EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: Monday, Jan. 15, 2018

EVENT: As the University of Michigan begins its annual Martin Luther King symposium Jan. 15, the Office of Academic Innovation will offer a new teach-out focused on Community Organizing for Social Justice.

It is one of three short, online learning opportunities offered during the month of January.

Community Organizing for Social Justice, will begin on MLK Day Jan. 15 and run for two weeks. Taught by Barry Checkoway, professor of social work, the self-paced teach-out will focus on the challenges of impacting social justice issues and opportunities to work across differences.

Checkoway said in a time of increased diversity “young people want to communicate with people different from themselves but segregation limits them.”

“This course is about a new form of organizing for social justice, one which recognizes differences and bridges differences through dialogue,” he said.

The U-M MLK Symposium is one of the largest celebrations in the nation of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King sponsored by colleges and universities. According to the U-M MLK website the theme, The Fierce Urgency of Now, “calls us to claim ownership of the challenges we face and not leave them for future generations to address. Amidst technological advancements and increased global connections, much work still needs to be done to heal the wounds of our past and resolve the injustices of our present.”

In addition to the new teach-out, U-M is bringing back two popular sessions, one on sleep and the other on managing our digital footprints.

Sleep Deprivation: Habits, Solutions, and Strategies, began Jan. 1 but the nature of the self-guided studies means participants can join at any time during the two weeks the teach-out is posted. Those who join will learn how sleep works and why it is important. They’ll also learn what bad sleep habits are, and what can be done to improve sleep.

Privacy, Reputation, and Identity in a Digital Age, begins Jan. 29. In today’s digital world, knowledge about us resides in “big data” collected by individuals, organizations, companies and governments. Increasingly, data are being processed by algorithms to draw conclusions: to form something like opinions. This teach-out will consider questions of privacy, reputation and identity using a case study approach.

The U-M Teach-Out series, modeled after the university’s teach-ins of the 1960s, are topical learning opportunities on important current issues. Delivered online, they offer systematic and thoughtful discussions to any interested learner free-of-charge.

SPONSOR: Office of Academic Innovation

INFORMATION:

• Community Organizing for Social Justice
• Sleep Deprivation: Habits, Solutions, and Strategies
• Privacy, Reputation, and Identity in a Digital Age
• MLK Symposium events