1 Dear Students
Welcome to CIS4020 – Data Science. I’m looking forward to working with you this semester as we address a challenge presented by a community partner. That’s correct – this class is community-engaged!
What does that mean exactly?
Well, it means that we are going to be working with community leaders to understand their data better, and hopefully answer some of their questions so that they can deliver their work in a more meaningful and helpful way. It’s challenging work, but also incredibly rewarding. And yes, you’ll be doing this while mastering the course learning outcomes.
Why do I think this is important?
In short, there are so many challenges that face us today. Beyond the fact that COVID-19 has not disappeared (and was once again one of the leading causes of death in North America in 2022; is still causing extensive damage to organs including the brain; and is still causing debilitating long COVID), there is a lot of other ”stuff” happening. Many of us are trying to navigate our collective reality at the same time as managing other significant challenges, such as caring for children or aging parents, job loss, or financial uncertainty. Mix in the news of racism, civil rights violations, residential “school” atrocities, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, climate change, biodiversity loss, wildfires, and more – it’s not surprising that we’re feeling uneasy. It’s all so much. It can be isolating and anxiety-inducing. It might make you angry. It might also mean that you feel tired or worried about your ability to succeed before the semester even begins.
But together we can weather all of these things, and support each other in a way that builds everyone up. Not only that, but we can use this class and our talents to try to bring some positivity to our lives and the lives of those in our community.
So how do we learn with all of this going on? That’s a great question, but I believe it begins with how we treat ourselves and each other. With that in mind, I am going to ask each and every one of you to begin the new semester with the following promises.
Promise to look after yourself:
- Promise to take care of yourself first. Your health and wellness are more important than your work, so please do whatever you need to do to get whatever help you might need when you need it. Reach out to a friend, a family member, or a health professional.
- Promise to chat with me if ever you are worried about being able to succeed in our classroom – especially if this worry stems from you doing what is right for your health and wellness. I don’t need to know the specifics of your situation to be able to help you develop a plan of action to succeed.
- Promise that if you, your family, your loved ones, or the people you live with are showing symptoms of COVID-19 or monkeypox or any other communicable disease, you will do what you can to limit the spread. If you are too sick to work or study, promise that you will reach out to me as soon as you can so that we can develop a plan for success. Again, I don’t need to know the specifics of the situation – just that you need accommodations.
Beyond all of this, please let me know if you are in a different time zone, have limited internet, or are dealing with any other situation that will affect your ability to succeed in the class. I will work with you to determine how best to approach the semester.
Promise to look after others:
Finally, the semester may prove to be challenging so let’s also:
- Promise to approach everything we do with empathy, patience, and kindness for ourselves and for others. It’s vital that we remember that everyone at some point in time needs extra help, care, compassion, and/or flexibility. We need to respect that each of us has different needs, different demands, and different stresses that will affect our ability to learn together.
Having said all this, I am confident that this semester is going to be amazing. I’ve done my best to restructure our classrooms in a way that is supportive and flexible. We also have great community partners to work with and learn from. Will it be perfect? No. Will I mess something up? Probably. Will we experience some growing pains and bumps along the way? Undoubtedly. But whatever happens, be reassured that I will do my best to make the fall semester as positive and successful as possible.
Sincerely,
Dan Gillis