you are buying soap for dishes, please be choosy. Swan gives a brand new kind of suds, you see. Your dishes wash so easily. Swan's gentle too. I swan to you, says Suzy. And ladies, you'll probably be thanking Suzy Swan for her melodic advice when you use white-floating swan soap for dishes. You bet, because now with swan, you can have faster dishwashing and protection for your hands at the same time. You see, swan is made with an exclusive super-creamed blend for a wonderful new kind of suds, suds that get your dishes washed fast, suds that rinse away so completely with one hot rinse, your dishes never need drying. Yes, swan saves you time, but that's not all. Swan saves your hands too. Sure, because swan's exclusive super-creamed blend protects your hands, leaves them lovely as ever. Think of it, no more strong soaps or strong soap powders that make your hands all red and rough. Now you can do a fast job with pure, mild swan. Because only swan has this exclusive super-creamed blend, for speed and mildness both. Pacing the floor, waiting for Irma to come back with $100 that she spent on that worthless culture course. Oh, gee. I hope she gets it, because there's a payment due on the piano. I don't want to be at the keyboard playing ballerina while two truck drivers dance off with the piano. Hello, Jane. Irma, did you get the money? No, there was a note on the door out to lunch. I think Mr. Bauer likes Mexican food. Mexican food?  Oh. Irma, there goes the hundred. Are you angry, Jane? Irma, I don't know what I am any longer. All I know is that I've been living with you for a year and everything you've bought in that time has been a swindle. First, that refrigerator. Well, everybody buys a refrigerator. Without a motor? Well, a man said that without any moving parts, it would last longer. All right. All right, it could happen. What about the time you wanted a fur coat? And I told you to go to I.J. Fox. Where did you go? I.J. Wolf. He said he was a distant relative. And what kind of fur did you buy? The man said it was a genuine mink-dyed, square-colored leopard-spotted caracal beaver. Honey, I told you that that many animals haven't gotten together since they walked into Noah's Ark. Understand me, sweetie? I'm not trying to pick on you. I'm only hoping that by pointing out your past mistakes, you won't be so gullible in the future. Well, it's just that they make it sound so reasonable. Oh, sweetie, what's the use of talking anymore? You have no job. You haven't any money. We can't meet the payments on the piano. All you have is a book. How to become a lady in one week. Oh, please don't start to cry, Jane. Oh, what do you expect me to do? They'll take the piano back, and my credit won't be good any place in town, and my charge accounts will be canceled. Jane, maybe they're coming for the piano. Shall I hide it? Yes, put it under the rug. Hello, Jane. Hi, chicken. Hello, Al, honey. Well, kids, I've done it again. Oh, Al, not another one of your deals. What is it this time, dipping tapioca and ink and selling it for caviar? What's the matter with you, Jane? You seem bitter. Silly Al. I feel wonderful. In fact, I'm going to take a little trip. I'm going out of my mind. Inhibited, Jane. Chicken, what's up? Al, I got fired. Fired? Chicken, how can you tamper with my future like that? That's the worst news I've heard. No, it isn't, Al. I've got my life savings on this course. Let me see. How to become a lady in a week. Chicken, how could you? Well, I wanted to get some poise and cultured. Haven't you ever felt that way? Let me get poise? Chicken, I'm loaded with it. How many guys do you know who can walk into a theater backwards, light a cigarette and say to the doorman, going out for a smoke, call me when the newsreel is over? Now, chicken, you shouldn't have bought this book. Hey, what did you pay for it? $100? $100? Chicken, I think you've laid an egg again. Something else we can do? Well, if there is, there's only one man who can help us. Who, Al? Who else but... Hello, Joe. Al. Got a problem. Got to find a job. For me, Joe, don't be funny. It's for Irma. She got fired. Wanted something in her line. Well, Irma does typing. Yeah, you remember the one who typed that letter for your cousin Willie? Asking the governor for a pardon? Well, Joe, don't be sore. She just left out one word. I know she was supposed to write, I am not guilty, and she left out the knot. What's one word among friends?  Don't want to help her. All right, forget it, Joe. Goodbye. What are you going to do now? Don't know, chicken. Looks kind of hopeless. Everything. Oh, take it easy, chicken. Oh, no, I'm a burden to all my friends. I treat them all like beasts. That's what I am, a beast of burden. Chick, chick. Oh, that poor kid. Come in. Hello, Al. Hi, Richard. Hey, where's Jane and Irma? Jane's out for a walk. Irma's in the bedroom crying. Oh, about a job, huh? Yeah. Yeah, she's taking a pretty high. Well, that's why I dropped by here. Now, I might have a job for her. Oh. Irma, Irma, please come out. This is Richard. I want to talk to you. Tell her the good news, Richard. Well, it isn't definite, but I just left the house and Mother's having tea with Powell Stuyvesant, the editor of Society Magazine. Now, he employs any number of girls, and I thought I might talk to him in the morning about employing you. Oh, Richard, you're so sweet.  Well, I think I'll run over to Papillon Restaurant and see if Jane's there. Now, Irma, I'll call Mr. Stuyvesant in the morning and have him get in touch with you. Goodbye. Isn't it wonderful, Al? Just got an idea, chicken. What, Al? Why should we wait until tomorrow? Job might be filled. Why don't we drop in on Mrs. Rhinelander now and meet Mr. Stuyvesant socially? Make a big impression. Might even get a better job. But, Al, we weren't invited. We're in the clear. We got an excuse. We'll say we're looking for Richard. No, he won't be there. But, Al, do you think it's right? Chicken, all big deals are not made in the office. It's on the golf course, at tea, at cocktails, at bridge. You've got to handle it like the big shots do. Well, but Mr. Stuyvesant is editor of society magazine and Mrs. Rhinelander is... Oh, Al, I'll be so nervous. Maybe I ought to read the book on culture and get some points. That book is a fake. I know the right things to say. We'll give it all to you in a nutshell. All right, Al, I'm ready. Fine. Now, first, upon entering a mixed crowd, make conversation of general interest. Now, these people are high society, so we discuss the cabbets and the lodges. The cabbets and the lodges. Also, you drop a comment that you are getting ready for the horse show. You got it? I've got it. Okay, chicken, we go. Strike while the iron is hot. If things go right, in an hour, you should have a swell job amongst classy people. All right, Al. Oh, just a minute while I take everything out of my handbag. Why are you doing that, chicken? Well, the book said the polite guest never arrives at a party loaded. All right, chicken. Before we ring, have you got everything straight? I make general conversation. I'm getting ready for the horse show, and I talk about the cabbets and lodges. Okay, I'll ring. Al, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing in the neighborhood? We just dropped by to see Richard. But we know he's not in. Please, chicken. You look very lovely, Mrs. Rylan. Well, thank you. Won't you come in? I've never seen you looking so attractive. Thank you. I'm getting ready for the horse show. Holy chicken! Erma, now while you're here, I'd like to have you meet my guest, Mr. Paul Stuyvesant. Paul, this is Erma Peterson and her boyfriend, Al. How do you do? Delighted. Dorothy, now that your friends are here, how about a rubble of bridge? Bridge? Well... Delighted. Grand thought. Well, then let's sit at this table. Erma, how would you like to be partners with Mr. Stuyvesant? Oh, I'd rather work my way up slowly. Ah! The girl's got a great sense of humor. Er, are these the cards? Yes. Mind if I count them first? I beg your pardon. A mere formality saved me many a buck. Make a polite conversation. If you find it necessary, Erma. Mr. Stuyvesant, do you know the cabots? No, I've never had the pleasure. Do you know them? Well, I've never been to the cabot's home, but I've been to their lodge. Shall we deal? Yes, quickly. Ah, let's see now, what's of mutual interest to everybody? Chicken, you're supposed to make conversation, but I don't mean you can't stop. One spade. Two diamonds. Seven no trump. I beg your pardon, I didn't get my partner's bid. Seven no trump? Seven no trump. If you folks don't mind, I'd like to see my partner's hand. Miss Peterson, how can you make a bid like that? Why not? You're vulnerable. You haven't got an honor. Mr. Stuyvesant, I'm not discussing your character. I don't see why you should discuss mine. Chicken, easy chicken. Oh, Mrs. Rhinelander, this is impossible. I think I'll be running around. No, no, no, please, please, Paul, I could explain. Gee, Al, I think I made a wonderful impression. I don't know about that chicken, but you sure performed a great trick. What was it, Al? You changed a forehanded bridge game in a double solitaire. And Richard, he told me the wonderful news. He's going to speak to Mr. Stuyvesant. First thing in the morning, bought a job for you. Oh, Jane, I don't think I'll get along very well with Mr. Stuyvesant. Well, sweetie, you haven't even met the man. How do you know? Well, that's silly, Jane. I've never taken poison, but I know I wouldn't like it. Irma, what are you talking about? Jane, if that's Richard, don't answer it. Why not? It may be a wrong number. Irma, you're really acting ridiculous, God. Hello? What, Richard? Yeah, yeah, she just came in. No, she wouldn't tell me where she's been. She... What? At your mother's playing bridge with Mr. Stuyvesant. What happened?  She's not. Oh, bless her. Are you angry? You're not. What about Mr. Stuyvesant? He's what? He's given up cards. He's locked himself up in the Harvard Club and refused to give it. Oh, Richard, you're kidding. Was it really that bad? I see. Excuse me, Richard. I want to have a talk with Irma. Bye. Irma. Irma Peterson, how could you? Oh, I'm sorry, Jane. We were so anxious to get the job, and we wanted to do it the social way. You know, it was a strike while the iron is hot. Well, you certainly cooled it off.  Oh, Irma, use the cake of swan soap and put it in front of the mirror. So I had to know why. Irma, why put the soap in front of the mirror? And Irma said... A man on the radio just told a story of the ugly duckling, and I want our swan to know he didn't mean him. Well, you're so right. In fact, it's downright beautiful, that cake of swan soap, smooth and white and creamy. And thanks to swan's exclusive super-creamed blend, swan's new kind of suds are wonderful. Sure, they whip up fast for dishes. Whisk away dirt and grease and leave your dishes shining, gleaming bright. And you'll like the way swan's new kind of suds rinse away. So completely, your dishes never need drying. And ladies, beautiful is the word for the way swan leaves your hands. You see, swan's exclusive super-creamed blend protects your hands, leaves them soft, smooth and lovely as ever. Right-floating swan can give you this speed and mildness combined, because only swan has this exclusive super-creamed blend. 24 West 73rd Street is back on a paying basis. I'm working, and Irma's got her old job with Mr. Clyde back. So the piano's here to stay, and Irma practices it diligently. I'm delighted in your interest in music. Why do you practice standing up? Nothing I can say except hats off to my friend Irma. My friend Irma, presented by swan, another fine product of Lever Brothers Company, was produced and directed by Cy Howard. Tonight's script was written by Cy Howard and Park Levy. Folks, next Monday evening, listen again to... With my friend Irma. Starring Mary Wilson as Irma and Kathy Lewis as Jane, the part of Professor Kropotkin was played by Hans Conreed, Frank Mingman speaking. Sprite. Cakes are light and high. Sprite. There's a reason why. Sprite. Cakes improve with Sprite. Rely on Sprite. You bet there's a reason why Sprite is the cake-making wonder. Sprite has an amazing cake-improver secret. Try the sure Sprite one ball way, and be certain of lighter, finer, richer cakes every time. No other type of shortening has Sprite's cake-improver secret. For new cake-making success, Rely on Sprite. For all vegetable Sprite with cake-improver. Rely on Sprite. S-B-R-Y. Rely on Sprite. This week, one hour earlier, and listen to the Lux Radio Theater, immediately followed by my friend Irma. This is CBS, where 99 million people gather every week. The Columbia Broadcasting System.


It's gonna be a nice little sit-down video We're gonna be doing my holiday gift guide if you guys know anything about me you guys know that I love Gift-giving I genuinely think it is my biggest talent like I don't think I'm better at anything than at giving people gifts I have a running note all year round of Presence people like that I'm really close with that I would be giving gifts to and like things that they say randomly all like write down or like I'm just like so personable with gifts like it really genuinely is my biggest gift receiving gifts I'm not that good at like I feel a little bit awkward, but giving gifts. I'm great Okay, my boyfriend like doesn't even know when his half birthday is and he's obsessed with his normal birthday He doesn't even know what his half birthday is and like I'm doing this whole thing like I'm so into gifts You guys just it's like it brings me so much joy It's honestly a selfish act because it just like I just love it so much And it's just like literally everything ever so I'm very passionate about my gift guys in this video I'm gonna be giving you guys holiday gift guide ideas under $20 under 40 under 60 and then under $100 I saw Morgan did this video last year and I thought that was such a great idea I know a lot people have done it But like I just remember morning doing it and then on my Instagram I'm gonna be doing stories throughout the entire month honestly like so many are gonna be up They're probably already up right now and if they are I'm gonna have them On highlights living on my Instagram page, which is just at Kinsey Elizabeth So those gift guides are gonna be like for the fitness lover for the cozy girl for him like more Specified to interest if that helps you guys at all But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed this video Comment down below the best gift you've ever been given one of my best gifts that I've ever been given Last year I took my best friend sad that I was gonna get into cooking this year, which I did Frampho me everyone I also like love rappers so she got me the Snoop Dogg cookbook and that is like that was seriously I was blown away. I have great. She did with that gift 10 out of 10 good job Sav so that's one of my favorite gifts have ever been given and most of them are not like material But you know if you guys are new here be sure to subscribe join the fun We're participating in vlogmas So you guys will be seeing my face every single day until of December 26 So get excited or don't so I'm gonna link all these down below to make it easier for you guys as well If you guys don't find anything with this, which I really doubt because these will be good Again, I think definitely follow my Instagram or just like look at my highlights or whatever because those are gonna be like I honestly think my best gift guy, but I feel like this format is more fitting for YouTube So I think that this is gonna be a great video. Love you guys. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas For my under $20 category, I have five ideas, okay So my first one being a disposable cameras These are so cute and they're really great because they create lasting memories You can get really cute ones at urban they have cow print You can get just the normal one if you guys want to get more bang for your buck You can buy them in bulk on Amazon and like split them up Look, let's say you buy like 10 or whatever I split them up and that's like gifts for like five people or whatever So you can either go the cost-efficient route or the cute one And I think that these are great gifts and everyone loves them And I think they're really good for like a white elephant as well because you know people are really into disposable Cameras, so I think that's a good one My next one is a cute travel mug plus a $5 gift card to their favorite coffee shop of choice My dog is running around my office like crazy right now and I would love to know what's up Cocoa um yeah, so you guys can get cute travel mugs For $15 $10 $15 for sure at like Target or sometimes they're on sale at Starbucks Or just if you find one on sale typically and then get them like a $5 coffee gift card So that that's like one coffee and one mug I think that's super cute one that I actually thought about this summer when I got super into Pilates is a Resistance band and weight set you can get these under 20 for sure And this is really great for like your girl who's like fit or into like at-home workouts Especially or wants to get into that or is into like Pilates or something. Um, that's a really great thing I'm gonna link down below. So my favorite options I'll have obviously like I said all of this link down below, but I think that's really good if they're like fit You know one for a girl who likes to like relax and chill and have her nice little like night routine or like spa day There's a really pretty eye mask on urban outfitters. That's pink and silk I actually you know, I think it's a satin eye mask That's $15 and then you guys can just get her one of those like $5 candles at urban or I mean they have a lot of cute little $5 knickknacks I would personally pair up with a $5 candle and then the eye mask I think that's super cute and that's also really great if you're going to look at girls girls night white elephant type thing I think that would be super cute another thing I saw is the origins mask in go set. This is on Sephora. I think Sephora has amazing gift sets Like they really kill it in the holiday season. I'm a big fan of those So I'll also have a link down below, but those are my gift ideas for under $20. Honestly under $20 is a little bit Difficult I'll give it to you, but I think those are good ideas if you guys need more let me know I can tell me their interest. I'm like the gift guru if you will and I'll give you better ideas If you guys join the Facebook group I actually do that all the time so I'll have that linked down below join our secret Facebook group It's literally so much fun And I can help you guys with all of your holiday gift giving as me can see the self-proclaimed gift guru Comment down below if you guys think gas that's in the strength. Okay Okay under $40. I'm gonna have to go with my trusty passion planner This is the best planner that has ever walked the face of the earth not that planners walk But you guys get what I'm saying passion planner is so incredible one. I love the company. Love the CEO She's actually been on my podcast I will link below that episode because it's just like she's so amazing and like the company is so good and the planner Outside of all of that is the best one or you'll ever use there. I think like $35 $25 to $35. I'm pretty sure they're like 35 anyways passion planner like it's amazing especially for the girl who like likes that sort of thing or wants to kind of get and like Get some goals together anything like that. I think a passion planner It's just something that they'll use year-round. I had switched planners every two months up until I use a passion planner I used it for four years straight. Obviously I got like four more, but three more. They're the best Okay, promise you promise you a porter mug plus the bite beauty agave lip mask set the porter mug You can get these on anthropology. You can get them on Amazon the bite beauty lip set is another Sephora set Okay, these porter mugs are so cute. They're the great travel mugs. I feel like everyone loves a good travel mug I especially love a good travel mug I think they're the best and they're just incredible and these are like really cute and then the agave lip bite beauty Lip bite whatever bite beauty agave lip mask is what I meant to say that stuff is so good It's the best thing you'll ever put on your lips. It's so moisturizing It's so great and I just think it's the best thing ever you guys will love it They'll love it the person that you give the gift to will love it I mean, it's really great. This is a really great gift for someone who like journals or writes or takes notes a Shinola notebook I Just got one for my boyfriend and how to personalize by the time this is up who that doesn't mind He doesn't watch this anyways, and I think it was like $26. They are Such amazing notebooks like they're the best quality my program gave them out for like commencement gifts And it was just like wow, this is such a great gift You can like monogram their initials on it like I'm pretty sure for free I don't know. I know that when I did it and I did three letters. It was $26 total. It's such a great thing You can get different colors. It's the best quality It's just a nice notebook, and I think that's a really good gift that does not take your full $40 So you have $10 left to get them a personalized gift card I think $10 depending on where you live like $10 is not a meal in LA normally So I think like a good coffee shop like their favorite thing. I think gift cards are actually a really great gift I think you have a lot of options for it But I think they're really good if you make it personalized So like somewhere that you know that they go often even like Trader Joe's like things like that You know they go there and you know they love it. It's good The next thing I have is the lenez kiss me all day set So lenez has amazing lip products as well. I'm tied by beauty and lenez for I'm saying that right for lip products Amazing so the set is incredible. I'll have a link down below I think it's a great option for people who are into that sort of thing Under $60 so customized jewelry from the M jewelers Um, it's not originally under 60 But they always always always always have a 40% off sale black friend I am sure is more which is past at this point But like they always have a 40% off sale So things are actually cheaper than they say online because there is always a 40% off sale And I mean always so You guys can get them like a necklace made a bracelet made personalized earrings I know they also have like the home state necklaces. So if you guys are into that sort of thing Basically any jewelry on there is gonna be under 60. It's great quality You guys can get a personalized order it in advance so that it gets here in time But yeah, I think that's great. I love personalized gifts I'm like super into that doing an entire highlight on personalized gift ideas for the holiday season So check out my Instagram next thing I have the outdoor voices sweats or the Eritrea boyfriend sweats I'm wearing them as I speak surprise surprise the outer voices what I think the look of those is better The Eritrea ones are more comfortable So if you guys want the look to be like cooler more like easy almost style to get the outdoor voices ones If you guys just want really soft sweats that will last you forever Get the Eritrea ones. They will both last you forever. They're both really great quality So I think those are really good gifts because they're so comfortable Like literally I will wear these every single day. They're just so good another gift would be a nice skin care set So I'm gonna have like three or four options linked down below There's just so many to choose from so you guys can just look in the description and see what you guys like the best Um, I think glossy is like a really great one to like really go and get some stuff and I think everyone likes that brand I wonder I like drunk elephants. So amazing Allah Hendrickson, Ole Hendrickson, however you say there's so many options So I'll have some options linked down below This is why I wish I had a blog so I could just like do this stuff all the time, you know Also the hourglass ambient lighting blush palette I think hourglass ambient lighting that the whole line is some of the best products on the market and makes your skin glow I don't have it on right now, but it makes your skin glow. It's amazing It's a product that you never knew you needed that you can't live without like right now I'm out of it and I'm literally going to support after this to go pick it up. It's that amazing Moving on to my under $100 gift section The first thing I have I saw this the other day when I was shopping in order to try my thought it was the cutest thing ever So this is for your like jet-setter girl so many travels a lot Maybe I think it's good for like any college girls who go to school like far away because like naturally they have to travel a lot CalPAC has this really great travel set. That's like a silk Like neck pillow and silk eye mask and like I want that like really bad for myself But I feel like it's just so nice and it's kind of like bougie It's one of those things that you wouldn't necessarily like buy for yourself But it's such an amazing gift and I know like neck pillows and stuff I use all the time like especially obviously when I'm traveling I think that's like a really really good gift Especially if it's like for the right person, you know next thing I have the Jennifer Fisher huggy hoop So these are the other ones these are not under hundred dollars But they have these mini gray ones that my one of my best friends Jess gave to me and they're amazing They're small great everyday hoops, and they're I think they're like $95 But they're really really great quality And if it's a girl who's like maybe not until like something like bigger like this But it's like a nice everyday pair of like really small hoops. They're amazing. They're really really great I think you can't really go wrong. You cannot go wrong with Jennifer Fisher It's the nicest hoops you'll ever have to the best And then obviously there's like the M jewelers the Dean's jewels and all that stuff That has a really great jewelry under a hundred dollars, so yeah That's the only thing you're probably gonna find on Jennifer Fisher under a hundred But I wear mine a lot because I wear them to like Pilates and stuff Because they're so small like it doesn't matter the next thing I have I talk about how this is such a great gift all the time But ugly slippers guys you can not go wrong with ugly slippers I give these as gifts all the time and people always tell me that it is the best gift that they've received And that they wear them all the time I know that I wear my ugly slippers every single day and they're the best you can get the traditional ones You can get the ones with the strap on the back. I'm currently loving my ones with a strap on the back But I normally had the traditional ones. I'll have both linked down below. They're just seriously the best They're so cute I got my knees a pair of the strap ones the pink ones as you can imagine me for Christmas But they're just so amazing. I love them like seriously the best gift ever Amazon fire stick Gray and the Amazon Echo docked great. I really hope that's not under 60 If it is we'll put it on the screen and I'm so sorry it goes out of the $60 category But I don't think it is Amazon fire stick. It's just like Apple TV. It's cheaper does the exact same thing I really like it I have the brand-new Apple TV in my family room for the sake of like Disney Plus, but I also have the fire stick in my room I'm like, I honestly like don't care about the difference at all Amazon fire stick is really great I honestly maybe prefer. I don't know. I just don't have a preference between the two Amazon Echo Dot that is the smaller Amazon Alexa So I have that in my room when I have the big one in my office the big one way office Kind of just plays throughout the whole house and then I'll also have my one of my room And they'll also like sync up and play throughout the house and stuff. I think those are great It's so nice to have like a mini Alexa. It's great for like a bathroom or whatever. So awesome My next thing is a set active set. So you can't really get many nicer fitness wear sets for under $100 Because normally like leggings from Lulu that are 100 with that being said I think Lulu a line leggings are the best I need to put that on my note because I just forgot to add it which will be what we talk about next But these set active fitness wear you guys can get a pair of like biker shorts and a top matching They're so freaking cute. I'm actually having the creator of set active on my podcast Very very soon. I'm recording with her like the end of this week So I would have already done it by the time this video goes up, but yeah set active is so cute I love it's so flattering. It's really trendy. So if she's into like that sort of thing I feel like that's a great idea last but not least I have my Lulu aligns So little line leggings are so soft and they're so comfortable If you guys don't want basically there's two options in my mind for Lulu You can get the little lines which are not necessarily meant for like high intensity workouts Actually, they aren't sorry Lulu, please. They're really comfy. They're the leggings that you wear every day And they feel like better than wearing nothing like I don't know how to describe it You'll never put something more comfortable on your body ever besides favorite boyfriend sweats So comfortable. So I'll have this thing down below The wonder unders are my personal favorite to work out in they're really flattering all the little leggings are really flattering I think personally it's worth the investments because I think that like leggings nice pair of leggings like you can't beat it Well, I do love fabletics though. Um, I just think Lulu is awesome I'm the biggest fan of them and I love wonder under so I also have those linked down below I hope you guys enjoyed my gift guide if you guys are looking for gifts more so for guys in your life Um, I will have those on my highlights as well Comment down below your favorite gift that you have received and then your favorite gift that you have given I love you guys so much And I really hope you guys enjoyed this video subscribe if you guys haven't stick around for the vlog was fun And I will see you guys tomorrow


Hey everyone, it's Julia and welcome back to my channel. And for today's video I'm going to be talking to you guys about some of my summer reading plans. Essentially I have a bunch of buddy reads, I have some readathons happening, I have some just books and arcs I need to get to so we're gonna talk about all of that in this video. I tried filming this before and it didn't really work out the way I wanted it to so we're refilming it but essentially in July I'm going to be participating in the reading rush which I'll have all the info for that down below. I'm just gonna kind of match up some of the books that are on my TBR with the challenges like I'm not gonna be super specific, I usually not but if you want to add me on the reading rush like a website I'll have my little thing in the corner feel free to add me, I'd love to be friends on there. I'm planning on doing daily vlogs, I do them every year, I've done them for the past three years, I am so excited about this. If you guys have ever watched my old booktubeathon vlogs, I make booktubeathon as like a big challenge for me so like I love winning so obviously the reading rush used to be booktubeathon now it's called the reading rush so yeah if you guys want to join definitely you definitely should it's so much fun I'm excited for video challenges and stuff like that so in terms of readathons for August there is two that I'm going to be taking part in as of now that I don't really want to talk about until later I'll post probably a separate TBR for those. First up here I have Slay by Brittany Morris. I know about this one is it's about a 17 year old who is a person of color and she is into gaming and it's like a society of black gamers that's what I've mainly heard about this one. Got this one at bookcon so I'm looking forward to picking it up I've heard really good things about it and yeah I think it'll be really interesting this one does come out in September so if you're interested keep your eyes peeled for it. The next one I have here that comes out in November is Winterwood by Shanae Earnshaw or Shea Earnshaw. Wow. Basically this is like a sequel slash companion to the Wicked Deep, it'll be witchy, atmospheric, foresty all the things that I love. I did quite like the Wicked Deep when I read it so I'm excited to get to this one and see what I think of it and if it lives up to the Wicked Deep or maybe if I like it more well we'll see. It actually comes out in August so this is Doomsday by Katie Henry. I love this author's book Heretics Anonymous I absolutely love that book it's one of my favorites of last year so I am highly anticipating this so I need to read this I don't know why I've been putting it off. Two girls in this book one who is in extreme fear about the world ending and it's just like one of her biggest fears is like Doomsday and the world ending. A fellow Hannah who knows when the world's gonna end how it's gonna end and stuff like that and the two meet up and they meet in a therapist's waiting room I believe and they start talking and I don't know. I think it's a really interesting concept and I really like Katie Henry's writing there's always a bit of humor in there so I'm looking forward to this one. The book actually already came out it came out in March and this is Dig by ASK. I'm really struggling to explain this one but basically from my knowledge it's about the shovel or the freak can I help you? Fleece Circus Loretta and first-class Malcolm. Dig has the story of five teenagers buried in their families tangled secrets and it's about potatoes. I know. I've never read an ASK but like Books and Lollatocs highly about it so we are going to do that. This one I also don't know how to explain that well but this is my life as an ice cream sandwich by E.P. Zaboi. The only know about this one is that it follows a young girl and it's middle grade which is cool. This place I'm actually heading for and it's like one of about one of the first black engineers and like NASA and stuff science fiction-y. The book comes out when did I say in August and it has these little graphic novel bits in it as well which I think is really cool so these are probably gonna be probably in color in the final copy but there's some graphic novel bits throughout it and yeah I'm really interested to see what this one's all about and I've never read from E.P. Zaboi before. I know this author wrote American Street and like a few another another book too recently so yeah I'm excited to read this. The book that I just want to get to is a poetry collection and this one is Between You and These Bones and this is by F.D. Soul. I'm not too sure what it's about. I was sent it by Andrews McMillen Publishing. They send me poetry collections all the time. I love them. I always read them like I don't love all of them but like I love so many of the ones that I get from them and I love receiving poetry collections because I read them all the time but I'm excited for this one and it looks like it's like a really simple one. It has a few illustrations in there so yeah I'm probably gonna read this. I'll let you guys know my thoughts in like a recent read soon. This one was almost purely a cover by and because it's like a UK copy and I really wanted it but this is called Happy Girl Lucky and this is by Holly Small. Also this author also wrote Geek Girl which I've seen floating around a little bit and heard people talk about but this they had this little UK copy with these edges at my bookstore and it was only like $10 because you know cheap like UK books are only like $10 here. $10 Canadian and I'm like oh okay need that. So I picked this up because I've heard of the author and it just looked really intriguing so I read the back and basically they don't tell you much about the story at all like it's a very a little blurb but it's about these three girls and they have like everything but like like all the superficial stuff, fame, money, success, stuff like that. So they think they have it all but some of them realize that they want love and that not everything is like the movies in terms of romance and but they're like the Valentine's so they're like probably this rich family. So I don't really know but I think it's just gonna be a summer romance kind of thing and honestly it's beautiful. I usually don't buy cover buys but this one is so nice like hello when I think a lot of people are gonna be really excited that I'm reading but this is a Radio Silence by Alice Oseman.  So I heard this is a really fantastic book to read at that time specifically as well that it will be really relatable to me and I know it's about a podcast that deals with mental health I believe and I've just heard it's an absolutely amazing contemporary. I love me some contemporary so I'm really excited. I think it's more of a dark contemporary as opposed to like light and fluffy but yeah a lot of people love this book including Yasmin and Kat from Paperback Dreams. So I'm really excited to read this off of their recommendation as well. Except here I have a Casey West because it is the summer. Gotta read a Casey West. So I have Love Life in the List and this is basically about a girl who's like art is not expressive enough or doesn't have enough substance to it so she gets this bucket list and thinks all these things that she wants to do and to learn and to experience to make her art better and I just love these kind of list books, bucket list books. So I'm looking forward to this. I hope it's cute and I hope it's a good time and the romance I hope is cute as well so yeah. Two buddy reads that I have for July and August. One of them is for the reading rush and that is With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. This is about a girl named Imani. This follows her as she is a teen mom and also has a great passion for the culinary arts so I'm really interested to read this one. I quite enjoyed the Poet X when I read it last year so I've had this arc for like a little bit and I'm meaning to read it and it's finally out now so like I have to read it. I'm looking forward to it. I'm reading this with Chanel from Chanel Time. I'm so excited. I love her. I'm so excited to read a book with her and talk about it and stuff like that. So this will be for the reading rush at some point. I'll do it from one of the challenges. I don't know probably the purple one. Right here I have Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chibosky. I'm going to be reading this with Jesse from Bowtie's and Books and I'm so excited to read this with them. Jesse's channel is so much and they are like a such a great person so I'm super excited to do a buddy read with Jesse. This book is Stephen Chibosky's new book and this comes out in October which makes sense.  This is an adult horror book. I'm really excited to read this. I've heard about this one is that it's about this boy who like goes missing for a while and then he comes back and he's like a different person and like he's completely different and he has this imaginary friend so I don't know if that's going to be a psychological thing like schizophrenia, delusions, hallucinations type of thing, or if it's going to be like a paranormal thing so I'm interested to see which direction they're gonna go in for that. I also just love horror novels so I'm really excited for this one. There you guys have it. Those are the books that I plan to read this summer. Again I will have probably a few more like one more TBR going up at some point in August just for the two readathons that are happening in August that I will be participating in. Thank you guys so so much for watching. I hope you don't mind a TBR video because I'm just really excited to read these and I want to talk about them with you all. I announced some of my buddy reads and announced that I am doing the reading rush so yeah. So already you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and everything like that is down below. If you enjoyed this video give it a like. I would really appreciate it and subscribe down below. Also have a patreon so if you want to support me on another platform that is always linked in the description box as well. And yeah I'm going to be doing some channel read apps so like hopefully I'm gonna be getting some new things happening here and my channel is going to change a lot in the next few months just because I am moving the background is gonna change which I don't know how that's gonna go but on all some things are gonna be switching up a little bit and I'm excited to get out more content for you guys and some different content as well. So yeah thank you all so much for watching and I'll see you super soon. Bye!


Thank you. Dr. Gibbons, you can now take over. Thank you. Thank you very much for the welcome and the opportunity to speak at OE Global this year. It's a fantastic opportunity. So in this session, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you an overview of a case study into the design implementation and impact of digital open badges on a civil engineering degree at the Galway May Institute of Technology in Ireland. And this was part of a doctoral study which I undertook over the last few years. So just to give you a bit of context about GMIT, it was established in 1972. And it's a multi campus institute with five different locations in the Midwest of Ireland. It's multi disciplinary as an institute we have degrees in science technology engineering, hotel and catering and tourism business studies. So a wide range of disciplines at the institute would over 100 courses and offer and they range from apprenticeships to undergraduate degrees and postgraduate diplomas right the way up to doctorate level awards. We currently have about 7000 students in the institute with 700 staff and more recently GMIT also has badges. Now this goes back to about 2015 when I started to informally play around and experiment with badges, but it became more formalized in 2016 when I began my doctoral study into them. So that's what I'm going to talk to you a little bit about for today's session. So the context for the study was that in year one in construction, sorry in civil engineering there's a module called computer aided design. And that module can be considered quite difficult to learn its technical software. And added to that the year one student experience in general can be quite tough for students particularly if they're living away from home for the first time and things like that so there are issues in first year that are across the board. Historically civil engineering would have had a lord and desired retention rates can be quite a difficult and challenging course. So that was something that the Institute management identified and suggested that we should come up with creative approaches to increasing retention. So that's kind of really why I wanted to look at the use of digital open badges really. So let's start with three research questions the first one relating to what what do people actually think about digital open badges and I wanted to include a range of stakeholders here to keep it open. So I had students staff Institute management and employer. The second research question related to what can actually be done to enable participation in a scheme like digital open badging. The third question was well what difference to open up by just make what's the impact on learning be learning learner behavior and management and engagement in teaching practices so that was kind of the three main research questions behind this really. And I suppose it goes back to motivation. The third question there is arguably the most important one because it talks about motivation and amongst many many other things because it can be quite complicated complicated. But most other things motivation is a factor in retention and bearing in mind the context of the study was to see was there some way to boost retention. So the research was designed around a mixed methods approach using qualitative and quantitative analysis within a framework of action research over two phases. The first phase really looked at the perceptions of the four key stakeholders and as a result of that I was able to develop a starter pack of digital open badges to to implement. And in phase one I included the students both first and final year lecturing staff Institute management and an employer for multinational firm based in Galway, and the relationships between those four stakeholders were important to pick up on as well so there was a broad range of people involved in the study it wasn't limited to one particular stakeholder. And then the focus shifted to the implementation of the scheme itself and that was based on an open badge packed it was developed as part of the phase one findings. And in phase two I really focused in on the year one students because I wanted to measure the impact of the badges over one academic year with that particular cohort. And the employer came back in at the end of phase two as well for interviews for reviewing the scheme, but the primary focus on your and phase two was on the first year students. So this is how the digital open badge packed looked. There's a range of them here in total there were about 20 of them that are used. And I'm just going to give you a very brief overview of these now. This is kind of background detail that's covered in other videos that I've got available online as well but very briefly, I had some badges that were available for assessments where I need student getting over 80% and an assessment could get a badge. Then I had in the two milestone assessments in the in the module I gave a badge for the best academic performance so there was only one badge available to the whole class for that one. I also had improver badges for any student who showed a great improvement between two consecutive assessments, and I wanted to do that to make it a bit more inclusive for everybody. So that was available for students who didn't have the best in class performance and maybe didn't even have over 80% in their assessments, but if they're showing an improvement, it was to encourage them. And then I had the level up badges which were based on skills mastery so if a student undertook an assessment and felt that they didn't perform to the best of their ability for whatever reason, they were given a second chance at it. Now the grade from their original attempt was the grade that was officially shown under on the report, but this badge was available to reward students who went the extra mile to go and try to improve their, their own skills mastery within the computer a design software. I then had buddy badges which were available for peer not peer learning activities and the students were able to award those to each other based on nominations so if a student was helpful to another student, the student who was helped could nominate their friend for a buddy badge. And then I had mystery badges, and the mystery badges were set up in such a way to give myself a little bit of wiggle room in case I didn't quite capture everything that would be needed. So I put them in as a category that allowed me to introduce new badges during the course of the implementation. And one of the ones to come out of that was the attendance badges, badges for attendance and engagement so I'm going to just highlight the three badges out of the entire scheme that have kind of come out as being the most important really for future implementations. So the first one there is the attendance badge. So it clearly states that the badge is available for 100% attendance over the whole academic year in the computer a design module, and it outlines quite clearly that a student would have had 78 hours of class contact time with the software so if a consumer is looking at this badge potentially somebody looking at taking on a student for summer job would look at this badge and say well okay this student has good personal characteristics they've got determination and discipline to attend a class for the entire year. Plus they've actually got 78 hours of technical training, which might be useful for their summer job so in a potential employer can learn a lot more about student from this badge, then maybe what will come across in a great. In terms of what people said about that badge. Well, it was interesting that the Institute manager picked up on it and said that we have some very some very good students who are going to pass anyway. The implementation of the inclination there is that if they're very good they may not come to class because they think they're going to pass anyway. But she went on to say had they actually been attending they would have been a very good support for everybody else and maybe challenge the lecturers a little bit, which would have helped the whole class learn. This badge produces a mechanism to encourage people to come to class for an extra reward, even if they think they're going to pass the module easily anyway. So it means that the high attenders have a reason to come to class, and it did actually change the behavior the students reported changing the behavior to come to classes where they were on the fence a little bit, but the availability of this badge made them come to the class. The next second of the three important ones is the level up style badge. So with this one it talks about skills mastery for the software module, and it says that the recipient had to undertake extra work to improve on their performance in an assessment in order to take a second to master the skills and clearly outlines the type of skills that were involved in that assessment. So again a consumer of this badge, again a potential employer can clearly see what was involved in the assessment it's very open in that sense. So anybody outside of the Institute can click on this badge and see exactly what's involved in that assessment. It makes the note that no change in grade is associated with this badge that their first attempt is the one that shows up on their official grade because that was obtained in an exam situation. But it does show that they're motivated to improve their skills, even when a great reward is not available. So what do people say about that. Well the employer in the study said that the individual who takes that on knowing that his original grade on paper doesn't change, but he knows himself he'll improve. I think that's really good and I'd be looking out for that individual. That's the individual I want working in this organization. Now what I think is interesting about this is that the employer when asked who did he want working for him didn't say I want the person with the best grade. They didn't say that they wanted the top performing student in the class. He said he wanted a student who showed this type of self determination and reflection abilities to act on lessons learned. And it was those characteristics that the employer wanted but of course those characteristics don't normally get captured in a final grade. And this is where the badges open up an entire scheme and mechanism for students to be able to tell the story of their life as a student beyond what a grade might show. And the last of the three badges that badge types I think that are important for people to maybe consider for future implementation is the buddy badges because they relate to peer assisted learning. And again there's quite a long description there which you can look back on on the slides they are available. You can look back and read it in your own time but essentially this badge rewards peer peer learning and collaboration amongst the students where if a student has helped that person can then nominate the helper for this badge so it gives a student some kind of an extra reward for being helpful in class. It doesn't get captured in a grade a lot of these things don't get captured in a grade but this is the evidence then that a student can say look I was helpful in class here's the proof of it. So what do people say about that well the Institute manager said that engagement is maybe more important than attendance and that's why she liked the mentoring or peer learning one. And she thinks that as a lecturer, sometimes students completely chewing out because they're tired, but as soon as you put them in groups and get them to work with their peers they're suddenly engaged again and that whole peer thing is very very important. So that's what the manager said about this type of badge. So let's give the students a bit of a voice in this now as well of course because they're an important stakeholder in the whole scheme to. And I thought this was particularly interesting where the students said that they're able to take information in and process it and share it amongst themselves, and they're acknowledging that the way that they learn something might be different to the way they understand it. So being able to take it in, turn it around and show it to your colleague in a way that they'd understand it, to be able to use that information again is very helpful to somebody. So here we have students working actively in a social constructivist way to actually digest information, re re re re jig it in a way that their colleagues may be able to understand it a bit more easily. So that's a fantastic tool and a mechanism to encourage peer learning. So that's how the badge scheme looked, as I said there were about 20 badges in total but I won't go into every single one of them in detail, I've kind of highlighted the three most important ones as I see it there. Some of the key findings from phase two then some of the key findings from phase two are that all stakeholder groups recognized that there's multiple values in the badges, a total of 13 roles have been identified for them. Seven enablers for participation have been identified and I think that enabling participation is vital. The badges are generally seen as a positive addition to the module I think the figure is 86% of the students involved in the scheme said they liked obtaining the badges and you know it's important to have something that the students like. The students report to changing behavior as a result of the badges and particularly that's relating to coming into class, so their engagement has been incentivized for them to come to class and attend. And motivation has also increased significantly in terms of interest and enjoyment in the course, and certain badge types the three I've mentioned have been important for I've been identified has been important for future implementations. So, these are the 13 roles that were identified, I'm not going to go through each one of them in any level of detail here but I wanted to include them in the slides so that we can use it as a discussion piece later on or separately if anybody wants to come back and talk about those in more detail. I do want to talk about is the enablers for participation because this is where the open kind of approach comes into it. So I think it's important to have consultation with all stakeholders at the design stage it just gets by in. And it also puts the idea of badges on the map because prior to my study digital open badges hadn't been used at my Institute so nobody knew what they were about really consulting with students before and after the implementation I think is vital because it gives you a chance to to gauge any time. And it also allows the students to review and help you to modify as we go along, ensuring the students have an opportunity to obtain some digital badges. So don't make them all about assessments. Okay, you know, if they are all about assessments don't make them all for just the best person in class. It's more inclusive to include ones that are even for the people who are, you know, just hovering in around the past fail. If you can kind of encourage them in any way and give them a little bit of confidence using the digital badges then that's important to include so don't kind of exclude people who are not the top achievers. Allow students to make peer nominations so that allows them to have a level of control over the system and involvement in it gives them a bit of ownership and include a variety of ways don't make them all about assessment. It makes some of them about things like levelling up and the attendance and the peer learning and things like that so it's not all about a single mechanism. Making sure that students have control over what they do with the open badges afterwards is important but also allowing them to control which badges to go for. Nobody, nobody was forcing the students to do any particular thing or act in any particular way during the scheme. They were able to make choices for themselves as to which badges to aim for. And then at the end reviewing and modifying as required. So just in terms of motivation really quickly I use two measures one of them was to achieve my goal theory. And this was to identify the type so intrinsic versus extrinsic really and no significant change was found over the trial because they were all coming in with relatively high levels of intrinsic motivation throughout so it was difficult to measure any improvement because it was all very high to begin with. And the second measure then was the intrinsic motivation index which measures the level, the extent of it, not so much the type of the extent. And with this one I was able to show a significant increase in intrinsic motivation due to interest and enjoyment and minor and not statistically significant increases in intrinsic motivation due to perceived choice and usefulness of the module. So, you know there's definitely a motivational increase that was measured as a result of the badges. So was it a successful if we go back to the three main questions about perceptions and roles while I was able to identify 13 roles. Some of them overlapped between stakeholders but lots of value has been identified so I'm calling that a success. The second research question was about the processes and practices that enable participation in the scheme. So I was able to identify seven different ways that I could enable participation in this three badge types have emerged as being important for future implementation so I'm calling that a success. And finally, did the badges make any difference in terms of learner motivation and engagement, while significant increases in motivation due to interest and enjoyment were found. So I'm calling this incentivize and reward behavioral change to engage particularly around peer learning and attendance, and a range of badge types can easily fit into practice, any of these can be chosen as a starting point. There's, there's no right and wrong when it comes to that but essentially, I've trialled numerous different types of badges here and many of them to can easily fit into your practice they're not difficult to fit in so I'm calling that a success as well. Finally, I just want to say thank you for listening. All of the slides are available, but there are a number of different ways for you to easily contact me if and when you want to learn a little bit more about it so thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much, Wayne. Well done. It's an accomplishment really and I would like to, I think that we have time for one or two questions so I would like to start right away there was a question from and there have been quite a few complimentary remarks in the chat window so I do encourage you to have a look at them after the session even, especially like the body badge system too. But there is a question from Eric who says how did you, who asks, how did you measure a success of the badges, did student performance or presence increase? Yes, so I measured the success of the badges, primarily around the motivation, because I was able to, able to kind of show a link between motivation and retention. Now I didn't actually measure retention because it's such a complex item. I wanted to focus on one factor on that which was the motivation. So I measured the motivation using a couple of well tested survey tools around self-determination theory, the intrinsic motivation and achievement goal theory. So my measure of success in terms of quantitatively was using those measures for motivation. All right, thank you very much. Eric, I hope that this answers your question, but you know how to get out of range if you have additional questions on your end. Sorry, I just spotted on Eric's chat there. He mentioned about creating a mentor award. One of the mystery badges that I included was a mentoring badge, so I'd be quite happy to talk to Eric separately about that as well. That was very successful. And that was sponsored by an employer who got on board with it as well. Right, thank you. And then the last question is from from Gino here. Did student engagement with the badging process involved development of any competencies required in order to do so? Did student engagement with the badging process involved development? No, I created an onboarding badge at the very beginning, which allowed me to demonstrate the mechanism for receiving and earning and sharing a badge. So all of the students were given a little bit of training and how digital badges actually worked. But in terms of developing competencies, more broadly, no, because I tied my competencies with a pre-existing module that was already there. So I didn't have to create new learning outcomes or anything like that. I was able to map the badges against a pre-existing module. So it was quite an easy fit in that sense. Thank you very much, Wayne. And I think that's, we are now out of time. So thank you very much for your contribution. Congratulations on completing your doctoral research. And thank you very much. This very useful system of badges. And I would also just like to point all the participants to the link that I've just shared in the chat window, which contains all of the useful resources that Wayne has been speaking about. It has got links to his slides. It's got links to more resources about the digital badging system and even his dissertation. So I encourage you to visit those and to also continue those conversations with Wayne directly on that space. So thank you very much, Wayne. And thank you very much. This concludes the segment of presentations here. We are going to take another five minutes as a break now, and then we are going to continue with the additional three presentations in this segment. So thank you very much to all of you for your active participation. And thank you to all of the presenters again.


Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008. Do we have any sing-alongers this evening? Anybody who's in the choir? This song is for you all. This is a song where you get to sing along as loudly and as out of tune as you'd like and no one's gonna judge you. Except for maybe yourself, but be brave. I'm gonna sing a couple old labor songs to start off the evening. Part of a project I've been working on for a little bit over a decade. This song is called Hallelujah, I'm a bum. It's a celebration of being a bum, but it's kind of a sarcastic celebration. So, instead of choosing to be a bum, you're kind of forced into it, which is not always the best of circumstances. But we're gonna sing about it, which always makes everything better. Your part goes like this. Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. I know you're thinking that's really fast, but Troy's been recording me and it's actually like I'm half, I'm like half timing it right now for y'all.  Yeah, hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. You guys got it. And they say, why don't you work like other people do? How the hell can I work when there's no work to do? Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. And I went to a house and I knocked on the door and they said, Scram bum, you've been here before. Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. And I went to a bar and I asked for a drink and they gave me a cup and said, there's the sink. Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. This is going out to my old boss at the crunchy health food granola store down in Wichita, Kansas. Who fired me for having mono in a right to work state? Y'all know what right to work state? It means you got no rights to work. It's cleverly named. Well, I love my boss. She's a good friend of mine. That's why I'm starving out on this bread line. Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again.  And I said, if I didn't eat, I'd have money to burn. Hallelujah, I'm a bum. Hallelujah, bum again. Yeah, hallelujah, you'll give us a hand out to revive us again. My name is Shannon Murray and I am a storyteller and a historian. I play folk punk music and utilize that medium to do just that to tell stories, to preserve history, to connect our past with our present, to connect political struggles with personal struggles. And what is your history with music? When did you become interested in it? When did you become a performer? It's actually quite a tale. I've always been really interested in music. I was running around making up probably horrible attitude songs from as long as I can remember. I started playing clarinet in maybe fifth grade or sixth grade and was told that I was terrible and that I should quit and do something else with my time. I also got told that I shouldn't be in the choir because I couldn't match pitch, so a lot of discouragement early on. I'm tenacious, so I kept doing those things. I got better with practice. I went to college for music, actually, for clarinet performance and then walked into the northern and open mic night and saw people playing and that just hit me. That atmosphere, that vibe, that everything that was there, I wanted to get up on stage and play and so I got a guitar and a month later I was up playing terrible Neil Young covers and another month later I was playing terrible originals and just kept working at it and practicing. This next song I wrote about Mother Jones who was part of the IWW and she was pretty formidable at the age of 83. She was called the most dangerous woman in America, right? She looks like your grandma. She's wearing like a high-collar dress, very prim and proper, but she was feisty, she got arrested a bunch. So this is going out to Mother Jones and all the folks who are fighting right now today using the similar tactics and putting their lives on the line to make the world a better place. And like a phoenix she rose up from the ashes abiding by no laws but her own. She stoked the flames of rage and sparks of hope just doing what she knew must be done. Oh Mother Jones, Mother Jones though she's the toughest gal you'll ever know. Oh, Mother Jones, Mother Jones oh don't you mess with her you ought to know. She fought tirelessly for the workers steadfast unrelenting in her aim there was no jail cell built strong enough to hold her and no matter what the cause she fought to win. Oh Mother Jones, Mother Jones oh she's the toughest gal you'll ever know. Oh, Mother Jones, Mother Jones oh don't you mess with her you ought to know.  She was just doing what she knew must be done. Oh Mother Jones, Mother Jones though she's the toughest gal you'll ever know. Oh, Mother Jones, Mother Jones oh don't you mess with her you ought to know.   She said we'll pray for the dead and we'll fight like hell for- I W-W songs where I was just hanging out with a friend reading Rise Up Singing which is a great book of folk songs and we found that song Hallelujah I'm a bum and made up a melody and we were singing it and laughing and it's so resonated with me this song about poverty and kind of the when you don't have the choice to be poor and it's forced upon you because you can't find a good job or you're not making enough money or you get fired and it was still really relevant and really new and fell in love with that song and started researching the I-W-W and found out later that my great-grandfather and his brother were both in the I-W-W so it's kind of a neat family connection made me feel like a little less alone in my politics and my love for those songs. I find a lot of comfort in history that is so similar to today in that the struggles that we're dealing with a lot of people have dealt with and have been dealing with for hundreds of years but it's sort of at the same time depressing but also there are these tools and this long and rich history of people fighting back and trying to create different systems and so these next two songs I got an artist residency through Springboard to go to Fergus Falls and live for a couple weeks on the grounds of the old state hospital there as a mental hospital and I've been doing research on patients who were there from about 1890 to 1920 and researching their lives and sort of looking for the connections kind of the confluence of poverty and trauma and mental health and work and so kind of looking for a different working class people's lives and looking at their stories and sort of trying to make sense of it and it's a very valuable thing to do of course there's so many pieces missing because these people were poor and often illiterate or at least illiterate in English which is the language I speak I found some really good stuff written in Norwegian but I don't speak Norwegian and so I've been trying to piece together these lives and I found some really great stories and this first one is about this woman Anna whose husband died, they were doing pretty well they had the farm you know securely in their names a lot of rare, a lot of immigrant farmers lived more on the edge and they were doing alright and then her husband died tragically in an accident and two years later she was losing the farm and she was institutionalized and she ended up passing away of tuberculosis in the mental hospital and it's sort of her life was one that stuck out a lot to me because I connected with it it's similar to a story in my family it was also interesting in that her story was so common there were so many people who lost their farm and then were institutionalized and so I kind of wanted to write this song a lot of it is fictionalized because like I said there wasn't a lot of information so I had to use my imagination which is something I'm not always comfortable with in the context of songwriting I like to find the truth of things maybe in all areas of life so part of this is sort of what I imagined happened and I'm hoping you do more research and see if I'm right close my eyes I don't want to see it how close the edge is you know we can feel it won't win an early lower plan for the year we get ahead coming home again but you never came land that we had found we are buried and it's deep in the ground accident the precipice we found held my own for two whole years and then things took my baby pieces he says I gotta rest my pretty hair becoming home when I am well and it's crushing me and I cannot eat I can't sleep oh and when I do all I do is dream of running away back to you try out some dreams they never come true there are some dreams they're always falling through I named Otto who was a painter and he got lead poisoning developed dementia or memory loss and all kinds of other problems from that lead exposure and his story was pretty hard to read and I kept just thinking about his wife and sort of like that slow decline and I was thinking a lot about his family and sort of how that played out and so I ended up writing this song from the perspective of his wife and a lot of it's fictionalized I don't know the conversations that they have in my mind this is how it went and I miss you all of the time even when you're right there next to me and I didn't know I could feel like this I didn't know I could feel so alone and I know we said we would do this until we were dead but you're always standing next to me walking right next to me breathing right next to me but mostly you're just falling down I miss your beautiful face I miss your beautiful I miss all the things that we said we'd do someday when we finally had the time you said be strong but I didn't know you meant this strong walking right next to me breathing right next I had a big responsibility to tell someone else's story and I'm looking back in history at someone like Lucy Parsons or this project I'm doing with the Fergus Falls State Hospital talking about the lives of people who were at the mental health hospital there it feels like a big responsibility to tell those stories but I try to approach it from finding a place where I can connect authentically with my story and I think those opportunities are there often I think it's also interesting so often that autobiographical singer-songwriter thing is sort of fabricated I've had friends who've written really amazing songs and I want to talk to them about this thing that happened in their life and they just actually that didn't happen PJ Harvey I think is a good example of that she just makes up characters and personifies them and so people think it's autobiographical but it's actually sort of a fictional product of her brain which is another way to approach it I've always been attached to approaching it from what I'm feeling and what I experience this next song is a it's a breakup song which I know you traditionally write after relationships end but I wrote the first verse after a first date and then I just kept writing verses until the relationship ended because I knew it was going to end obviously when I was right and then I started wondering if I had manifested it myself by being so certain but either way I got the song written so it's not a total loss right you can't make that stuff up what's it like to be a musician in northern Minnesota I love it I choose to live here I made a very conscious decision to move back here when I was touring a lot I took a break from music, lived here started back to touring I think it's certainly in some ways would be easier to go to a bigger city where there's a set scene where you can make connections but for me living here feels authentic it's where I'm from, it's my community going outside of that can both be affirming and that people are often shocked like where do you live, oh did you choose to no actually I'm from there why don't you move to the city and sort of repping for your small town and letting people know it's okay to be an artist in a small town and certainly we're blessed with a bunch of amazing artists visual artists, writers, musicians but yeah it is challenging and it's also rewarding to let people know that their conceptions of small town living in northern Minnesota are wrong this is the title track of the last album that I just released called Collecting Anchors and it was a really healing and amazing project and I got to record with a bunch of other musicians and the whole process was really really great and I'm really proud of what we created and this song is the title track and sometimes I write songs and I don't know what they're supposed to teach me and then one day it sort of just comes to me like oh yeah that's why that song is here I don't know where they come from but I'm really appreciative that they do and the song is sort of for me is thinking about heavy stuff like the traumas of our lives sort of being anchors and I was thinking about them for so long as like this negative thing like holding me back and then one day I was thinking about how in so many ways they've held me in place and how I can use those anchors to stay where I want to be in life I can write a song about an issue that's really sensitive and people will get very hot and will yell and won't be able to come to any sort of resolution but if I can sing about it in a way that asks more questions and presents more thoughts and I can get at that issue in a way that people are open to listening and hearing and connecting I think ultimately that music is a way we connect with each other and with ourselves