I really like your post! I sure think this is a common question for all of us why we need education?
Each educator I believe has at least the responsibility to make that clear to his/her students that what he/she is teaching and why that is important. How it will impact society and the general life? That also motivates students to be connected to what they are learning in the class.

I like the way you shared your experience.I will try to give you a different perspective. When you are writing the paper and not looking at your phone, that means you are balancing your life. You can again engage with your phone after you are done with your writing. So actually you are multitasking in a balanced way, which I think is necessary for any undergraduate/graduate students. With so many distraction around us and thinking about the benefit these technologies provide us, we might have to think about balancing its use in an efficient way. Another way of thinking about your experience can be, if you are bored with writing for many hours at a stretch, technology can help you take a break and distract you for a good reason (to again start writing with a fresh mind). I just shared my perspective. Hope you do not mind.

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I agree with your statement that use of technology depends on the situation. In class if technology is not efficiently used as a tool it might effect into student’s distraction. But for efficiently use of technology can also help facilitate many activities. Like students can add notes to teachers slides as the teacher teachers something. Students can use the technology to work in a collaborative environment as we do in this class. To finish an activity, students can use google to gain some quick knowledge, like a formula or something, which they do not need to remember. Specially in computer science classes, I think laptop is a must to help students program and learn simultaneously. Although, in some classes group activity can also be conducted without laptop also. Thus it depends. But I completely believe that in today’s classroom environment technology can be efficiently incorporated for learning purpose.

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I really agree with your thought. If students are not shown how the concepts taught within the four walls of the classroom are linked to the outside world, students cannot make the connection and they cannot get motivated to learn the subject. Again vice versa for a outside classroom activity if students are not shown or do not understand how they can use the classroom knowledge to solve a problem, then the knowledge they gain might not be useful. So facilitating both inside and outside class activity becomes an important consideration in a pedagogical context.

I like your blog post. I completely agree that brave spaces can be introduced in a number of ways. The ideas you shared are great ideas. With this introduction of brave spaces, I think instructors should also discuss the ground rules of the brave spaces mentioned in the article, so that students remain self-conscious and self-aware while interacting with their peers.

I agree with all of you here. We, as teachers must carefully word things when we are saying something and we also need to be careful about how a person feels if I tell something. Being aware of such situations can help to self-reflect and thus avoid situations that we do not want to happen.

Yes, I liked that article and also your blog related to it. I also wrote in my blog about my experience in creating a brave space and how I can incorporate the ground rules in my course. I thought discussing the ground rules with the students as you discuss the block of text in your first class, will be a good idea to help students actually understand the rules rather than just letting them sign the pledge. Also thanks for sharing the other ideas of creating a brave space. That helps.

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Yes, I liked that article and also your blog related to it. I also wrote in my blog about my experience in creating a brave space and how I can incorporate the ground rules in my course. I thought discussing the ground rules with the students as you discuss the block of text in your first class, will be a good idea to help students actually understand the rules rather than just letting them sign the pledge. Also thanks for sharing the other ideas of creating a brave space. That helps.

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I complete agree with you. Acting is off-course a part of teaching. I realized it after attending a VT GTA workshop. I think that is why I rehearse my presentation before taking my class. That also helps me to realize how the story is incomplete for the class and thus help me to find examples and good explanation of the content and to clear the communication about the activities in class.

I really liked your post. The last point your made is correct. There is a difference of getting degree and working in real- life. I have seen students who was not great in school but is really successful in real life since they worked in their area of interest from the beginning and had imagined themselves working in those areas.