Hello! I'm Madison | W2 Q0 | Forum

Hi again everyone. It was so nice meeting my peers last week and seeing Chris again. I’m really looking forward to this class.

I am originally from Alabama. I completed my bachelors degree in African American Studies and Sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2018. Currently, I am a second year student in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology Program. My advisor is Michael Lachney, and with him I study culturally responsive computing (CRC). CRC is a way of foregrounding various cultural backgrounds in computing education and practice to encourage more participation in STEM from people of historically marginalized communities. I am also a a TA for CEP 416 Teaching and Learning with Technology. This is my first semester as a TA; I think it is going well so far.

I am earning a PhD because it is a lifelong dream. IT was either a PhD or medical school for me. Either way I dreamed of being Dr. Madison C. Allen since early childhood. As time passed, my feelings toward the PhD became stronger, although none of my family have advanced degrees. My career goals include doing research either at an R1 institution or as an entity in a department of education or higher institution. I also have aspirations to do community work and work directly with schools to foster community-school relationships. Implementing CRC means so much to me because I see it as a great avenue to implement culture and encourage lifelong skills in a tech centric world. To achieve these goals I hope to develop skills in the implementation and assessment of educational technologies and in adapting them to be culturally responsive in a given environment.

I am interested in Culturally responsive computing, but culturally responsiveness isn’t limited to computing. There are CR practices and evidence across disciplines. Honestly, I don’t know much about social media as a research area, but I have some interests in the manifestations of CR in social media spaces. For example the cultural regulating and sustaining that happens on Black Twitter or the new avenues to generational wealth exposed by black influencers on instagram.

What I hope to get out of this class is a little bit more perspective on social media and learning. social media and media are pervasive in our culture. No doubt this is reflected in learning and schooling. I’d like to explore some of those effects. And of course working toward a publication is always nice!