Oliver Sacks is well known for his written works focused on individuals with disabilities from a neurological perspective. Narratives of those with alternate abilities were once rarely heard of and were blocked out of history books, but as the way society views these individuals continues to change, it is important to include these stories as we […]
Read more "Reflection: An Anthropologist on Mars"In the fourth grade I had a pen pal who lived in Colombia; we would exchange letters once every few weeks and would discuss school, sports, etc. Thanks to technology, the pen pal experience has changed and thanks to COIL, I had to opportunity to instantly meet face to face with someone in a different […]
Read more "COIL Reflections"Interacting with people from a distance is something that people in my generation are extremely efficient at. Using COIL to build relationships is a unique, yet logical, way to create relationships with people from all over the world, especially in a society that is driven by technology. Although my COIL experience was most likely different […]
Read more "Reflection: COIL"After reading Oliver Saks’ An Anthropologist on Mars, I began thinking and reflecting about many things. Having worked in special education for quite some time, hearing about the struggles and accomplishments of each of the individuals in the various case studies in this work really hit home for me. Disability is often thought of as a […]
Read more "Reflection: An Anthropologist on Mars"When we first talked about skyping with students in Colombia as part of the Collaborated Online International Learning (COIL) project, I was a little skeptical. Although I understood what we could gain from talking to people from another country and getting a chance to talk about our lives, I wondered how close we could become […]
Read more "Reflection: Connecting Through COIL"I was fascinated with pen pals as a child. In third grade, my elementary school began exchanging letters with a grade school in Belarus, and we each received letters from a student and were tasked with writing back. I still have my letter from my pen pal. It was one of the most exciting experiences […]
Read more "Reflection: The Unique Pen Pal Friendship"When I was first assigned to do Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) with two university students in Cali, Columbia, I was anxious. COIL, which involves having Skype conversations with students in another country (in our case, Columbia) and learning from each other, combines some of the skills I am worst at: making conversation with people […]
Read more "The Challenge of Making New Friends and Maintaining Friendships"