em Blog 643

Last week in class, we discussed webinars and how they can be used to efficiently share information online. I am excited to have the chance to conduct my first ever webinar in the following weeks and will work hard to make sure it is inclusive and interactive. One problem with the webinars I have watched in the past is that they are very similar to lectures. Using software like BlueJeans will allow for conversations to take place between participants and for a moderator to watch and feed questions to the presenter. I have conducted online presentations for work previously, but they tend to be challenging in a few ways. First, questions are not well moderated. When someone has a question, they often interrupt your flow and ask it. Next, video calling is always a little strange - why do they want to see my face and how does it benefit the presentation? I would feel more comfortable just using audio, so I am happy to hear that’s what we are doing. There’s no need to distract from the int...

Last week in class, we had our one-shot workshops. The workshops centered around ethics and our team focused on privacy and access to information, looking at a case study of learning analytics and one from corporations. In all of the workshops, I felt like I heard many different voices and was glad they were discussed based. The groups did a good job managing time and used smaller discussion groups to distribute work while bringing it back together at the end, something our team could have improved.  How People Learn , Chapter 7, provides insights into what makes some teachers truly outstanding and the research that contributes to these teaching strategies. Specifically, the authors give examples from history, mathematics, and science classrooms. Behind these successful teachers are curriculums, philosophies, and situations that create positive learning experiences. Teachers in these examples have an underlying belief that learning goes beyond memorization and calculations into ...

Last week in class we completed Socratic seminars to help us see how book clubs can help people to understand readings and discuss what they think is essential. We broke into groups, and our group had to complete four different readings, or short stories, including Eleven, The Hitchhiker, and The Lottery, in addition to our choice of A Modest Proposal. Many of the authors I was unfamiliar with, and I feel really fortunate to have read them, especially The Hitchiker. It was an incredible read that prompted discussions in our group about how control can play a role in developing a narrative. I was also happy to hear the group speaking about the use of reason in A Modest Proposal to show how satire can be more than just a quick laugh. The class was relaxed, had detailed discussions about the material, and went smoothly overall. I had a good time, and now I’m much more likely to attend a local book club on my own. This week I read two articles about ethics in Silicon Valley, an area I...