August 16, 2016

In March, I was presented the opportunity to teach an online class this fall through Global Online Academy (GOA). The online aspect of the course is new and fun for me to learn about, but it was the title of the course that urged me to say yes. The course is titled, “Power: Redressing Inequity Through Data.” The title and the outline of the course was another teacher’s idea, Jenny from an independent school near Boston, MA. When GOA found out that she wasn’t able to teach Power this fall, they reached out to me to offer it.

Power Class is a fusion of math, social science, philosophy, advocacy, with a seasoning of social justice throughout. I’ll take students through looks at power structures, how power is established, maintained, and then how to find inequities in data. When we find inequities, we’ll look at the power structures that are required to redress the inequities and make things better, essentially.

The modules I have in place now on the plan include income inequality, water inequality, gerrymandering (voter inequality), and human trafficking. I’m pumped to get started and use some analytical skills to examine characteristics in our society that can be made better for people.

The online aspect of the course has proven to be interesting, too. I will probably never meet my students face to face, physically, ever. Instead, I curate my class and the content students are to learn by online discussions, Skype interviews, and synchronous and asynchronous meetings over the internet. GOA encourages its teachers to “reimagine the classroom.”