Humanities / Philosophy, Fellows 2021

Bio

Welcome to my e learning portfolio! My name is Jessica Lim, and I teach Humanities and Philosophy at Dawson College. Following my experience in UDL, I became interested in e-learning as a way to improve the accessibility of my courses. I teach in General Education (Humanities) and in the Social Science and ALC programs (Philosophy); as such, I encounter a broad range of students with varying degrees of interest in the humanities and in philosophy. I am interested in blended learning not only as a way to optimize learning, but also as a way to displace the role of the expert, and invite the collective experience of the students to the front of the class.

Description

I began my e-learning journey while Dawson was entirely online, and completed it when classes were back in person. I therefore had the opportunity to draw from the e-learning COP while I adapted my pre-pandemic in-person activities to the entirely online pandemic semester, and I had the advantage of applying the added knowledge I gained from e-learning when I adjusted back to in-person teaching. My portfolio reflects the experience I gained from pivoting back and forth from in-person to online pedagogy, and the blended learning tools I developed in the process. In addition to the guidelines, I’ve tried to provide ready-to-use content for teachers by including two examples of blended learning units that I use in one of my philosophy courses, units that I developed using my blended learning tools. I’ve included my slides, examples of in-class and online assignments, and reading material. I call the modules assignment bundles because you can use them as a whole or break them up and use them piecemeal.

Portfolio

Context: From UDL to E Learning

Following my experience in UDL, I became interested in blended learning as a way to improve the accessibility of my courses. I teach in General Education (Humanities) and in the Social Science and ALC programs (Philosophy) and, as such, I encounter a broad spectrum of students with varying degrees of interest in the humanities and in philosophy. I wanted to make sure my courses engaged all students, not just those who were already inclined towards humanistic and philosophical investigation. From one community of practice to the next, my specific pedagogical concern will always be to optimize learning for all students.

Design/Development of On-line Component: How I used Perusall in W2021 (online semester) and F2021 (in person/blended semester)

Keeping this broad goal as a framework, Perusall was the most interesting online tool that I learnt during my e-learning journey. It’s a platform that allows students to read a text online, and to share comments and content alongside the reading. One of the greatest challenges I face in my courses is getting students to read and understand philosophical texts. Perusall presented an excellent opportunity for students to help each other work through the dense material, and it was immediately clear that not only did more students read the material, but their understanding of the material was much deeper, all due to peer-learning on Perusall. The Perusall activities comprised approximately 25% of the course and occurred asynchronously. There were three main advantages to doing the work asynchronously rather than in-class that relate to: the optimization of peer-learning, the diversity, flexibility and creativity inherent to online discourse, and the writing and claiming of personal space.

First, the asynchronous activities I designed on Perusall engage peer learning in a way that is not possible in the physical class. On Perusall, students can return to the platform at various moments in the week to participate in an ongoing dialogue with their classmates. The rhythm of the asynchronous dialogue provides the perfect opportunity for students to work through difficult philosophical texts with the help of other students. In order to establish common ground beforehand, the Perusall assignments follow an in-person lecture in which a basic understanding of the main points of the text is established. The Perusall assignment then helps students deepen their understanding of the philosophical text in question, and provides an opportunity for students to personally and meaningfully engage with the material.

• For example, research shows that collaborative learning improves student engagement and deepens learning. For research on the benefit of peer learning and collaborative note-taking, please see the following articles:  

1. M. Brielle M. Harbin, “Collaborative Note-Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom,” College Teaching 68, no. 4 (2020): 214-220. 
2. Kenneth A. Kiewra, “Investigating Notetaking and Review: A Depth of Processing Alternative,” Educational Psychologist 20, no. 1 (1985), 23-32. 
3. Keiichi Kobayashi, “Combined Effects of Note‐Taking/‐Reviewing on Learning and the Enhancement through Interventions: A meta‐analytic review,” Educational Psychology 26, no. 3 (2006): 459-477. 
4. Kayla Morehead et al., “Note-taking habits of 21st Century college students: implications for student learning, memory, and achievement,” Memory 27, no. 6, (2019): 807-819. 
5. Nikole D. Patson, “Collaborative Note-taking as an Alternative to Recording Online Sessions,” Higher Ed Teaching Strategies From Magna Publications, May 12, 2021, https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-assessment-grading-and-feedback/collaborative-note-taking-as-an-alternative-to-recording-online-sessions/?st=FFdaily;sc=FF210512;utm_term=FF210512&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Collaborative+Note-Taking+as+an+Alternative+to+Recording+Online+Sessions&utm_campaign=FF210512. 

 

Second, when they work online, students engage with a wider group of students than in class. Rather than working in a group of four or five students, or moving quickly through various groups in an active learning classroom environment, every student has the opportunity to engage with the entire class at their own pace and in a space adapted to sharing. Notably, Perusall has the option to share links, videos, and images. Students are encouraged to share relevant material to enrich the conversation and to add new depths that did not exist in the original assignment. In this way, Perusall optimizes the cross-pollination of ideas, enhances critical and creative thinking, and provides the opportunity for students to engage in inter-textual discourse.  

• For more on the impact that diversity has on critical thinking and student performance, see the following resources (the sources speak mostly to the need for a diverse teaching workforce, but the research underscores the benefit of diversity in general, whether it is a diversity in teachers, students, or perspectives): 

1. Melinda D. Anderson, “Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color – for White Students,” The Atlantic, (August 2015): https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/08/teachers-of-color-white-students/400553/. 
2. Erica Blom, et al., “Diversifying the Classroom: Examining the Teacher Pipeline,” Urban Institute (October 2017): https://www.urban.org/features/diversifying-classroom-examining-teacher-pipeline. 
3. David Figlio, “The importance of a diverse teaching force.” The Brookings Institution (November 2017): https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-importance-of-a-diverse-teaching-force/. 
4. Dan Goldhaber, et al., “Why we need a diverse teacher workforce,” Phi Delta Kappan: The professional journal for educators (January 2019): https://kappanonline.org/why-we-need-diverse-teacher-workforce-segregation-goldhaber-theobald-tien/. 
5. For more on the relationship between creative thinking and critical thinking, see Sparks of Genius: the 13 thinking tools of the world’s most creative people by Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein. 

 

Third, the component of auto-theory that I teach in my philosophy courses – the philosophical idea that truth is intersectional and best disclosed when ideas and personal experience, or theory and autobiography, are treated concomitantly – is best delivered through the asynchronous use of a platform like Perusall. Autotheory is about narrating a space for oneself, it is about understanding what that space presupposes, and imagining what that narrative implies. As Maggie Nelson writes in The Argonauts, “How does one get across the fact that the best way to find out how people feel about their gender or their sexuality – or anything else, really – is to listen to what they tell you, and to try to treat them accordingly, without shellacking over their version of reality with yours?” (Nelson 53). She wonders about how to avoid the “presumptuousness” of the binary and the polarization of, “on the one hand, the Aristotelian, perhaps evolutionary need to put everything into categories – predator, twilight, edible – on the other, the need to pay homage to the transitive, the flight, the great soup of being in which we actually live. Becoming” (Nelson 53). 

Finding a way into a two-person, non-reductive conversation on identity is a complicated minefield let alone when we are trying to have this conversation in a group. Yet, we need to have the conversation with others, especially others who think differently from us, and who have different life experiences than us, in order to demystify the minefield and deflate the polarity. Drawing out personal experience and autobiography is something that takes patience and a lot of trust. 

To get this part right, time and space and the optional safety of anonymity are important (although students remain identified to the teacher, Perusall has the option to make comments anonymously to the class). It is not something that can be done effectively in class for a few reasons. As a large 40 student group, the conversation is often too personal to get off the ground as students feel vulnerable and exposed in such a setting. Putting students in small groups works moderately better, but students nevertheless feel exposed when they are with other students they don’t know. If, on the other hand, students are in a small group with friends, the opportunity to hear diverse ideas that extend beyond their friend-group is lessened. Finally, although it is possible to do the reflection alone as regular homework, the peer sharing and peer learning that occur on Perusall create much richer, more diverse, and more meaningful results. The opportunity that a platform like Persuall offers for autotheoretical reflection – and really, for all reflection – is unique: it provides an anonymous space in which students feel inclined to share their reflections, have the opportunity to listen to what others experience, and have the time to think deeply about the experience of others without, as Nelson writes, shellacking over the other’s version of reality with their own.  

To put it simply, empathy is an important skill to learn in all disciplines. Moral responsibility in any practice, the ethics of all disciplines, the basic question how should I be? – these topics should not only be investigated in philosophy and humanities classes. Ethical investigation belongs in all disciplines, is the responsibility of all teachers, and is a crucial component of education. Empathy, as the cornerstone of ethical investigation, is a skill that all disciplines should hone; in this way, I believe Perusall is a platform that is useful for all disciplines, not only those that are more naturally discursive.  

Before getting to a more detailed description of how to design a blended learning module, I want to mention two interesting commentaries on conventional learning that relate to my discussion of empathy. The first criticism is on the convention of assuming that good reasoning is devoid of emotion. The philosophical model is a perpetuation of what Alison Jaggar describes as a misguided, anti-feminist conceptualization of reason as “the ability to make valid inferences from premises established elsewhere, the ability to calculate means but not to determine ends” (Jaggar 152). She explains that “the validity of logical inferences was thought independent of human attitudes and preferences” and that “this was now the sense in which reason was taken to be objective and universal” (Jaggar 152). A learning environment that does not promote the importance of emotion – and that does not create a safe space within which the epistemology of emotions can be expressed and understood – is a narrow view of critical thinking and truth, and an incomplete learning experience.  

What exactly can emotion teach us? One answer is “that appropriate emotions are indispensable to reliable knowledge” (Jaggar 169) or, in other words, that emotions can tell us about what we consider valuable and not valuable, true or false, meaningful and unmeaningful – and they can tell us why we think these things. Investigating emotions reveals epistemological insight, a worthy philosophical project in itself. But to push the point further, investigating emotions also gives us insight into the emotions (and therefore, the existence) of others. We learn empathy, as Lisa Kretz argues, and empathy is essential to moral reasoning and critical thinking itself. Kretz explains that “morality hinges on a universal human predisposition to feel compassion for the suffering of others, a disposition premised in part on a sympathetic response to the pain of others,” (Kretz 341) and that “no action is possible without an emotional impetus – without a desire for one thing over another, we would be perpetually indifferent to states of affairs” (Kretz 342). The problem with the conventional understanding of how to teach good reasoning is therefore twofold: on one hand, there is an error in how we think about reason, and on the other hand, there is an error in how we think about learning. To bring this back to bear on blended learning, Perusall offers a unique opportunity to create a safe space for discourse and exchange, and it is necessary to learn the essential critical thinking and ethical tool of empathizing. In this way, Perusall is more than an interesting way to optimize learning; it is an essential way to teach.  

The last point I want to make in this section is that Perusall is optimized when it is combined (and designed with) in person lessons and activities. When peer learning is combined with the possibilities of a blended classroom, the advantages are impressive, and we are just beginning to explore the positive outcomes and the possible combinations of how to design blended learning. My own experience revealed similar data. When I started using Perusall, I saw a marked improvement in how many students read the text and showed a strong understanding of material that previous cohorts often struggled with.  Then, in Fall 2021, a year after I started using Perusall, I unexpectedly saw another improvement in how students contributed to the Perusall discussion even though I used Perusall the same way for the entirely online and in person semesters. So why were student entries stronger than before? I realized that the improvement had to be result of the in-person component, which I designed in tandem with my updated Persuall assignments. It’s at this point where I began to experiment more intentionally with the true spirit of blended learning, and to think about guidelines on how to consistently optimize learning through blended learning.  

FOUR GUIDELINES FOR BLENDED LEARNING: DO-THINK-SAY-MAKE (THE ASSIGNMENT BUNDLE) 

With this exploratory spirit in mind, I reflected on a couple of basic questions concerning blended learning: How is asynchronous work different from conventional homework, and how should asynchronous activities be used to optimize learning? I think the first question is answered if we think about asynchronous work as a discursive tool, as a way to engage with the ideas and experiences of others, while homework is most conventionally used as a way to complete background knowledge such as reading material, learning vocabulary, practicing theory, etc. Another way to look at it is that asynchronous work optimizes peer learning, while homework can be, and in most cases should be, completed alone. The second question is addressed in what I will describe as four guidelines on how to use blended learning to optimize learning (i.e., assignment-bundles), which my experience as an alum of WID, UDL, and now E Learning helped me develop. Drawing heavily from UDL, the guidelines emphasize the importance of providing multiple means of perceiving information, of expressing an understanding of material, and of engaging with content (for anyone interested in UDL, please have fun exploring this website: http://udloncampus.cast.org/home). During my UDL journey, I had the opportunity to work with Ian Cuthbertson, a teacher in the Humanities department, who suggested I read the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses by L. Dee Fink. For a quick discussion of active learning principles that have made their way into the blended learning guidelines I am presenting here, please see “Chapter 4: Designing Significant Learning Experiences II” especially pages 106-111. I also found this webpage from the University of Waterloo helpful as a broad framework from which to think about the nature of blended learning: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/support/blended-learning. From my E Learning CoP itself, I had the wonderful chance to explore assignment ideas with Ben Lander, whose work on the Dawson Oral History Project (https://dohp.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/) was both a revelation and an inspiration for my blended learning assignments. 

Most significantly, the guidelines were developed in (an ongoing) conversation with Sarah Allen (an E Learning alumni) and Robert Stephens (A.I. Teaching Fellow Lead and Arts and Culture Profile Coordinator). Robert is credited with coming up with the pithy title: DO-THINK-SAY-MAKE, which I hear is a reference to a band from Toronto. I hope the collaborative mood resonates as I present the four working guidelines – they are rudimentary, in ongoing development, and generated from our collective experience. 

In no particular order, the four guidelines on how to optimize blended learning are: 

• DO: Students need to actively engage with material, to do something with the material either through active learning or through immersive learning. 
• THINK: Students should be given time and guidance on how to think about course content (content can be a reading, a video, an audio file, social media, and should engage multiple forms of representation, and time can be given in-class, as homework, or through asynchronous learning). 
• SAY: Students must say something about the material, to discursively engage with the content and with each other (discourse is most obviously writing but should be broadly construed to include multiple means of expression). 

• MAKE: And importantly, students should make something new, to create something based on the learning experience (creativity lends itself well to multiple means of expression, but again, writing is an obvious example of making and creating). 

In the next two sections, I will provide examples of how I applied the guidelines and created assignment bundles. I’ve included my slides, assignments, and readings. 

THE BUNDLE ASSIGNMENT: EXAMPLE 1

An example I have of a bundle-assignment is on the topic of positionality and spans four classes (2 weeks). Positionality refers to the way social position (e.g., race, gender, class, ability) shapes identity and access in society; at its core, positionality is a philosophical concept that describes identity as relational and self-transcendent. Before the first class on positionality, a philosophical text by Charles W. Mills on the lack of blackness in philosophy is assigned as a reading (think). In the first class (bundle assignment 1.1), a short lecture on the reading is given and the class breaks into small groups for a close discussion of the text (think and say). Once students have completed writing down their group answers to the questions, the class comes back as a large group to share their reflections. In the second class (bundle assignment 1.2), Peggy McIntosh’s “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of Privilege” is presented and completed by all students (do). As an entire class, we go through all the questions looking at the significance of the authorship to the survey, the intended audience (if students feel they are the intended audience, and the impact of being or not being the intended audience), and the relevance of the questions. A discussion of privilege, authorship, representation (and non-representation), and positionality ensues (say). The third class is asynchronous (bundle assignment 1.3), and students are assigned to read “The Skin I’m In: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times – all because I’m black” by Desmond Cole. On Perusall, students must connect the questions from McIntosh’s survey to Cole’s article (say), and they must comment on the entries of other students (say). Here is a 2-minute Zoom video and audio tour of the assignment. Finally, during the fourth class (bundle assignment 1.4), which is in person, students must design at least two questions they think should be included in a current version of “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (make), and they must be prepared to share and defend their questions in class.  

THE BUNDLE ASSIGNMENT: EXAMPLE 2 

Another example I have of a bundle-assignment is on the topic of the ethics of consuming online content and also spans four classes (2 weeks). Before the first class on the topic, an article by feminist Jacqueline Rose on sexual harassment and how popular discourse on the #metoo movement might be “feeding vicariously off the forms of perversion that fuel the violence in the first place” (Rose 2) is assigned to read (think). In the first class (bundle assignment 2.1), a short lecture on the reading is given and I discuss photos of Harvey Weinstein “with one smiling actress after another, his arm proprietorially around various parts of their bodies” (Rose 1) (think). I recall for the class photos of Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew in Weinstein-esque poses and ask the class whether the images are informative, “feeding vicariously” off of misogyny, or both (and if both, is the information worth the sacrifice?) (think and say). 

Next, I show a current, viral photo (from the last month – the newer the better); the photo is seemingly innocuous at first, until we discuss the ethics of viewing it. This year, I used the well-known (by the time you read this, probably forgotten) photo of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscar’s. I presented three of the most common descriptions of the image found in mainstream media: I described the image as a celebrity assaulting another celebrity at the Academy Awards. I also described the image as a large man assaulting a smaller man, and nobody coming to the defense of the smaller man. And I described the image as two black men in an altercation in front of a predominantly white, overwhelmingly rich audience. We discuss the validity of the three descriptions, their implications, and the narratives, possibilities, and impossibilities that are created (think and say). 

Students then break off into small groups and are told to come up with another way to describe the image. I encouraging them to find new narratives in the place of the old and tired ones that do nothing to disrupt our fixed ideas (do and make). After about 5 minutes, students come back to the entire class and share their descriptions. As an entire class, we use the following questions* to reflect on the ethics of consuming online content (students are told to take notes of the answers): (say and do): (*Please note: Some of the following questions were designed by members of The Anti-Racist Pedagogy Project. Please find out more about this incredible project at this website: https://www.concordia.ca/ctl/curriculum/anti-racist-pedagogy.html) 

1. What are the examples of the ways that the mainstream circulation of Black bodies perpetuates harm and violence? 
2. What are some of the ways that “watching” racialized peoples contributes to our understanding of race? 
3. Do you think visual images and videos can create or change “fixed ideas”? 
4. What does the wide circulation of this image do to our fixed ideas about black men?  
5. What is the point of a content warning? Do content warnings work?  

A discussion of the ethics of consumption, the perpetuation of negative stereotypes through film, videos, and other forms of imagistic online content, and the danger of repetitive imagery ensues (say). 

The second class (bundle assignment 2.2) is also in person and we continue our discussion of the ethics of online consumption by looking at a section from Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil In America (think), a reading that was assigned as homework. I begin by providing a short lecture on the reading (think). We watch clips from Soul Train, an American musical variety show that ran from the 1970’s to the early aughts. The show predominantly featured soul, hip hop and R&B artists, and was created and hosted by the inimitable Don Cornelius. Abdurraqib describes Soul Train as capturing a special moment in the celebration of black culture and black performance in America, about the meaning Soul Train held – holds – for him, his friends, his family, a show that ties him to his community, to his past, and to the future. The students and I try watching – beholding – Soul Train with that depth of love, so we can begin to understand what it meant when it aired live and what it means today (do). We talk about the aesthetic of the show, the spirit of the episodes, and the magical embrace of “the line” (say). Students break into small groups to reflect and write answers to slightly tweaked questions from the previous class (say and do): 

1. What are the examples of the ways that the mainstream circulation of Black bodies perpetuates community and joy? 
2. What are some of the ways that “watching” racialized peoples contributes to our understanding of race?  
3. Do you think visual images and videos can create or change “fixed ideas”? 
4. What does the wide consumption of Soul Train episodes do to our fixed ideas about the black community?  

Near the end of class, I discuss the events of Emmett Till’s murder as a context to understanding Mamie Till’s decision to have her son’s casket open at the funeral. I describe (I do not show) the cover of Emmett Till in Time Magazine. We discuss the ethics of viewing the image and return to our discussion of the point of content warnings from the previous class.  

The third class (bundle assignment 2.3) is asynchronous, and students are assigned two articles to read: an interview with Arthur Jaffa in which the artist discusses the complex relationship between art and empathy, and a New Yorker article about the Academy Awards by Jia Tolentino in which the author takes issue with the red carpet as a velvet ouroboros for the celebration and constraint of women. On Perusall, students must use quotes from Hanif Abdurraqib’s text to provide supporting evidence for the concerns articulated by Jaffa, and students must use quotes from Jia Tolentino to show proof for the questions that Rose raises (say and do). Students are also asked to share examples of online content that are uncontroversial in their consumption (i.e., that do not obviously raise ethical questions), and that celebrate community and joy in the BIPOC community and/or the LGBTQ community. Finally, students are given marks for viewing and commenting on the shared content from their peers.  

The fourth and final class (bundle assignment 2.4) on the ethics of consuming online content is again in-person. Students are asked to think of at least two examples of online content that they’ve viewed, and for which its consumption ought to be ethically evaluated. In class, students are put into small groups where they discuss the content they viewed. As a group, they choose two examples that they are prepared to work on. They must design a set of reflection questions (2 or 3) that serve as an interactive and disruptive prompt to the viewer so that either the viewer decides they should not view the content, or the viewer’s passivity is disrupted and they become an active consumer who is mindful of the content they are about to consume (make). The questions are meant to take the place of a “content warning”, to accomplish more than a content warning, and to take about the same amount of time it takes to read a content warning. For the second half of the class, students come back together and each group shares their content (orally, not visually) and explains their reflection questions (say). The rest of the class must follow constructive criticism guidelines and provide feedback (say).  

The bundle assignment uses online activities to enhance the learning experience, but, as you can see, it is only one part of the bundle. I use Perusall as one part of a few modalities in my blended learning courses. In my experience, this is the most effective way to use online activities.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

PROS AND CONS OF PERUSALL, ACADEMIC INTEGRITY, CLOSING REMARKS

I really only see one “con” of Persuall – the technical side of the platform is not perfect. It is a bit clunky if you want to move students between groups while an assignment is open, and the highlighting option does not always work. As well, the program was glitching more in the most recent term than it was the first term I used it, which seems counter-intuitive. But despite the imperfection, I will definitely continue to use it for the many benefits.  

Regarding academic integrity, as the Perusall responses are tied to current events, social media, original comments, and/or student autobiographies, the problem of academic integrity and plagiarism is less of a problem than when conventional essays are used as an assessment. Equity is maintained the same way that equity is maintained in all my assignments – a clear rubric of how I will grade the assignment is given. For the most part, the philosophical text must be used to show supporting evidence for written claims. Learning how to make a good argument is a basic component of philosophy and is included in all my Perusall assignments. To help students along, I provide students with model examples, I am always available on Zoom during the asynchronous classes, and check in on Perusall at pre-established times during the week to chime in on conversations and to help guide discussions if needed.  

In closing, I think it’s worth reiterating that using Perusall as part of the blended learning model improved the universal design of my course especially in the level of student engagement and motivation, and in creating opportunities for self-directed and peer learning. Click here to read about student feedback. The fact that I can track students reading and commenting on the material allowed me to level-up what I asked of students – students were not only doing the work, but they were doing it better – and I accomplished this without adding work to their plate. Perusall assignments replaced the midterm exam and provided a deeper evaluation of student understanding by intensifying (the essential learning component of) supporting discourse without detracting from regulating factors and context (such as rubrics, guidelines, reading tools, and teacher support). In other words, I gave students essentially the same amount of work, but because of the different modalities, students could do more, and do it more deeply, than they could when they learnt in one modality. The argument for blended learning seems clear – add a modality (i.e., add multiple means of perception) and learning improves.  

But if I step away from the jargon of blended learning for a second, there’s still more to say –less jargon-y things to say about empathy, and this above all else is what interests me. My classes get along better when they meet both in person and online. There is more discussion in class because it carries over from online discourse. There is room for creativity and safety despite the large class size. The movement and blending of the two modalities – in person and asynchronous online learning – sets a tone that I can only describe as fostering a collective experience where individuals are seen and heard. The last thought I’ll leave you with is about “the line”. I like to think about Don Cornelius’s Soul Train line as the gold standard for a collective experience. I like to think about how “the line” “afforded each person their own time to shine,” gave a platform for “an excess of flourish,” pushed the dancers “forward to some boundless and joyful exit” (Abdurraqib 16-17). The flourish, that joyful exit, is about being seen as an individual, embraced for that individuality, and folded into the warmth of the collective.  

Resources On Blended Learning 

Anderson, Melinda D. “Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color – for White Students.” The Atlantic, August 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/08/teachers-of-color-white-students/400553/. 

Blom, Erica, Constance A. Lindsay, and Alexandra Tilsley. “Diversifying the Classroom: Examining the Teacher Pipeline,” Urban Institute (October 2017): https://www.urban.org/features/diversifying-classroom-examining-teacher-pipeline. 

Figlio, David. “The importance of a diverse teaching force.” The Brookings Institution (November 2017). https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-importance-of-a-diverse-teaching-force/. 

Fink, Dee L. Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Joseey-Bass, 2013. 

Goldhaber, Dan, Roddy Theobald, and Christopher Tien. “Why we need a diverse teacher workforce.” Phi Delta Kappan: The professional journal for educators (January 2019). https://kappanonline.org/why-we-need-diverse-teacher-workforce-segregation-goldhaber-theobald-tien/. 

Harbin, M. Brielle. “Collaborative Note-Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom.” College Teaching, 68, no. 4 (2020): 214-220. 

Jaggar, Alison M. “Love and knowledge: Emotion in feminist epistemology.” Inquiry 32, no. 2 (1989): 151-176. 

Keiichi Kobayashi. “Combined Effects of Note‐Taking/‐Reviewing on Learning and the Enhancement through Interventions: A meta‐analytic review.” Educational Psychology, 26, no. 3 (2006): 459-477. 

Kiewra, Kenneth A. “Investigating Notetaking and Review: A Depth of Processing Alternative.” Educational Psychologist, 20, no. 1 (1985): 23-32. 

Kretz, Lisa. “Emotional responsibility and teaching ethics: student empowerment.” Ethics and Education 9, no. 3 (2014): 340-355. 

Morehead, Kayla, John Dunlosky, Katherine A. Rawson, Rachael Blasiman, and R. Benjamin Hollis. “Note-taking habits of 21st Century college students: implications for student learning, memory, and achievement.” Memory, 27, no. 6 (2019).  

Patson, Nicole D. “Collaborative Note-taking as an Alternative to Recording Online Sessions.” Higher Ed Teaching Strategies From Magna Publications, May 12, 2021. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-assessment-grading-and-feedback/collaborative-note-taking-as-an-alternative-to-recording-online-sessions/?st=FFdaily;sc=FF210512;utm_term=FF210512&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Collaborative+Note-Taking+as+an+Alternative+to+Recording+Online+Sessions&utm_campaign=FF210512. 

Root-Bernstein, Michèle and Robert. Sparks of Genius: the 13 thinking tools of the world’s most creative people. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. 

University of Toronto. “Community of Inquity.” https://teaching.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Community-of-Inquiry.pdf. 

University of Waterloo. “Blended Learning.” https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/support/blended-learning. 

Course Material

Abdurraqib, Hanif. A Little Devil In America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance. New York: Random House, 2021. 

Cole, Desmond. “The Skin I’m In: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times – all because I’m black.” Toronto Life, April 21, 2015. 

Do The Right Thing (opening credits with Rosie Perez). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkfJ-HsPfA. 

McIntosh, Peggy. “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of Privilege.” Peace and Freedom, July/Aug, 1989. 

Mills, Charles W. Blackness Visible: Essays On Philosophy And Race. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. 

Nelson, Maggie. The Argonauts. Minneappolis: Graywolf Press, 2015. 

O’Grady, Megan. “Arthur Jafa in Bloom.” The New York Times, August 14, 2009. 

Rose, Jacqueline. “I am a knife.” London Review of Books 40, no. 4 (February 2018). 

Soul Train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODBVM802H8. 

Soul Train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4GQ-NGgNs. 

Soul Train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P-TXxoWTSE. 

Soul Train (Rosie Perez compilation). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3bt_NT21DE. 

Tolentino, Jia. “A Strange, Uneven Oscar Night In The Year Of #metoo.” The New Yorker, March 5, 2018. 

“When One Mother Defied America: The Photo That Changed the Civil Rights Movement.” Time (2016): https://time.com/4399793/emmett-till-civil-rights-photography/.