Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: February 25, 2002
Latest Update: February 25, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Connecting for Education and Social Justice

Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individaul Authors, February 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.

On Monday, February 25, 2002, Brian Donovan, of Teachers Without Borders, wrote:

From: donovanb donovanb@tcd.ie
To: Jeanne Curran jeannecurran@habermas.org
Subject: RE: Technology and Teachers Without Borders

Hi, Jeanne. Hope you are well.

That was a very nice message and I love your site. When I've got more time, I'll look at the Kids' Page. I'm very, very curious.

My own position is that I'm working on a PhD here in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, in the area of educational linguistics (think Halliday, influenced strongly by Freire) and am looking at how linguistics might inform literacy intervention at post-primary/secondary education.

Let me ask: considering the 'digital divide' which exists in western society (writ large) is it possible to make access more open?, or equally open?

I sometimes despair that the technology actually holds us back from a search on the road to social justice.

Stay well and keep up the good work,

brian

Original Message From Jeanne Curran

Hi,

I am assuming that you guys are as busy as I am. So this is a quick summary of my skills, with the hope that it gets to someplace useful.

Background:

I recently took partial retirement at California State University, Dominguez Hills, so that I would have more time for research and writing on peace, social justice, and the role of education in promoting them. I run a teaching website, http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas and its mirror, http://www.habermas.org , with which Susan Takata, of the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, and I team teach over distance.

The site has grown so quickly and serves our students so well, I needed more time to structure it so that it is "intuitive" for non-students to whom it is freely accessible. And I needed more time to write up our work so that we could connect with people like you.

Training:

Degrees in physics and math from long, long ago. Programming knowledge. I write the site directly in html. Post-doc in Sociology, Ph.D. in Education (Learning Theory and Sociology), and assorted other degrees in French, and law (member of the California Bar). Speak French and read Spanish, and have smatterings of several other languages in varying degrees.

Technical Skills:

A good understanding of the computer at intuitive level. Almost no experience with today's gadgets and programs, especially because they tend to exclude the poor, and I try to make my work widely available and free. I won't use FrontPage because many of my students aren't able to access it. So I use basic, very basic, html. Try to stay away from bells and whistles.

My Talents, As I Understand Them:

Solid grasp of learning theory and its application. Orientation: think Freire. Ability to adapt technology to non-showy and effective teaching across distance, and a solid understanding of the need to make this all accessible to everyone.

Hope this helps,

peace, jeanne

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