sociology

How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men [Johnson & Martin]

On 12/27/2020, in economics, health, society, sociology, by Daniel Christian

How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men — from propublica.org by Akilah Johnson and Nina Martin
They were pillars of their communities and families, and they are not replaceable. To understand why COVID-19 killed so many young Black men, you need to know the legend of John Henry.

Excerpt:

While COVID-19 has killed 1 out of every 800 African Americans, a toll that overwhelms the imagination, even more stunning is the deadly efficiency with which it has targeted young Black men like Bates. One study using data through July found that Black people ages 35 to 44 were dying at nine times the rate of white people the same age, though the gap slightly narrowed later in the year. And in an analysis for ProPublica this summer using the only reliable data at the time accounting for age, race and gender, from Michigan and Georgia, Harvard researcher Tamara Rushovich found that the disparity was greatest in Black men. It was a phenomenon Enrique Neblett Jr. noticed when he kept seeing online memorials for men his age. “I’ll be 45 this year,” said the University of Michigan professor, who studies racism and health. “I wasn’t seeing 60- and 70-year-old men. We absolutely need to be asking what is going on here?”

Our efforts led us to a little-known body of research that takes its name from one of the most enduring symbols of Black American resilience.

24 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2021 [Olster]

On 12/12/2020, in distance education, education, education technology, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, remote teaching and learning, society, sociology, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

24 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2021 — from linkedin.com by Scott Olster

Excerpt:

The remote classroom will get a much-needed upgrade
…
One key idea: making it easy for students to “sit” together at tables of two to eight learners, while an instructor’s lesson unfolds. Students can confer with table-mates without being heard by the larger group. Meanwhile, the instructor can explain things to all the tables at once, while still being able to visit specific tables to make sure everything is on track. Avida says educators prefer this model to the rigid constraints of other vendors’ breakout rooms, which were built to suit corporate needs.

Meanwhile, leading business-video players such as Zoom, Cisco’s WebEx, and Microsoft Teams are likely to move quickly to address the needs of the education market in 2021, too. (Microsoft also owns LinkedIn.) But Avida says Engageli has been filing lots of patents to protect its ideas, adding that its single-minded focus on education may help it move faster than other rivals for whom education is only a niche market. — George Anders

A New Report and Recommendations: Civil Justice for All [American Academy of Arts & Sciences]

On 12/03/2020, in 21st century, Access to Justice (A2J), law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, reinvent, society, sociology, surviving, telelegal, United States, by Daniel Christian

America has a civil justice gap, and the #eviction crisis will only serve to widen the gap. How can we improve #accesstojustice for all Americans? A new @americanacad report has recommendations. https://t.co/q16p3QVnXH pic.twitter.com/xLFExsSv9O

— American Academy of Arts & Sciences (@americanacad) October 22, 2020

A New Report and Recommendations: Civil Justice for All — from amacad.org (the American Academy of Arts & Sciences)

Also see:

Expiring Eviction Moratoriums and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality — from papers.ssrn.com by Kathryn Leifheit, Sabriya Linton, Julia Raifman, Gabriel Schwartz, Emily Benfer, Frederick Zimmerman, and Craig Pollack
Excerpt of Abstract:
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis has rendered millions of U.S. households unable to pay rent, placing them at risk for eviction. Evictions may accelerate COVID-19 transmission by increasing household crowding and decreasing individuals’ ability to comply with social distancing directives. We leveraged variation in the expiration of eviction moratoriums in U.S. states to test for associations between evictions and COVID-19 incidence and mortality.

Eric Schmidt’s Youth Talent Competition, Part of $1B Effort, Kicks Off With Unusual App [Young]

On 11/16/2020, in Alternatives, career development, computer science, education, lifelong learning, programming, society, sociology, youth, by Daniel Christian

Eric Schmidt’s Youth Talent Competition, Part of $1B Effort, Kicks Off With Unusual App — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young

Excerpts:

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has committed $1 billion to finding exceptional young people aged 15 to 17 and offering them financial support and mentorship throughout their lives.
…
The first questions that the contest asks applicants to address with a short video response is: “In what ways do you consider yourself privileged? In what ways do you consider yourself underprivileged?” The second question: “What’s one problem that you are going to use your life to solve? Why? Show us what steps you’ve taken to solve it already.”

After the Pandemic, a Revolution in Education and Work Awaits [Friedman]

On 11/06/2020, in 21st century, Alternatives, business side of he, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, education, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, pace of change, passions, platforms, reinvent, society, sociology, staying relevant, surviving, training / L&D, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

After the Pandemic, a Revolution in Education and Work Awaits — from nytimes.com by Thomas Friedman
Providing more Americans with portable health care, portable pensions and opportunities for lifelong learning is what politics needs to be about post-Nov. 3.

No job, no K-12 school, no university, no factory, no office will be spared.

Excerpt:

Your children can expect to change jobs and professions multiple times in their lifetimes, which means their career path will no longer follow a simple “learn-to-work’’ trajectory, as Heather E. McGowan, co-author of “The Adaptation Advantage,” likes to say, but rather a path of “work-learn-work-learn-work-learn.”

“Learning is the new pension,” Ms. McGowan said. “It’s how you create your future value every day.”

The most critical role for K-12 educators, therefore, will be to equip young people with the curiosity and passion to be lifelong learners who feel ownership over their education.

State of Student Success and Trends in Higher Education — from instructure.com
2020 Global Research Study and Trends

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In the following report, we’ve identified six leading trends for student success and engagement in today’s world:

Career readiness is the number one priority for students.
Institutions need to think beyond the lecture.
Faculty-student engagement is critical.
Online learning needs to be intentionally designed.
Socioeconomic disparities impact engagement.
Democratisation of education begins with equitable access.

Who needs to be discussing/debating “The Social Dilemma” movie? [Christian]

On 10/18/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, business, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, legislatures / government / legal, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mathematics, media/film, Microsoft, new business models, participation, platforms, policy, political science, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Who needs to be discussing/debating “The Social Dilemma” movie? Whether one agrees with the perspectives put forth therein or not, the discussion boards out there should be lighting up in the undergraduate areas of Computer Science (especially Programming), Engineering, Business, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Sociology, and perhaps other disciplines as well.

To those starting out the relevant careers here…just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Ask yourself not whether something CAN be developed, but *whether it SHOULD be developed* and what the potential implications of a technology/invention/etc. might be. I’m not aiming to take a position here. Rather, I’m trying to promote some serious reflection for those developing our new, emerging technologies and our new products/services out there.

For the journalists, PR folks, & students majoring in Journalism…this one’s for you.

On 10/10/2020, in journalism, society, sociology, writing, by Daniel Christian

AP Style Rules: Correct Uses for Race-Related Terms, Gender-Neutral Words, and Election Lingo — from mediablog.prnewswire.com
We know journalists are busy, and it can be difficult to keep up with recent AP Stylebook changes. So we’ve done the work for you, rounding up a few of the recent significant — and just plain interesting — updates to the AP Stylebook.

Excerpt:

It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few months since our last AP Style roundup. So much has happened since then.

Let’s recap some of the recent AP Style rule reminders. And with the presidential election quickly approaching, we’ll review some of the writing rules on that topic as well.

From DSC:
I hesitate to post this one…but this information and the phenomenon behind it likely has impacted what’s happening in the higher education space. (Or perhaps, it’s a bit of the other way around as well.) Increasingly, higher ed is becoming out of reach for many families. Again, is this a topic for Econ classes out there? Or Poli Sci courses?

Trends in income from 1975 to 2018 — from rand.org by Carter Price and Kathryn Edwards

Excerpt:

We document the cumulative effect of four decades of income growth below the growth of per capita gross national income and estimate that aggregate income for the population below the 90th percentile over this time period would have been $2.5 trillion (67 percent) higher in 2018 had income growth since 1975 remained as equitable as it was in the first two post-War decades. From 1975 to 2018, the difference between the aggregate taxable income for those below the 90th percentile and the equitable growth counterfactual totals $47 trillion.

Also see:

‘We were shocked’: RAND study uncovers massive income shift to the top 1% — from fastcompany.com by Rick Wartzman
The median worker should be making as much as $102,000 annually—if some $2.5 trillion wasn’t being “reverse distributed” every year away from the working class.
.
The top 1% of Americans have taken $50 trillion from the bottom 90%—And that’s made the U.S. less secure — from Time.com by by Nick Hanauer and David Rolf
[From DSC: By the way, that title likely has some link bait appeal to it.]
Excerpt:
As the RAND report [whose research was funded by the Fair Work Center which co-author David Rolf is a board member of] demonstrates, a rising tide most definitely did not lift all boats. It didn’t even lift most of them, as nearly all of the benefits of growth these past 45 years were captured by those at the very top. And as the American economy grows radically unequal it is holding back economic growth itself.

Why is our death toll so high and our unemployment rate so staggeringly off the charts? Why was our nation so unprepared, and our economy so fragile? Why have we lacked the stamina and the will to contain the virus like most other advanced nations? The reason is staring us in the face: a stampede of rising inequality that has been trampling the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of Americans, year after year after year.

For New Orleans–based firm, architecture is a tool for design justice [Colloqate Design; autodesk.com]

On 09/15/2020, in Access to Justice (A2J), architecture, creativity, culture, design, legislatures / government / legal, policy, political science, social learning / networks, society, sociology, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

For New Orleans–based firm, architecture is a tool for design justice — from autodesk.com by Redshift Video

Excerpt:

When Bryan C. Lee Jr. was a boy, his family moved from Sicily to Trenton, NJ, and he was struck by not only the vastly different physical environment but also the ways different physical spaces affect people. It’s a concept that he explores today at Colloqate Design, an architecture and design-justice firm that focuses on civic, communal, and cultural spaces through the lens of racial justice.

“This isn’t helping the continued backlash against traditional institutions of higher education.” [Christian]

On 09/05/2020, in 21st century, Alternatives, business side of he, career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education reform, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, ideas, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, parents/guardians, platforms, society, sociology, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

DC: This isn’t helping the continued backlash against traditional institutions of higher education.”#highereducation #debt #tuition #learningfromthelivingclassroom #learningecosystems

https://t.co/srV971osSI

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) September 4, 2020

From DSC:
The perfect storm continues to build against traditional institutions of higher education. The backlash continues to build strength. And there WILL BE change — there’s no choice now. Alternatives to these traditional institutions of higher education continue to appear on the scene.

Over the last several decades, traditional institutions of higher education had the chance to step in and do something. They didn’t take nearly enough action. As in other industries, these days of the Coronavirus just hasten the changes that were already afoot.

Also see:

Alternative Credentials on the Rise — from insidehighered.com by Paul Fain, with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource
Interest is growing in short-term, online credentials amid the pandemic. Will they become viable alternative pathways to well-paying jobs?

Video Now Available! Promoting Equity and Inclusion in Online Teaching [saltlaw.org]

On 08/31/2020, in instructional design, law schools, learning, Learning Experience Design, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, remote teaching and learning, society, sociology, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, by Daniel Christian

SALT Social Justice Series Promoting Equity Online (21 Aug 2020) — from saltlaw.org with a special thanks to Catherine M. Grosso for these resources (Catherine is a Professor of Law at Michigan State University, Co-President, Society of American Law Teachers, and an Associate Editor for the National Registry of Exonerations.)

From DSC:
To me, that last bullet point says:

“I’m on your team and I’m here to help you become the best lawyer, litigator, judge, legislator, etc. that you can be.”

Other resources Catherine and Dr. Tasha Souza mentioned:

Preserving The Art Of Black Lives Matter Using AR [Melnick]

On 08/24/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, Access to Justice (A2J), art, Augmented Reality (AR), creativity, platforms, society, sociology, tools, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Preserving The Art Of Black Lives Matter Using AR — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Excerpt:

A city-wide digital art show celebrates the street art of BLM.

Designers at the architecture and design firm GGLO have created an augmented reality art show aimed at paying homage to the eclectic lineup of street paintings created as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Not only does the project serve to preserve these impactful works of art, but to enhance them as well using modern immersive technology.

Let’s use television to minimize the learning gaps that will otherwise be experienced by many students this next year! [Christian]

On 08/19/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, Apple, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, education, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, instructional design, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, media/film, microlearning, multimedia, parents/guardians, participation, passions, platforms, policy, political science, remote teaching and learning, social learning / networks, society, sociology, staying relevant, STEAM-related, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, television, tools, TVs, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

If one doesn’t have access to the Internet, a computer, or any such mobile technology as seen in the image above…could TV become the medium through which one could be educated during this next year of the Coronavirus situation? That is, until we can develop better and more equitable policies, plans, funding, systems, infrastructures, and connectivity for all students!
After that, could we see more televisions morph into smart/connected TVs?
Could PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and other major networks collaborate with the U.S. Department of Education to help us educate all students?
Could the largest internet company of 2030 be an online school as Thomas Frey predicts?

A few years ago, I had hoped that Apple was going to go all-in with their tvOS platform.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 9: Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the New Apple TV during a Special Event; 9/9/15.

Though it’s still early in the game, that really hasn’t happened to the extent that I had hoped. That said, more recently, I was encouraged to see this article from back in July:

Let’s ask the employees of PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and other networks if they would be willing to work with the U.S. Department of Education to help educate ALL students! Though educational TV is not new, I’m talking about taking things to a *whole* new level.

With that in mind, I created the following graphic:

(One might ask why I used an old television in the above graphic. I was trying to get at the idea that one might not have a lot of resources to work with.)

ABA Profile of the Legal Profession for 2020

On 08/15/2020, in career development, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, society, sociology, United States, by Daniel Christian

The report also measures how far we have to go as a profession when it comes to race. For example, just 5% of all lawyers in the U.S. are African American, even though African Americans are 13% of the U.S. population. And Native Americans are severely underrepresented on the federal bench. Only two federal judges are Native American among 1,386 nationwide (that’s one-tenth of 1%), despite the fact that 1.3% of the U.S. population is Native American. There is a lot to digest in this fascinating compilation of statistics and trends.

Now in its second year, the ABA Profile of the Legal Profession is becoming a standard reference for anyone who wants to understand the legal profession — past, present and future.

— Judy Perry Martinez

Also see:

Summer 2020 Legal Tech Reading List — from lawtechnologytoday.org
Law Practice Tips: Jim Calloway’s Daily Tips on Practicing in a Crisis
Excerpt:
Dragon Naturally Speaking Can Also Do Transcriptions of Recordings (8.12.20)

Learning Ecosystems

How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men [Johnson & Martin]

A New Report and Recommendations: Civil Justice for All [American Academy of Arts & Sciences]

Eric Schmidt’s Youth Talent Competition, Part of $1B Effort, Kicks Off With Unusual App [Young]

For the journalists, PR folks, & students majoring in Journalism…this one’s for you.

Video Now Available! Promoting Equity and Inclusion in Online Teaching [saltlaw.org]

Preserving The Art Of Black Lives Matter Using AR [Melnick]

ABA Profile of the Legal Profession for 2020

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