Connected Courses Webinars to Spotlight Diversity, Equality, Access

The scholars behind FemTechNet, a network of people who collaborate on the design and creation of projects of feminist technological innovation, will host three public webinars as part of the free online course, “Connected Courses.” The live webinars will take place Oct. 27, Oct. 30 and Nov. 5.

The course is being taught by open-learning pioneers who developed the curriculum for fellow college and university professors to learn to teach their own open courses. It launched in September and runs through Dec. 14.

When/Where:

Viewers are welcome to post questions and comments during the live webinars via Twitter using the hashtag, #CCourses.

Who:

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  • Anne Balsamo, dean of the School of Media and professor of media studies at the New School for Social Research and co-founder of FemTechNet;

  • Liz Losh, director of the culture, technology and art program at UC San Diego’s Sixth College;

  • Lisa Nakamura, Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor of American culture and screen arts and culture, co-facilitator of FemTechNet and coordinator of digital studies at the University of Michigan; and

  • Veronica Paredes, doctoral candidate in media arts and practice at USC and a media studies lecturer at the New School for Public Engagement.

Balsamo, Losh, Nakamura and Paredes also are teaching Unit 4 — “Diversity, Equity, Access” — of the six-unit Connected Courses class.  

Why:

The webinars will explore how to build an inclusive learning collective such as FemTechNet (Oct. 27); how to make teaching with technology fair and open (Oct. 30); and teaching Wikipedia editing, diversifying the public archive and introducing students to the world of public scholarship (Nov. 5).

“Critical thinking shouldn’t be a luxury limited to elite and small liberal-arts college classrooms,” Nakamura said. “New digitally networked collectives like FemTechNet leverage the power of diverse groups to open up learning about feminism, technology and culture to all learners.”

Added Balsamo: “We need to encourage and teach cultural entrepreneurship and promote innovation that begins by taking culture seriously.”

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More Information:

Connected Courses is a free online course. It is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute, Digital Media and Learning Research Hub and MacArthur Foundation. For lessons, instructor bios and more details, visit connectedcourses.net. Other Connected Courses webinars include:

Media Contact:

Mimi Ko Cruz, mcruz@hri.uci.edu, 949-824-4587