Today I responded with an enthusiastic YES to joining the Digital Gardener Faculty Fellows program. This is the first year and we are a cohort of faculty from all of the IU campuses. I will be sharing more about this program. I am so thrilled to be a part of it. 

My thoughts on Facebook and the scandal are many. I will be doing my best to report what I think and what I find. I shall now begin.

MY THOUGHTS/WHO I AM
It will be easier to understand my positions when you understand who I am and why I think what I do.  

1. I am a Digital Age Person. I was born for the Digital Age. I love it. I love accessing information and people from all over the world nearly instantly.
   
2. Good Things Come with the Digital Age. I believe this will bring about a just and loving world because we can see and communicate with each other. 
3. Technology Is Neutral; Humans Make It Kind or Cruel. We humans made technology. What we do with it is determined by us. Don't blame the World Wide Web for hate. That humans have carried with them through the ages. Just read your history. 
4. Kindness and Cruelty. I prefer to say Kindness and Cruelty rather than Good and Evil. We humans can get abstract when discussing Good and Evil. Kindness and Cruelty, well that's a bit more immediate. 
5. Technology Educator. I teach people how to use technology. I'm not afraid of it. I am often afraid of human actions. 
6. Misinformation. Misinformation is everywhere. Mein Kampf is still a piece of hate-filled garbage whether it is in print or digital. So stop looking solely at the book and look at the person who wrote it. 
7. Liberal Tolerant. Make no mistake, I am a liberal, born and raised by liberal activists in the Unitarian-Universalist church. Bottom line: Yes all people can live together on this planet. However those who wish to build concentration camps CAN'T DO THAT! We have to take the liberal choice - abortion is available for all - so that all choices can live together. 

FINDING/SHARING
I shall begin with this article Facebook’s whistleblower tells Congress how to regulate tech. 

Let us hold the PEOPLE of Facebook accountable. Let's talk about them.

If I ran Facebook and found QAnon and anti-vaxxers I would contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and hire them to work with me to preserve freedom of expression and get that hateful nonsense off my platform!!! 

Know This: If I tell you you can't post hate and misinformation on my platform, I'm denying you services, not stomping on your rights. You have all the right in the world to keep believing and whatever you want. As long as your actions are NOT causing cruelty to anther, go for it. But if you cause cruelty, then hey, guess what, you gotta take the consequences. 

And perhaps this is what the white supremist groups and anti-vaxxers want: They do not want to accept the consequences of their actions. Maybe I'm wrong. 

All I know right now, in this moment in time is this: 1. The people running Facebook must be held accountable for allowing hatred to thrive. 2. The people posting the hate must be held accountable too. 

Now I'm going to surf the Web. 

​Be well. 

This is a "beginning" post as in I have a thought and I have to start writing about it to fully understand it. Hence the (Rough Draft 1) in the title. 

FIRST: I LOVE MY JOB! I love what I do, I love my colleagues, I LOVE MY STUDENTS! I'm also human.

I am exhausted. Not surprised are you? After all, we are 18 months in a global pandemic, going from huge shut down to "business back to masked normal."

Oh good grief. 

My life, our lives, have gone through huge upheavals. What is getting to me right now, is the feeling that we educators, those of us in academia too, are expecting ourselves and being expected to keep on the grindstone. It feels like a disconnect from being offered resources to moving our courses online to now, which I call "masked normal."  There is no talk about how this change is making a huge impact on our emotional and mental lives. 

Granted our culture doesn't want to talk about emotions and we glorify working and the "grind." However we are flesh and blood beings so we need to address those needs as well. It would be nice to be honored, not with a "thanks" at beginning of the semester public address, also with acknowledgement that we need time to adjust. 

So, I shall continue to explore this idea, get better terms and writing, and share. For now, please share with me. 

Here at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana we have a wonder Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) who help faculty become better teachers. I have used their resources many times throughout the years. 

This morning I got a wonderful email with this article: Teaching while Masked. This leads to good information and excellent practices on teaching while wearing a mask. Love the advice! Granted an old theater major like myself can project my voice even through a mask. Still, I loved knowing that my techniques worked and that new one could be used. 

Enjoy the read. 

Last year I worked with an online expert to get my beloved class K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology fully online. Yes it has a website but we at Indiana University also use Canvas for managing our courses. Now I like for my students to see everything about my class up front. That way they can plan and work ahead. The designer I worked with said NO! That it might confuse the students, especially if I changed things, and to not open the Canvas sections until the absolute start date. 

Today I got an email saying hey, open the class up early. I can see how in the past if the Canvas site wasn't ready, then of course you don't open it up. However, within a day or two, my Canvas sites will be ready to ROCK! So I will open them up ASAP. I will also encourage my students to check them out before the class starts to we can start fresh. 

Here's to the New COVID Normal Number Four (or is it 137 - can't remember). I'm looking forward to having everything ready for my students and myself.