In my Unique Learning Activity students will be put into groups of 3 via ZOOM Break Out Groups and given the prompt: "Should Social Media companies have the authority to censor individual accounts and on what grounds?"
They will then debate the issue among themselves (given what they have learned thus far about Freedom of Speech and the 1st amendment). Â Then they will be asked to analyze the issue in terms of Paul and Elder's Elements of Thought (a Critical Thinking guide). Students will be provided with the Elements of Thought table. One person from the group will write out the elements of the issue in their own words. Â This includes: stating the Question at Issue, Information (data, facts, observations, experiences), Interpretation and Inference (conclusions, solutions), Concepts (theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles, models), Assumptions (presupposition, taking for granted), Implications and Consequences, Point of View (frame of reference, perspective, orientation), and Purpose (goal or objective). Outside research on the issue is encouraged.
There unique approaches to employing good practices include: Collaborative Learning, Creating the Environment, and Guiding the Practice.
Collaborative learning promotes student-to-student interaction as the primary mode of learning and also supports socially constructed meaning and knowledge creation. Creating the Environment requires the instructor to articulate clear instructions and set the stage for the learning. Explaining the purpose of the assignment and inciting critical thinking and engaged discussion is apart of creating the environment. This is an instructor's duty to facilitate. Finally, the instructor must Guide the Practice, by observing students in collaboration and offering effective and constructive feedback. Instructor's have a responsibility to engage students in their learning and provide meaningful input when needed.
Tina,
I love your Low Stakes Speech assignment! I find this to be a really connecting prompt for a speech. Having students select three objects that represent them is very creative, symbolic, and open-ended. It's imaginative and perspective-expanding. I think you will get many enthusiastic and meaningful student speeches from this prompt. The meaning and stories attached to significant objects/possessions in our lives has great import. Your instructions are well-structured. Asking students to include Note Cards with just key words and phrases helps students to provide their own structure of the speech in a concise way.
Excellent online adaptation for your Guided Group Discussion on Utilitarianism. The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an ongoing controversy and certainly one that provokes deep discussion. Analyzing whether the bombings were morally right on Utilitarian grounds connects the event to a relevant philosophical framework. I like the choice here. Personally I imagine that the bombings were morally justified from a Western perspectives given that it would protect the greater good.
