CST 361s Week 4

Week 4

The reading this week was interesting, as usual. I really enjoy that it is the kind of material that makes us consider the world around us. An article we read was about an African American man that brought himself to the tech industry and is continuing to bring more diversity into tech through his company, Walker & co, and Code2040. A video we were assigned this week brings to light where our electronic waste is illegally going (and it isn't pretty). That's posted at the end of this post. We also had to watch videos on project management through a course on Coursera. The material is good and fine, but I don't really think that it is appropriate for this particular class.

This week we also had check-ins with Dr. Tao and our TA, Cassandra. The check-in was fine, but I'm still feeling very behind and it definitely helped keep the pressure on me. It's a good reminder that I can't be lazy so I can get through this class!

CST 361s Week 3

Week 3

The content to read and watch was shorter this week probably because we had to do a project called the "community scan". This project requires us to go into communities that we aren't necessarily comfortable with and interview residents, take photographs, and analyze the community in general. It's pretty uncomfortable and I really hope we don't have to do another project like that again. The reading this week was nice because it encouraged us to take into consideration what other people feel and not impose how we feel about things on them (specifically speaking of the "Golden Rule"). The video we watched showed how different learning centers are using technology to teach kids to play, learn and explore. The video is at the end of this post.

I am behind on hours with my service learning partner and I am hoping to make that up this week. This was the last week of my other course that has been very reading and writing heavy. I expect to have a lot more time to dedicate to my service learning partner now. Trying to balance everything has been very difficult and I feel really bad for not being able to put that much energy into working with my partner.

CST 361s Week 2

Week 2

This week has been very busy for me. I have one week left on my history course that I'm doing at the same time as this one and I can't wait for it to be over so that I can put more effort into this service learning course. Additionally, I've had a late start with my service learning partner and am just barely getting the paperwork turned in so I haven't had the opportunity to get working hours in. I'm hoping that this next week I can swap that all around.

The course work for this week has been really interesting. We read some case studies on schools that are local to Los Angeles and how they have and haven't been working with technology. I believe that our academic system is embarrassing and I really enjoyed hearing more about how other schools are handling their lack of funds and lack of quality instructors. In LA, I also believe that there's an issue with the housing marking. Teachers don't get paid enough to live in LA and it really impacts the schools in the area. There are a lot of issues from my perspective and I'm glad to see that people are writing about them and making them known.

At the end of this course, we are supposed to create a video documentary. I'm pretty nervous about it because I'm doing it completely remote and won't necessarily have the footage. As I go along, I'm hoping to get some footage of their website and some of the major improvements that I make to it. I also think I'll start recording some audio samples in week 4(ish) that I can put into the final presentation. Getting some general videos of the beach or something would probably be good. I can use that as a backdrop. It'll probably be Santa Monica, but one can use their imagination to believe it's Monterey Bay instead.

CST 361s Week 1

Week 1

We're already in the first week and I've been extremely stressed out because I don't have a finalized service-learning partner and we're basically out of time. Additionally, I'm in the middle of a reading heavy history course through another college (which ends in ~2 weeks) that has made it very difficult to send out more emails and line up service partners. Honestly, I didn't think it would be so difficult but I'm finding that my work hours make a lot of the in-person volunteer work unavailable to me.

As far as the reading for this course has gone this week, I've really enjoyed the topics. They're relevant to what's going on in society right now and since the founding of this country. We've read a couple of items on what makes up someone's identity, social privileges, and social marginalization. It's really important to try and be empathetic with all different types/groups of people and I think we can always use reminders of this.

I'll hopefully have finalized a service-learning partner next week and will have more to say! I've a couple of leads, but we will see what happens.