In “Quantify Everything: A Dream of a Feminist Data Future”, Amelia Abreu discusses the Quantified Self movement, emphasizing “self-knowledge through numbers”, and how it ignores the context in which data are collected while also excluding populations, including caregivers. Caregivers are “human data trackers”, responsible for monitoring their charges’ needs and behaviors, though this facet of life is largely ignored and unquantified in the QS movement. Data, instead, is largely considered and interpreted from a white, middle- to upper-class male point of view.

• One quote from the article that really struck me is “For a movement that promises ‘self knowledge through numbers’, there’s little emphasis placed on what those numbers might reflect outside of their immediate circumstances.” Do you feel that the QS movement, and society at large, fails to appropriately consider and interpret measurements and data from students and instructors? What do we make of students’ grades—we place emphasis on grades for grad school and financial aid, purposes, but do we take into account everything in a student’s life that contributes to the grade that they earn? How much do we interpret grades as a reflection of the instructor’s teaching style, and less so as an indication of the student’s abilities? Do we quantify all the work that students do, or do we allow work to go ungraded? Have instructors structured classes in such a way that those points that are quantified will reflect better on the instructor? How do students interpret their grades in relation to themselves—what do they actually learn about themselves, and how do they apply this new “knowledge”? What purpose do grades serve outside of the classroom setting?
• Similar to caregivers, is all of the effort that instructors put into teaching (especially adjuncts and graduate student instructors) quantified? What aspects of teaching are ignored? How do the wages given to lower-ranked instructors fail to consider their efforts and work, as well as circumstances outside the classroom? What kinds of data do we as instructors use to gain knowledge about our teaching practices and how well we help our students?

Francesca Tripodi discusses how engagement with Yik Yak, a once-popular social media app, affects students’ interactions and sense of belonging within college campus communities in “Yakking about college life: Examining the role of anonymous forums on community identity formation”. While the anonymity of the app and the ease of usage made it appealing to many, the pervasiveness of the app across the campus focused on in Tripodi’s study made it simultaneously appealing and a must-have to some while enhancing feelings of exclusion for marginalized individuals. Yik Yak got its start in the Greek system on campus, and thus was available to those in a place of privilege (and not to those in such a place) from its conception.

Those Tripodi interviewed mentioned hesitation to post a Yak when they first downloaded the app, and they spent large amounts of time drafting Yaks they hoped would garner positive attention from others in the community; indeed, a specific formula for a “successful” Yak (as determined by upvotes) was often adhered to by app users. Some were able to find support from other students in Yaks posting about mental health struggles and feelings of burnout (and made use of the anonymous posting to feel more comfortable sharing such Yaks in the first place). However, those who did not feel a sense of belonging or inclusion on the physical campus were less inclined to use Yik Yak because of this lack of belonging; the app belongs to only a subset of the campus population to which these marginalized users do not belong, and thus further excludes students from the campus community.

With the history and usage of Yik Yak in mind:

• Tripodi discusses the notion that the anonymity of Yik Yak would allows users to more freely post content that they would not state in public. Considering that students spent significant amounts of time drafting Yaks to gain positive feedback, and content was often recycled, how much do you agree with this notion? Do you think that without the ability to upvote Yaks, content would be less formulaic?
• Do you feel students engage with the discussion board and other platforms in a similar way to the Yik Yak users Tripodi discussed, in that students tend to conform to the pattern and content of what others have already shared in order to gain approval from instructors and peers, and limit the thoughts and opinions they share if they deviate too far from the majority? Now that we have moved our classes online, do you feel that new teaching practices are marginalizing students’ voices more? For those of you who use the discussion board, are the posts you see more varied, or are your students simply agreeing with what others have said? What steps are you taking to keep all of your students engaged with your course?
• Do you think there would be differences in engagement and content on Yik Yak between residential campuses and commuter schools like CUNY? What forms of communication or social media to students rely on today to form online communities with other students, especially now that all interactions are off-campus?  

In Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, John Bean discusses the link between writing assignments and critical thinking, and provides numerous suggestions for instructors to incorporate the two into their own courses. Students should be seen as more than just an empty repository for us to dump all of our course content into; we should also focus on developing students’ skills in engaging with the material, thinking critically about it, and considering other sides or opinions to an argument or theory presented. Writing, Bean argues, allows for this process of critical thinking to occur (including through writing and revising multiple drafts of an assignment), and a final written product is evidence of the critical thinking process. Bean also discusses the importance of including writing assignments that are more exploratory and personal, as opposed to only teaching professional, academic writing. Incorporating different kinds of writing assignments can help students find a writing style that works for them with while giving them experience with forms of writing that they are less comfortable with. Different students may excel at and benefit more from one type of writing assignment over another; there isn’t a best or one-style-fits-all assignment that can facilitate the development of critical thinking, and these differences and different ways of developing critical thinking skills should be taken into account as we develop our courses.

With this in mind, I have some questions for us to consider:

• Do you include writing assignments in your course? If not, does one of the misconceptions about writing and critical thinking prevent you from doing so? If so, do you agree with Bean that these misconceptions are actually misconceptions?
• Bean states that “teachers need to articulate where they stand with regard to traditional academic writing” (50). Where do you stand? Do you feel it is more important for students to complete more academic writing assignments in your course, or do you emphasize more personal or expressive writing?
• In Chapter 2, Bean discusses that college students focus more on right answers than on making an argument and defending it while considering counterpoints to their chosen argument. Do you think that high school adequately prepares students to begin thinking beyond being right, or that high schools should place more emphasis on the development of critical thinking and writing skills for all students? Should developing these skills be primarily on the shoulders of undergraduate instructors?
• What modes of assessment do you use in your classes? Do you rely on primarily one method to make up the bulk of a student’s grade, or do you use multiple kinds of assessments and assignments? Do the same students succeed on all the assessments you use, or is there a noticeable difference in students’ work and ability across assignments? Do you take students’ differences into account when designing your course?
• Though Bean focuses on the struggles of college students, we as graduate students spend a significant chunk of time writing. Do you face any struggles with your writing and writing process, and how do you overcome them?