Meenakshi Anbukkarasu

Meenakshi Anbukkarasu is a first-year Graduate student that is majoring in Computer Science. She, along with Rashmi, helps faculty, staff, and students with all things related to instructional tools, Canvas and Adobe programs. She is expected to graduate in May 2020 but for now, she is enjoying her classes and her work here at eCampus.

When I first met Meenakshi, I could instantly tell she was a kind and welcoming young lady. She is the co-worker everyone deserves. In the mornings my co-workers and I are greeted by her gentle smile and a warm, ‘Good Morning’. If she sees that we are stressed over our work or school, she will always try to help in any she can. I think that is important in any work environment. Sometimes, we are all at fault for not reaching out for help but Meenakshi always offers a helping hand showing her true leadership qualities.

When she first got here, she (like everyone) had to go through the training process. I was highly impressed by how fast of a learner she was. She would always be asking questions and asking us, “what if” questions. I believe this really helped her prepare herself to know what to do in a variety of situations. I related to that and maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to work with her. I am always asking questions so that I can grow and be the best possible employee. For 4 months now, I have seen Meenakshi help students and faculty with their technical issues in a professional manner.

When I asked her, what was her favorite part about the job she said, “The amazing thing about working in eCampus is that I get to meet and interact with a lot of people every day. You learn something new and you are constantly growing. The exploration you do to solve a case is fun and challenging. I also get to work with amazing co-workers and a very understanding director. I’ve never felt bored with my work since every day is different. I always have the excitement to go to work every morning. Overall, I’ve grown a lot a person in these past 4 months here at eCampus and I know I will continue to learn and grow while I am here”.

After graduating she plans to be a Software Developer for a top company like Google, Amazon or Facebook. Her aspirations don’t stop there as she one day hopes to be the CEO of her own company. It’s only natural that a person like Meenakshi who loves to learn also loves to teach. She says, “I love teaching! I’ve taught at a few summer camps back in India. I want to inspire girls to choose a career in STEM. I wanted to continue that work in California, so I joined as a volunteer at West Valley Branch Library in San Jose to teach middle school kids some basic programming languages”. Meenakshi’s love for inclusivity and empowerment for women in STEM fields has impacted students in India and here in San Jose. Wherever life takes her, you can find her inspiring others and working to make the tech world more inclusive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Pedagogy Workshop @ SJSU – Video + Slides

Thanks to Jennifer Redd, eCampus hosted a Digital Pedagogy Workshop on April 9 for ~25 engaged faculty from a variety of departments and disciplines all over San Jose State University. Because the attendees were guaranteed to hail from a variety ofDigital Pedagogy expertise levels, I ran the workshop with multiple points of intervention and input captured with Session Notes in Google Docs. The primary purpose of the workshop focused on theorizing Digital Pedagogy instead of teaching to the tools. We eventually get around to that, but first we spent a lot of time theorizing about the uses of Digital Pedagogy.

Much of the definitions on these slides come from the in-progress draft Introduction for Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities (currently openly available in GitHub in its post-peer review and pre-user-friendly digital platform phase). The project is scheduled to be finalized with a brand new digital platform that will allow for users to save pedagogical artifacts and keywords to a private account along with being able to search and utilize tags (e.g., beginner, intermediate, advanced levels of Digital Pedagogy; assignments; syllabi, etc.). The final platform, being built by our publisher, the Modern Language Association, is due to be finalized along with the entire project and the editors’ introduction during Summer 2019. With 4 editors, 84 curators, ~700 artifact creators, the project provides a wide array of pedagogical materials for use in many disciplines, even those outside of the Humanities.

Digital Pedagogy Workshop from eCampus on Vimeo.

The slides are available on Google Presention.

The Lunch n’Learn gatherings are a terrific way to 1) meet faculty from across campus; and 2) enjoy a delicious lunch provided by eCampus. For other videos of lectures and engaging articles, check out the eCampus Resources page.

Now that we’ve met, what would you like to read about in the remaining 2 blog posts on Digital Pedagogy this semester? Leave a comment or email me directly: katherine[dot]harris[at]sjsu[dot]edu

For those interested in more about Digital Pedagogy throughout the California State University system, consider attending the Student Success Conference being held at SJSU April 15, 2019 (registration required), especially these panels:

Session S1C: Using Technology to Improve Student Success Poster Session

Location: Room 3B – Jennifer Redd, Moderator – Presentations  

  • Comparing three strategies for providing feedback on a research assignment, Amy D’Andrade  
  • Exploring the impact of optional Canvas modules in course design, Michael Vallerga  
  • Integrating Canvas in student teaching: A strategy for coherence and support, Dean Sexton  
  • Digital Storytelling in Asian American History, Apryl Berney and Soma de Bourbon

Session S3C: Flipping as a Pedagogy in STEM Classes

Location: Room 3B – Poster Session – Ravisha Mathur, Moderator – Presentations:  

  • How flipped learning meets the diverse learning need in a first programming class, ChrisTseng  
  • Flipping a General Physics class using Mastering Physics, Ranko Heindl  
  • Defining Student Performance Expectations for Engineering Mechanics of Materials, Kurt McMullin  
  • Observations from a Flipped Section of CE 95 – Statics, Steven Vukavich  
  • On the Road to Flipping, Raji Lukkor

Session S4C: eCampus Student Success Programs

Poster Session – Location: Room 3B – Jennifer Redd, Moderator – Presentations  

  • Exploring the impact of a flipped course redesign, Krissy Connell  
  • Incorporating a point-of-care instrument into existing laboratory exercises to expand and diversify exposure to laboratory tools, John Geing  
  • Investigating interventions to determine if stress levels among students can be reduced, Pamela Wells  
  • Beyond SOTEs: Exploring formative and summative assessment in a GE college classroom, Mei-Yan Lu  
  • Evaluating undergraduate nursing students confidence and anxiety speaking with patients. Sheri Rickman Patrick  
  • Including robots in class to increase student-instructor interaction and provide hands-on experiences, Wencen Wu  
  • Student engagement: A key to success in the classroom, Linda Mitchell and Amber Sylva  
  • Providing hands-on field/laboratory experiences using drones, Kimberly Blisniuk, Emmanuel Gabet, and Hollianne McClure

Session S5B: Innovations in Teaching

Poster Presentations – Location: Room 3A – Mark Van Selst, Moderator – Presentations  

  • Epidemiology in Action: Applied Research in the Classroom, Miranda Worthen  
  • Leveraging Technology and Design Thinking in Social Entrepreneurship: Course Re-design Project in BUS4 188, Yu Chen  
  • How can Business Simulation Games Enhance Student Learning in Revenue Management? Yinghua Huang  
  • Promising Results from massive FYE course model and Intrusive Student Success Interventions, Michael Randle

5:00 pm Flipped Workshop

Location: Room 4A – This is a ticketed event and is limited to 200 attendees

 

Reflection: Women’s History Month

 

As March comes to an end, we reflect on the importance of Women’s Day and Women’s month. When the month first started I knew that I would be tasked with illustrating some incredible women for #Women’sDay2019. For this task, I wanted to make sure I was being inclusive and diverse with my pickings. It was incredibly important to me that the women I put up reflected the campus demographic. I decided to illustrate Dr. Maya Angelou, Dr. Roxane Gay, Dolores Huerta, and Amy Tan.

I spoke with the women in my life about Women’s Month and what it means to them. I noticed some common themes that showed up across the many discussions I had. Many believe the month symbolizes awareness to the inequality women face and others see it as hope and encouragement for a better tomorrow. It is imperative we look at the history of inequality in this country and learn from it so change can come about. Many of the women illustrated in the poster fought for that change and many continue to do so.

I am incredibly blessed to be working with and know such innovative and inspiring women. They continue to motivate and uplift me and I hope I do the same for them. I am also blessed to be in a position where I can change the narrative of ‘leaders’ portrayed and illustrate a more inclusive group that represents the campus demographic. I hope you enjoyed seeing the piece and I urge you to create a change within yourself, others and your community.

 

We Rise Up: Helping Our Students Everyday

I’ve been slightly distracted by all of the news over the last few weeks — New Zealand’s tragedy, the replication of elitism in higher ed — as well as getting my graduate students in British Romanticism to think beyond the traditional literary canon for this period (1775-1835) of 6 white, male authors. All of this historical literary work on busting open an accepted canon seems imperative in a world that’s teeming with constant ruptures, revolutions, disturbances, dis-organization, re-organization, tragedy, wanderings, wonderings. The debate about ethics, artificial intelligence (or machine learning), Facebook seems to have gone by the wayside as we all deal with crisis after crisis that inundates us.

In the end, there’s some good news. Today, we’re going to take a circuitous route to end up back at Digital Pedagogy by the conclusion of this post. Just hang on for a moment. Continue Reading…