Author Archives: mdilwort

Author Archives: mdilwort

OMA: Opening Minds through Art

OMA: Opening Minds through Art

Now in its second year, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an intergenerational program bringing students together with elders with dementia to produce failure-free works of abstract art. OMA is highly interactive, with the student acting as a facilitator for the elder artist’s vision and abilities. IU East has partnered with Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond to continue this award-winning, enlightening program. Friends Fellowship is the only facility in the state of Indiana to offer OMA to its residents. OMA uses art projects as a basis for communication between students and elder artists. The end results, besides impressive works of art, include increased self esteem for the artists and increased awareness of dementia for the students. Melissa Baxter, OMA Program … Continued
Look Up a Red Wolves Write Publication

Look Up a Red Wolves Write Publication

When was the last time you sat down and had a real conversation with an 8th grader? How about an older adult? Many students and faculty members set out to do just that and the result is a dynamic anthology of poems and memoirs. The Red Wolves Write publication, Look Up, is titled after the opening poem written by Carson Miller, an 8th grader from the Early College program. Carson is begging readers to look up from their screens and participate in the world around them. A sentiment that is carried throughout the publication. Each story and each poem provides a raw, honest look into the lives of those around us. It is easy to get so wrapped up in … Continued
INSPIRE-ational

INSPIRE-ational

At IU East, we advocate strongly for using the best, most trustworthy sources for your scholarship. And we have loads of great academic databases designed to do just that, linking you to reliable, vetted content that hasn’t been twisted by the vacuous, editor-free and repetitive fluff that makes up the bulk of the free web. But after you graduate, where will get the same trustworthy and authoritative information? If you live in the state of Indiana (as most of our graduates do), the answer is INSPIRE. Provided by the Indiana State Library, anyone with an Indiana IP address can access dozens of databases freely. This deeply benefits public and school libraries across the state, and the ISL’s negotiations help subsidize … Continued
Digging up Great Things

Digging up Great Things

Retired anthropology professor Rob Tolley and his wife Nancy have long been dedicated to IU East, creating many opportunities for students in the decades he spent teaching. His field trips to Utah to give firsthand experience in surface surveying and classes in prehistory and Southwestern literature are still fondly remembered. But they have been active in supporting IU East since his retirement, as well, and are donating $50,000 to help fund an archaeological methodology lab. To be located in the woods east of campus, it will allow students the hands-on opportunity to perform their own digs. The artifacts will be simulated – pig skeletons, burned and buried structures, and ceramics crafted by IU East art students – but the experience … Continued
Support for Information Literacy

Support for Information Literacy

The 2016 American Library Association’s annual conference recently concluded, and a troubling issue came out of it. The Association of College and Research Libraries voted to rescind a previous resolution passed in 2000, the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. And while the ACRL plans to continue to support information literacy in some way going forward – such as networking librarians to share their experiences, lesson plans, rubrics, and assessment tools – there is now no longer a universal policy supporting the inclusion of information literacy components in college courses. And that has caused concern among academic librarians. You might wonder where that leaves you – will IU East still offer in-class library instruction in the same way? Do … Continued