It’s been 16 years since Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room. And it’s been exactly 10 years since David Fincher’s movie about the company’s early days, The Social Network, hit theatersThe world has changed in ten years. There are a lot of hard seltzer brands. Email newsletters are big business. And most of the major characters in the movie have moved past their Facebook days.Here’s what those people, from the Winklevoss twins to Sean Parker, are up to now.
While many provincial ridings are working to secure their nomination for the Oct. 24 election the BC Liberals named their candidate, Roxanne Helme, in late June.Helme is a career lawyer who has sat on local, national and international councils. Having been declared early she’s among the more prepared BC Liberal candidates but shares the party’s disappointment in the snap election.“I’m interested in good governance and not politics, and it’s politics which has taken us into this election and at an undesirable time,” Helme said Monday. “I was looking at another year [until the election], so I’m happy enough to get on with it personally. But my neighbours are not happy with it. We had a stable government and this is just politics.”The Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding will have a new MLA as incumbent Andrew Weaver will not run again.Helme actually graduated from Oak Bay High in the same class as Weaver in 1980.
Many factors contributed to students’ need for personalized accommodation and support to achieve academically during rapid transitions online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This summer, universities around the world planned for an unprecedented back-to-school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In most universities, centres of teaching and learning are responsible for supporting faculty members’ teaching for more effective student learning and a high quality of education.
Our collaborative research group, based at Université Laval, Concordia University, Florida State University, University of Southern California and San Francisco State University, sought to better understand how universities planned to make sure all students would have access to online learning and be able to participate as courses moved online. Our team met remotely with staff from 19 centres in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Lebanon.
We identified emerging best practices that many universities are recommending for improving students’ equitable access online during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We also heard from staff at centres of teaching and learning that universities have a distance to go in understanding how to address racism online.
All students are able to achieve equal learning outcomes as they are supported by institutions, faculty and other systems to engage in the learning process.
All students are able to receive the financial, social and academic support and guidance they need to succeed in the institutional programs, thus enabling lifelong success as well.
All students are given access to appropriate and effective learning opportunities, and instructional resources, activities, interactions and evaluative assessment — which are differentiated according to their unique sets of characteristics and needs.
Universities have to help faculty design their courses in flexible ways. (Shutterstock)
COVID-19 & student vulnerability
Staff who participated in our study identified many problems students were facing in accessing online learning. Students were working from home; some international students had returned to their home countries. Many students lacked access to a computer, the internet or adequate bandwidth to support synchronous video conferencing.
According to both publicly shared resources from centres for teaching and learning and information relayed by directors, factors accentuating student vulnerability at the onset of the pandemic included: physical and/or learning disabilities; sickness or stress due to the pandemic; issues related to technology access; students’ existing information communication competencies; official language proficiency; whether students had caregiving duties; socio-economic and immigration status; time zones; and students’ racialization or ethnicity, gender, culture and religion.
Many factors accentuated students’ need for personalized accommodation and support to achieve academically during rapid transitions online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, they were being cautious not to rush this process as their goal was to develop effective measures that would result in positive change, a task that many also acknowledged requires careful consideration. They had unanswered questions such as such as: How can centres for teaching and learning provide support to students experiencing racism in the classroom? How can centres help reduce systemic racism in their centres and in teaching and learning contexts? How can they spread awareness of issues of systemic racism in online contexts?https://www.youtube.com/embed/evndCfQ92s4?wmode=transparent&start=0Nicole West-Burns, director of school services at Centre for Urban Schooling, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, speaks on building critical consciousness for educational equity in video from TEDxOshawa.
An equitable future
Our analysis of online resources and discussions with staff in centres for teaching and learning revealed eight priorities from these centres to ensure an equitable and accessible online learning experience for students during the COVID-19 pandemic and into the future.
1. Create accessible materials: Ensure that documents can be easily shared and printed; share documents and materials that are compatible with assistive technologies; adopt inclusive writing, respectful and sensitive to students from different backgrounds; provide descriptions in hyperlinks and images for students with visual impairments and using screen readers; format text in easily readable colours and fonts; provide course content materials in multiple formats.
2. Choose adequate digital technologies: Use university and institutional IT department-supported digital technologies; use digital technologies available for students in different time zones and international contexts; choose tools that include accessibility features, such as text-to-speech, high-contrast themes, enlarged cursors, closed-captioning, keyboard shortcuts and alternative text.
5. Adopt a flexible approach to student participation: Prepare for flexible timing for student assessment; discontinue traditional three-hour lectures; opt for asynchronous activities; give priority to project-based assignments in order to promote asynchronous participation; provide additional time for completing exams and other evaluations when necessary.
6. Ensure financial support and equipment: Facilitate students’ access to financial aid and technological equipment, or provide this when possible during the pandemic to students facing financial constraints, no questions asked.
7. Understand student needs: Host panels with student organizations, identity-based equity centres, LGBTQ resource centres and multicultural centres, and other student-led groups where student panellists talk about their new reality and what they want faculty to know; administer ongoing surveys to monitor students’ situations; pause and ask students about their needs, their expectations and how things are going with them — because they know best about their own situation.
8. Address systemic racism: Staff noted that as resource centres charged with supporting faculty in providing quality learning experiences and providing safe and equitable experiences for racialized students, there is more work to be done.
The project was conducted as a part of the research project of the International Observatory on the societal impacts of AI and digital technology (OBVIA) regarding the societal effects of A.I. systems and digital tools deployed to combat the spread of COVID-19 and funding by the Québec Research Funds (FRQ). The project was also supported by Nadia Naffi’s Chair in Educational Leadership in Innovative Pedagogical Practices in Digital Contexts – National Bank and Ann-Louise Davidson’s Concordia University Research Chair in Maker Culture. Naffi is affiliated with OBVIA, the Centre de recherche et d’intervention sur l’éducation et la vie au travail (CRIEVAT), the Centre de recherche et d’intervention sur la réussite scolaire (CRIRES), Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, and the Educational Informatics Lab (EILAB).
Ann-Louise Davidson, Azeneth Patino, Brian Beatty, Edem Gbetoglo, and Nathalie Duponsel do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay more than $920 million to resolve U.S. authorities’ claims of market manipulation involving two of the bank’s trading desks, the largest sanction ever tied to the illegal practice known as spoofing.Over eight years, 15 traders at the biggest U.S. bank caused losses of more than $300 million to other participants in precious metals and Treasury markets, according to court filings on Tuesday. JPMorgan admitted responsibility for the traders’ actions. The Justice Department filed two counts of wire fraud against the bank’s parent company but agreed to defer prosecution related to the charges, under a three-year deal that requires the bank to report its remediation and compliance efforts to the government.
Six years ago, The Linux Foundation launched its first free online class: Introduction to Linux. Today, The Linux Foundation, announced its free Introduction to Linux training course on the edX Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform and had more than a million enrollments. Not bad for what Linus Torvalds called “just a hobby” operating system.ZDNET RECOMMENDSBest Linux Foundation classes in 2020: Intro to Linux, Cloud Engineer Bootcamp, and moreWant a good tech job? Then you need to know Linux and open-source software. One of the best ways to pick them up is via a Linux Foundation course.Read MoreOf course, now, that little operating system runs the web, rules supercomputing, powers the cloud, keeps Android smartphones working, and even shows up on a few desktops. What really brings people to this class, though, is good old filthy lucre. A recent Dice technology job study database found that Linux engineers and systems administrators’ salaries are paid more, on average, than their competitors. An Indeed job survey showed that the top operating system employers are looking for is Linux. A similar study by Burning Glass, which tracks millions of job postings from across the US, also shows that companies want staffers who know Linux far more so than any other operating system. If you want a job in tech support for the rest of your life, learn Windows. If you want a career in tech, learn Linux.This class along with The Linux Foundation entry-level certification, the Linux Foundation Certified IT Associate (LFCA), can help you get started. This gives you a good working knowledge of Linux using both the graphical interface and shell across the major Linux distribution families. No prior knowledge or experience is required. Oh, and did I mention it’s free?
Due to stay-at-home and lockdown orders, teachers and students worldwide were required to pivot to remote learning systems and platforms. Without warning, teachers found themselves trying to engage pupils over Zoom; online libraries and research platforms replaced traditional, brick-and-mortar buildings, and the parents of younger students found themselves balancing work from home and entertaining their kids. For many governments, now, keeping kids in school is a top priority — not only for their education but also to free up parents to go back to work.
Racial stereotypes are automatic and exaggerated mental pictures that we hold about all members of a particular racial group. When we stereotype people based on race, we don’t take into account individual differences. Because our racial stereotypes are so rigid, we tend to ignore or discard any information that is not consistent with the stereotype that we have developed about the racial group.
How Do We Develop Racial Stereotypes?
We develop our racial stereotypes in a variety of ways. On a very simple level, it’s human nature to categorize people. It’s our way of making a complex world simpler. From an early age, we learn to place people and objects into categories. However, when we’re very young, we tend to put less of an emphasis on attributing values to these categories. As we grow older and are influenced by parents, peers, and the media, our tendency to label different racial groups as superior/good or inferior/bad increases significantly. Additionally, the less contact we have with a particular racial group, the more likely we are to have negative feelings about the group. Any negative experiences that we have with a member of a particular group will strengthen our racial stereotypes and create fears about particular races. Based on our fears, we develop an us-versus-them mentality that tends to be self-protective in nature. As a result, we miss opportunities to learn and thrive from our differences.
Are Our Racial Stereotypes Harmful?
Some people might say, “There’s no harm in having racial stereotypes or making racial or ethnic jokes based on stereotypes. People these days are so politically correct and should just loosen up. Anyway, there’s always a kernel of truth in every stereotype.” In some instances, all of the above might be true. However, in most cases, racial stereotypes are harmful because they ignore the full humanity and uniqueness of all people. When our perceptions of different races are distorted and stereotypical, it’s demeaning, devaluing, limiting, and hurtful to others. In some cases, people who are repeatedly labeled in negative ways will begin to develop feelings of inferiority. Sometimes, these feelings of inferiority can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies that perpetuate the stereotype. Racial stereotypes can also foster feelings of hate and aggression that might lead to a false sense of entitlement and superiority. For those individuals who have power, this can lead to their engaging in discriminatory and racist practices.
How Do We Overcome Our Racial Stereotypes?
Because of their harmful effects, we should make a real commitment to try to overcome our racial stereotypes. This can be achieved by first acknowledging that we’re human and that we do harbor racial stereotypes. Next, we should work to become more aware of our inner thoughts and feelings and how they affect our beliefs and actions. When we have a stereotypical thought about a racial group, we should follow it up with an alternative thought based on factual information that discounts the stereotype. We can obtain this factual information by leaving our comfort zones and exposing ourselves to people of different races. We should be willing to engage in honest dialogue with others about race that at times might be difficult, risky, and uncomfortable. We should also seek out media portrayals of different races that are realistic and positive. Attending churches, plays, concerts, and movies that celebrate diversity will also broaden our worldview. As we gain more awareness and knowledge about racial groups, not only will our racial stereotypes lessen, but we will also become better equipped to educate and challenge others about their racial stereotypes. As we change ourselves, we can elicit changes in others through our examples and the quality of our conversations. In doing this, we work to create a society in which all races are valued, appreciated, and embraced.
Money and Banking Interactive Notes is a live interactive search guidebook with 9900 presets that searches the internet for terms, definitions, about Money, Banking, Economics, Finance and Markets. Pick and click, never goes out of date! New for 2020, all ebooks rolling out with search capabilities in Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Indian (Hindi) Portuguese and Japanese.Great for students on anybody that wants to keep up with all the terminology.In the guidebook, you look in the index of what you want to search and then you click on the button next to it, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, Duckduckgo, Facebook, Twitter, Slide Share, YouTube or Pinterest and you instantly have you search items displayed.
Bill Gates Sr., a lawyer and the father of Microsoft’s co-founder, who stepped in when appeals for charity began to overwhelm his billionaire son and started what became the world’s largest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, died on Monday at his beach home on Hood Canal, in the Seattle area. He was 94.The cause was Alzheimer’s disease, his family said in an announcement on Tuesday.In 1994, Mr. Gates was 69 and planning to retire from his prestigious law practice in a few years when, one autumn evening, he and his son, Bill, and his daughter-in-law, Melinda, went to a movie. Standing in the ticket line, Bill told his father that he was being inundated with appeals for charity but that he was far too busy running Microsoft to answer them.His father suggested that he, Bill Sr., could sift through the paperwork and, with his son’s approval, send out some checks. Bill Jr. agreed.
The Canadian Federation of Students is crying foul over fees post-secondary institutions are charging for services and facilities students can’t use.With classes having moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students aren’t on campuses to visit libraries and athletic centres, if they’re even open.The federation’s deputy chairperson Nicole Brayiannis says the fees are an added burden on young people who have been left behind throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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