Hi all! Welcome back to Digitally Literate. This is issue #303.
This was a wild and bumpy week. More to come soon.
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Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
UDL is an inclusive pedagogical framework. In this video, John Spencer shares the basics of UDL and a few practical ideas for implementing it
This is one of the best overviews of UDL that I have ever seen (and I have looked at a lot!) The video is a great resource for providing clarity about such an important framework and doing it in a way that is approachable and accessible.
KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor
Long-time reader and friend Bryan Alexander shared this resource from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). It is interesting to unpack the public’s attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations.
The unvaccinated tend to be younger adults Are younger, less educated, Republicans, with significant differences about whether they’ll get the vaccine at any point.
When we think about parents in the pandemic, the results are even more interesting. Four In Ten Parents Of Children Ages 12 To 17 Say Their Child Has Received At Least One Dose Of The COVID-19 Vaccine. Four In Ten Parents Of Children Under 12 Say They Want To “Wait And See” Before Getting Their Child Vaccinated.
Brazil’s Restrictive New Social Media Rules Could Be an Omen For the Future of the Internet
Brazil’s new rules appear to be the first in the world to make certain types of content takedowns illegal under national law, even as other national governments around the world implement rules that force social media companies to take down more types of content proactively.
“Such an approach would essentially be a political decision to move in the direction of an Internet with even more vitriol and toxicity which, of course, is often directed primarily against women, minorities, and people with political views that sway from the mainstream.” – Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.
How to Deal With the Dark Side of Social Media
Michael Bérubé on comprehensive guides to defending faculty and staff members and students from trolls and outrage addicts online. I was sent this post by Verena Roberts.
Bérubé references the Faculty Support Safety Guidance from the University of Iowa and the Social Media Support and Resources from Penn State.
This is something that absolutely every single person in academia (especially administrators) should read. Every single campus should develop one if they do not have one.
Automated hiring software is mistakenly rejecting millions of viable job candidates
Companies Need More Workers. Why Do They Reject Millions of Résumés?
A new report says automated systems are hurting the US labor market.
Over-reliance on software in the hiring world seems to have created a vicious cycle. Digital technology was supposed to make it easier for companies to find suitable job candidates, but instead, it’s created a new series of problems.
A new Harvard Business School study found inflexible automated recruiting tools and training gaps keep prospects “hidden,” as well as a mindset that “hiring hidden workers is an act of charity or corporate citizenship, rather than a source of competitive advantage.” The researchers say companies that develop customized hiring strategies will benefit from new pipelines of talent.
How to Build a Bigger Following on Twitch
Twitch, is a video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions. In addition, it offers music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, “in real life” streams.
Building an audience is more of a content game than a numbers one. Focus on the former, and the latter will come.
- Don’t fixate on numbers, but do focus on content
- Participate on the platform with others
- Collaborate with other streamers outside your lane
- Be as consistent as you can
- Know how to promote yourself elsewhere, especially in advance of streaming
A neuroscientist shares the 6 exercises she does every day to build resilience and mental strength
Wendy Suzuki offers the following guidance:
- Visualize positive outcomes
- Turn anxiety into progress
- Try something new
- Reach out
- Practice positive self-tweeting
- Immerse yourself in nature
If that doesn’t work for you, check out this sage advice on pandemic living from a long-forgotten, and very long, 18th-century poem.
If you’re too bright for others, they’ll try to find some shade.
Lisa Nichols
The smartest person in any room anywhere’: in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland.
This post made the rounds in my circles online. I really like the closing statement:
I think the biggest difference between the 20th century and the 21st is that in the 20th century you were able to see “the future” in your head. There were new ways of envisioning, say, an information utopia – or an ecological harmonisation of humans with everything non-human. But here in the 21st century we’re only able to possibly glimpse a small workable future, and even then only if we work at it incredibly hard. That’s a huge difference in looking at what lies down the road.
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