Spring 2010
I created and co-taught the graduate course Behavioral Research Methods and Statistics for Spring 2010. The media lab has a lot of great ideas and I wanted to encourage students to critically analyze how they design their research to best learn about the effect of their ideas.
The class web page can be viewed here.
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Self Awareness Club
Spring 2009
I started the Self Awareness Club. The club has over 50 members with different backgrounds. Each week different readings and activities are given. We explored how technology and self-awareness interacted. Are we doomed to live a future outlined by Wall-E or can technology help us become more aware of our selves? Below is the original invitation for the group:
This semester, I hope to start a reading group on a topic I feel is addressed in Media Lab classes, but never confronted straight on: Self Awareness (through Technology)
I started the Self Awareness Club. The club has over 50 members with different backgrounds. Each week different readings and activities are given. We explored how technology and self-awareness interacted. Are we doomed to live a future outlined by Wall-E or can technology help us become more aware of our selves? Below is the original invitation for the group:
This semester, I hope to start a reading group on a topic I feel is addressed in Media Lab classes, but never confronted straight on: Self Awareness (through Technology)
It seems that modern technology pushes further away from ourselves and our environment: TV, Cellphones, Fast Food, etc.
But this is only by choice, how can we make technology that actually encourages us to reflect back on ourselves?
This "reflection" can occur on many levels- Looking at your personal bank statement, getting instant feedback on your heart rate, seeing where you have traveled on googlemaps, etc. I imagine all of you work with this on some level.
The question I want to answer through this reading group is: What is the value of self-awareness and how can technology help people grow it?
This can take many different directions, depending on the direction the group wants to take it, some initial questions that popped up include:
1. Why is being self-aware important?
2. How can self-awareness accurately be measured or quantified?
3. Is being self-aware enough, or does it need to come with a motivation for change, and how is that applied?
4. Why is technology made to push people away from Self Awareness (TV for example)? Is there innate human desire to lose are awareness?
5. What are the effects of instantaneous feedback? (eg. showing someone their emotional state as they experience it)
6. What are previous methods that have been used to encourage Self Awareness?
7. Insert as many other topics as you want to cover here
The initial plan (though this also depends on group input) is to have a weekly meeting where we discuss 1 or 2 peer reviewed articles each week. My favorite part of learning is doing, so I hope we can make activities to do our own "mini experiments" based on the readings each week as well. (For example, wear a carrot on your neck all day, and analyze how much more do you look in on yourself, and why). With interest, each week can be taught by a different person, with their own passion in mind.
This is a 100% open group. That means there is no requirements, you can come, your professor can come, your grandma can come, and depending on Media Lab pet rules, your cat can come as well. Small caveat, professors who come must act like students :)
So if you are still reading this, you probably are somewhat interested, so please email me back with how you would like to participate. I see four levels so far:
1. Just put me on the Email list, I want to hear about what you are doing.
2. I'm planning on coming to at least the first meeting.
3. I am so there, this is awesome.
4. I want to help you set up the group, and help be a major founder in making this work
Please feel free to forward this to other people if you think they would be interested.
Thanks so much, I feel privileged to work in a lab that encourages me to follow my passions, and where others share that passion.
With love,
Elliott Hedman
Teacher for Presidents Leadership Class
Fall 2007, Spring 2008
Probably the most rewarding experience I have had is teaching the Presidents Leadership Class.
Now before you discount this as a Student Council, please take a look at our curriculum.
This class taught me how to make an actual change, build communities, measure effectiveness, and understand a global impact.
But instead of doing this theoretically, we read peer reviewed sources to learn. We go out and actually make the difference.
As a teacher, I worked with 10 of CU's top students each semester. Each week's lesson plan took me over 5 hours to make.
One week I gave the students 1 hour to make a real difference - they handed candy outside of classes.
Another week I asked my students to debate Cultural Relativism vs. Kant's Imperative (with the small twist that they had to argue the side they disagreed with)
I was not only a teacher, I was a friend. We did so many actiivities outside of class, and we still keep in touch.
I graded 100's of pages of papers and helped students think critically about the decisions they wanted to make.
Probably the most rewarding experience I have had is teaching the Presidents Leadership Class.
Now before you discount this as a Student Council, please take a look at our curriculum.
This class taught me how to make an actual change, build communities, measure effectiveness, and understand a global impact.
But instead of doing this theoretically, we read peer reviewed sources to learn. We go out and actually make the difference.
As a teacher, I worked with 10 of CU's top students each semester. Each week's lesson plan took me over 5 hours to make.
One week I gave the students 1 hour to make a real difference - they handed candy outside of classes.
Another week I asked my students to debate Cultural Relativism vs. Kant's Imperative (with the small twist that they had to argue the side they disagreed with)
I was not only a teacher, I was a friend. We did so many actiivities outside of class, and we still keep in touch.
I graded 100's of pages of papers and helped students think critically about the decisions they wanted to make.
Learning Assistant for CSCI 1300
Fall 2005
After finishing CSCI 1300 Computer Science: Programming I was invited to be a Learning Assistant for the next year class, in Spring 2006. This was quite a challenge at the time, as I had not taken any other programming course.
.
The course I taught followed the curriculum of Python Programming. I worked under Dr. Grunwald, my mentor.
10 hours a week, I taught students everything from "for loops" to "recursive functions". This was additionally challenging as the students who I taught needed additional assistance and had very little foundation.
Using creative methods, I taught students new concepts by providing cognitive problems and paradigm shifts. Imagine teaching a student from Africa who can barely speak english how a for loop works.
By the end the students were able to make a fully running tic-tac-toe AI and solve the Traveling Salesman Problem using a recursive program in C.
Being a TA here fortified my skills in programming and ignited my passion for teaching. I still keep the relationships I made with the students I taught in this class.
After finishing CSCI 1300 Computer Science: Programming I was invited to be a Learning Assistant for the next year class, in Spring 2006. This was quite a challenge at the time, as I had not taken any other programming course.
.
The course I taught followed the curriculum of Python Programming. I worked under Dr. Grunwald, my mentor.
10 hours a week, I taught students everything from "for loops" to "recursive functions". This was additionally challenging as the students who I taught needed additional assistance and had very little foundation.
Using creative methods, I taught students new concepts by providing cognitive problems and paradigm shifts. Imagine teaching a student from Africa who can barely speak english how a for loop works.
By the end the students were able to make a fully running tic-tac-toe AI and solve the Traveling Salesman Problem using a recursive program in C.
Being a TA here fortified my skills in programming and ignited my passion for teaching. I still keep the relationships I made with the students I taught in this class.
Resident Advisor for CU
Fall 2005-Spring 2008
As soon as most people read RA (GRT in MIT terms), they read 'nark' or think of some authoritarian figure with aviator glasses on. See me during our hall snowball fight for 'angry me'.
Well that's not how it goes at all for me. I loved being an RA. Being that ceaseless friend, helping people, and being part of a strong community have been some of my favorite memories. I have been an RA at CU Boulder for 3 years.
Because of my work I was nominated for the AIMHO outstanding RA role.
I also was the "Senior RA" my Senior year, where I spent my time teaching other people how to be RA's.
Some of my favorite activities:
Being an RA allowed me to create strong communities, help people, and develop meaningful relationships.
As soon as most people read RA (GRT in MIT terms), they read 'nark' or think of some authoritarian figure with aviator glasses on. See me during our hall snowball fight for 'angry me'.
Well that's not how it goes at all for me. I loved being an RA. Being that ceaseless friend, helping people, and being part of a strong community have been some of my favorite memories. I have been an RA at CU Boulder for 3 years.
Because of my work I was nominated for the AIMHO outstanding RA role.
I also was the "Senior RA" my Senior year, where I spent my time teaching other people how to be RA's.
Some of my favorite activities:
- Ski Trip up to Keystone Resort
- Dodgeball Games
- Yoga
- Wii and Rockband Nights
- Infinite number of Hall Dinners
- Movie Nights
- Flaming Pizza Boxes
- Grocery Carts off the Balcony
- Roomate Conflicts
- Alcoholism/Alcohol Poisoning
- Suicide Attempts
- Arsonists
- Drug Dealers
- Guns in rooms
- Eating Disorders
- Relationship problems
- Academic Problems
- and once a SWAT team knocked on my door at 6am in the morning
Being an RA allowed me to create strong communities, help people, and develop meaningful relationships.
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