Author: Dominique Van Gilst

 

1. In the beginning of her article, Wong says that in order to create a diverse workplace, we must start with inclusion. This is important because it is true for both the workplace, and many other areas. I could certainly relate this to education because inclusive schooling is such a hot topic right now. In order to create a diverse classroom, students from all backgrounds and abilities should be in one class together. Adopting a more inclusive ideology will allow for a more diverse environment. Wong believes that it is also important to acknowledge the fact that there are some groups of people who have experienced hardship because of their race, gender, ability, etc. Even though it seems like everyone receiving the same treatment means that everyone is treated fairly, this is not always true. For example, someone who has a disability may need accommodations in order to be successful whereas someone who does not have a disability does not need this. Overall, Wong’s article does a great job of showing the reader that in order to create inclusive environments, we must keep an open mind, and understand that we may be wrong about some things. 
2. In my opinion, Wong does a great job of connecting her ideas and sentences using transitions throughout the entire article. One section in particular where she does this is the passage labeled “Supporting Others to Make Change”. In the first paragraph of this section, Wong says that it may seem difficult to help create more inclusive spaces. In the last sentence of this paragraph, Wong says, “Additional steps can be taken regarding who is asked to be involved in decision-making and which efforts are pursued in the name of culture change” (p. 30).  In the second paragraph, she goes back to talking about the fact that people who are different often experience hardships. However, this ends up connecting to how people can help create inclusive environments because she says that the people who are experiencing hardships are the best people to ask about how you should change. So, she is using this area to connect to the first paragraph of this section by talking about who should be involved in the decision making process.

1. I decided that I want my topic to be about inclusive education, so the first thing I did was search inclusive education in Syracuse University Library Summons. A wide variety of articles, books, and other scholarly journals came up, but nothing was exactly what I wanted. I made my search a little bit different by saying that I wanted a journal article, and searching inclusive education benefits. The advanced search was helpful because it allowed me to be more specific, and find some articles that could be a great source. Although I found many great articles by changing by search only a little bit, in the past, I have found it helpful to really take advantage of the advanced search section. For example, you can specify the area of study, make sure the article is current, and even filter your search so that you have only peer reviewed articles. Overall, I like to do my research using the Syracuse Library Summons because of how easy it is to work with. 
2. I think that one important thing that I can do in order to represent different voices is find sources that are written, or have input from various people who are involved in inclusion. For example, I could find an article where a student who has a disability shares his/her experiences with education, whether it be in a special education classroom, or a general education classroom. Also, I think that it would be interesting if I could find an article that includes the experiences of a child who does not have a disability in their inclusive classroom. Experts, teachers, and school administrators could also be a great resource because they have had experiences with so many different kids. Overall, I think that it is really important to collect sources that include input from various people instead of just showing one side of the argument or one person’s perspective. In order to find these sources, I will do research, and use available filters in order to find what I need.

1. After reading my classmates posts, I found that everyone has different areas of diversity that they are interested in. Some of the issues that stood out to me include equal opportunities for minorities in education, disability and employment, and diversity in higher education. The reason that I found equal opportunities for minorities in education is because being an education major, I have learned that there are some teachers out there who overlook students who are minorities, and do not allow them to have the same opportunities as their peers. When I become a teacher, I never want my students to feel out of place or left out in my classroom because they are a minority. I want each student to feel that they are valued equally as they should be. The issue of disability and employment was interesting to me because I think that research that will help include more people who have disabilities in the workplace is always a good thing. In the future, I hope to see disabilities represented more. The last issue that I included in this post was diversity in higher education. The reason that I thought this was interesting is because I agree, and believe that it is true that people learn better when they are with others who are different. I think that everyone should have equal opportunities, and should not have to defend themselves because they are different. One of the media elements that made an impression on me was the one about equal opportunities for minorities in education. This is because the diagram shows just how unequal access to gifted education programs really is for minorities. This graph stood out to me because it is easy to understand, and is overall very impactful. 

3. In my opinion, Bogost does a great job of transitioning into new ideas. One area of his article that stood out to me because of the transition was when Bogost was talking about  diversity being seen as a “pipeline” issue. In this paragraph, Bogost explains that people who have a good background in education have access to more that will allow them to eventually obtain a good job with their connections. He then says that fixing this issue will allow for a workforce that includes different types of people. Bogost set himself up for his next paragraph because that is where he gives an example of an organization that is working on resolving this issue. Bogost further describes the organization by saying, “The center’s goal is to increase access to computer-science education among women and people of color”. This explanation helps the reader to better understand why a center like this is important. Overall, I think that Bogost did a good job of transitioning in this section of the article.

When reading Ian Bogost’s article, “The problem with diversity in computing”, I noticed that he used a lot of examples and rhetorical moves in order to get his point across. Bogost begins his article with a story that is easy to understand, which is how he introduces his topic. Bogost jumps right in instead of explaining his topic; the first sentence in the article is “When Amy Webb broke her ankle, she was forced to hobble around on a walking boot”. This sentence does not make it seem like Bogost is going to be talking about diversity in technology, which allows the reader to remain interested in the article, and makes them want to keep reading. 

The second rhetorical move that I noticed was the use of logos, which is a way of persuasion using logic. Bogost uses logos throughout most of the article by stating facts. For example, while talking about diversity and access to education, he states that at Google, “more than 95 percent of technical workers are white or Asian”. Facts often convince readers to agree with what an author is saying. 

A third rhetorical move that I saw in Bogost’s article was personification by using the words, “Computers have started issuing prison sentences” when talking about technology not being able to predict diversity. Obviously, computers cannot literally issue prison sentences, but this use of personification allows the reader to see the importance of this topic.

Furthermore,  Bogost uses repetition in order to emphasize the point that technology tends to leave diversity out when talking about Webb at the airport. Bogost quotes Webb, then further explains her point when he says, “someone like me wasn’t in the room” when the system was designed, or when it was trained on images of human forms, or when it was tested before rollout”. Repetition of the word “when”, followed by an example is powerful here because it shows just how much diversity can be ignored.

Finally, I found that Bogost tends to use certain words that draw the reader’s attention. For example, he talks about how tech-industry diversity is improving a little bit, but he uses negative words in order to make a few sentences stand out. Bogost says, “Tech-industry diversity is improving, but it’s still pretty terrible. Women, black, and Latinx representation is particularly poor”. The words “terrible” and “poor” used while talking about the same point help the reader to understand how bad the situation really is, because these words draw attention.

1. One of the TedTalks that I found interesting was Fried’s talk about work, and how people don’t actually get their work done at their offices. This speaker was very engaging and interactive with the audience. He was giving a formal speech, but spoke in a way that made it seem like he was having a conversation with just one person. He made jokes, and asked rhetorical questions that kept the audience thinking. He also spoke about the fact that he is manager, and that many managers need to work on not interrupting their employees, including himself. His awareness of this issue made him likeable, and easy to listen to. In order to explain his ideas, he gave the audience some insight into what it is like to be working, and have your day interrupted at the office. He also talked about employees, and how he has found that all of the people he talked to about the subject preferred to work somewhere other than the office. He spoke to the audience member’s experiences in their favor, which most likely helped them know that he understands their struggles at work. Overall, I thought that this TedTalk was very interesting, and made a lot of sense. 
2. One of the talks that I listened to that I thought worked well with evidence was Heffernan’s speech. This is because she gave many examples that enriched the information she was speaking about. For example, she began her talk by speaking about a business chain that wanted to become more efficient. Heffernan says that this business embraced technology called a task allocator in order to do this. Instead of the business allowing for collaboration, the employees got assigned tasks, completed them, then went back to get more assigned. This did not end up being very efficient because the new technology could not predict different changes throughout the day at the grocery store. The main purpose of her talk was to show that if we rely on technology so much for efficiency, we will lack skills to deal with changes or unexpected occurrences throughout the day.  I believe that Heffernan was smart to begin her TedTalk with evidence like this because it gave the audience a clear understanding of what she was going to be talking about.

1. In order to find a valuable source that can be added to our resources, I have decided to look further into neurodiversity. This topic is important to me because my major is inclusive elementary and special education teaching. When I become a teacher, it will be extremely important for me to create an accepting and inclusive environment for each student in my class. I am looking for articles that are professional, but not difficult to understand. I want an article that will get an important message across to the reader. I think that in order to have a meaningful and informational article about neurodiversity, it would be important to hear from someone who has a disability because someone without a disability cannot fully understand what someone who has a disability goes through on a daily basis. I have been using the SU Library website to research articles. I also filter them so that they meet the requirements. For example, I put a filter on that will only show articles that are 5 years old or less. This just helps me to ensure that I am meeting the expectations, and makes it easier to find valuable articles.
2. According to Harris,  in order to “come to terms” with a specific text, there are three things that someone needs to do: “Define the project of the writer in your own terms…Note keywords or passages in the text… Assess the uses and limits of this approach” (Harris n.d., p. 15). Some of the key words in this article that helps the reader to understand the main purpose are, “bias”, “behavior/actions”, “outsider”, etc. These are just a few key words that are essential to understand. In the Kaplan and Donavan article, the project of the authors is finding out more about inclusive settings and diversity in the workplace. In order to do this, Kaplan and Donavan decide to explain a typical workday to display their main concepts in the “real world”. They also show the reader how small changes to actions and biases in a company/business. This article helps the reader to understand that minor changes can allow for major differences, and it is extremely important to promote an inclusive environment.