Tag: brandeis summer (page 1 of 3)

Tips to help you achieve success in an online class setting

Guest Contributor: 
Angela Rose Self, Brandeis University, Candidate for Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, 2022

Brandeis made the switch in the Spring of 2020 to have classes be fully online, which continued into the 2020-2021 academic school year. I was worried at first about making the switch to online courses, as were many of my peers. However, I am happy to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed online courses and the flexibility they brought to my schedule. Instead of having to commute to classes everyday, I was able to spend the extra time studying and tackling my coursework. Also, I now had time to pursue my hobbies that I had little time for before. My professors adapted smoothly to the online format and made the classes engaging. As someone who is naturally quiet in class, the online format allowed me to participate more as I had time to collect my thoughts and express myself through the “chat” function in Zoom, instead of having to speak up in front of the entire class. 

Here are my tips to help you achieve success in an online class setting:

Make a dedicated work space

Now that your home is also the classroom, it is important to make separate spaces for each. Not having separated spaces can make it difficult to transition out of work, especially during periods of rest. I would highly recommend that you dedicate an area of your home, be that a desk, room, or whatever else is available, solely to schoolwork. This can help create a better work-life balance.

Take screen breaks

Staring at a computer screen can be taxing and is something that both my professors and classmates experienced. To avoid the “Zoom burnout,” take breaks from screens between courses and schoolwork. This can include going on a walk, talking to your family, or anything else that gets you away from a screen. Additionally, I have found that this helps me to be more productive during the times that I am working.

Treat online class as you would the classroom

Learning from home, while it can be an amazing experience, does pose some challenges. For instance, there is easier access to distractions (like your phone!) that you normally would not have in the traditional classroom. To eliminate those distractions, I suggest putting them in a drawer or somewhere out of sight for the duration of the class. This can make it easier to focus on the material being discussed. Also, dressing as you would for a normal class can help to create that work-life balance I mentioned earlier. While it can be fun to attend class in your pajamas, long-term I found that getting dressed for class helped me to separate school from other aspects of my life.

Overall, as a student who has taken many courses over Zoom, I recommend to anyone hesitant about taking an online class to do it! Classes are much more flexible and the ability to learn from anywhere can be freeing.

If you are interested in taking an online course this summer, view the Brandeis Summer School website for more details!

Study Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care this summer!

The environments where we live, learn, work, play, and pray shape our day-to-day lives and long-term health and wellbeing in complex ways. Dr. Anthony Iton, Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at the California Endowment, famously said “tell me your zip code and I’ll tell you your life expectancy.” 

The Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care course lays a theoretical and empirical foundation for students interested in understanding how social factors (poverty, community context, work environments, etc.) affect the health and wellbeing of racial and ethnic minorities and other vulnerable populations in the United States. During this course, students will develop tools to analyze epidemiological patterns of health status by race/ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status.

Taught by Jessica Santos, this class is designed to address current theories and critiques explaining disparities in health status, access, quality, conceptual models, frameworks, and interventions for eliminating inequalities. If you would like to learn more about how structural factors (racism, segregation, gender hierarchies, dominant cultural norms within health systems and organizations, and their intersections) contribute to health disparities, and how policies and practices inside and outside of the healthcare system are advancing health equity, then you don’t want to miss this course! Register here

No prerequisites are required to take this course and all students are encouraged to enroll.

Course Details:

HSSP 114B: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care

With Jessica Santos, Ph.D. – view biography here.

Summer Session 1: June1 to July 2, 2021

Online: Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays

Time: 11:10am – 1:40pm

Sage Class Number: 2024

Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: SS

 

Online courses are filling very quickly this summer so be sure to register soon!

Questions?

Email us at summerschool@brandeis.edu

20 new classes added for this summer!

Registration for the Brandeis University Summer School is open and we’ve added 20 new classes!

2021 Summer Session Dates

  • Session I – June 1 to July 2, 2021
  • Session II – July 5 to August 6, 2019
  • Extended Session O – June 1 to August 9, 2021

View our full academic calendar

As many Brandeis students are still unable to travel, we also want to remind you that Summer School classes will be entirely online this summer. There will be two models of online instruction:

  • Session 1 (Tuesday, June 1 – Friday, July 2, 2021) and Session 2 (Tuesday, July 6 – Friday, August 6, 2021) will offer five-week courses via “remote learning,” through which students engage with instructors and classmates by utilizing Zoom for synchronous meetings, as well as LATTE.
  • Extended Session O (Tuesday, June 1 – Monday, August 9, 2021) will offer a number of 10-week “Zoom-based remote learning” classes and 10-week asynchronous online classes. Asynchronous classes use a common structured calendar of readings, assignments, and interactions with classmates.

Learn more about online classes and how they are conducted

How To Register

We hope you’ll join us for a class this summer!

We’re offering a variety of courses this year to help you fulfill degree requirements and explore new academic interests. Many students use summer to focus on challenging courses like Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Economics. Some students also use their summer term to work on a second or third major, or lighten their course load for a future semester when they will be studying abroad or working at an internship.

Whatever your reason is, the Brandeis Summer School offers you the chance to study and connect with our talented faculty and fellow students in small classes!

 


EXPLORE | EXPERIENCE | EXCEL

Remember to subscribe to our e-mail list to be notified of the latest class schedule updates and registration deadlines.

Staying Sane During Quarantine

These past weeks have proved to be trying times for the global community. The transition to an online world has left many scrambling for a sense of normalcy. Many find themselves worried about the safety of their loved ones, especially if they are in the high-risk category. Others are trying to maintain their regular study and work schedule during a pandemic. So, how do we keep our sanity during this unprecedented global lockdown?

Brandeis University student and GPS blog writer, Angela Self, compiled a list of some helpful tips to stay sane during quarantine:

1. Stick to a routine

Being stuck inside can make the days blend together and amplify negative emotions. Creating a sense of structure during these uncertain times can help to soothe nerves. Take some time out of your day to figure out all of the activities that were important to you before the global pandemic. Did you go to the gym everyday? Try to workout at home (there are plenty of free workouts on youtube). Create a detailed schedule and stick to it. Be sure to include  when to wake up, shower, work, exercise, and most importantly, when you can relax. Hopefully this will help to create some semblance of normalcy.

2. Limit your news intake

It is important to keep up-to-date with information regarding the Coronavirus, especially when it concerns regulations or guidelines for public interactions in your area. But obsessing over the latest Coronavirus news can be  unhealthy and detrimental to your mental health. Consider limiting your news intake to just one or two times a day. Also, remember to check the reliability of your news source. One of the best sources of information about the Coronavirus is the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Another great resource for mental health coping strategies during these unprecedented times is NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), which we encourage everyone to read. 

3.Stay physically active

WHO, otherwise known as the World Health Organization, strongly recommends that everyone finds a way to stay physically active during self-quarantine. It’s important to our health and well-being to avoid remaining sedentary. Try taking a few breaks during your day to go on short walks, even if it’s just around your house. And get outside if you can! Just remember that if you plan on exercising outside, to do so by abiding by the CDC guidelines.

Become absorbed in James Joyce’s Ulysses this summer!

David R. Sherman, Associate Professor of English at Brandeis, will lead a course on Joyce’s Ulysses this summer.

Session I: June 1 to July 3, 2020
Days: M, T, W, Th
Time: 11:10am – 1:10pm
Credit Hours: 4 Credits
Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: WI, HUM

This seminar is an opportunity to become absorbed in Joyce’s Ulysses as a member of an interpretive community. Published in 1922, this novel has impacted modern literature like no other. A novel at the edge of the genre of the novel, Ulysses is a highly experimental, weirdly delightful, and encyclopedic world-making project.

This class will explore the novel chapter by chapter, with parallel readings of Homer and other intertexts. This course will also consider the place of Ulysses in modernism: the explosive cultural project across the arts in the early 20th century that is still with us.

As a four-credit course, it is based on the expectation that students will work for at least three hours outside of class for every class contact hour (doing assigned readings, research, papers and projects, and so on). The learning goals for this course include:

  • developing the ability to closely read and re-read complex texts and to make nuanced
    descriptions of their stylistic patterns, structural principles, rhetorical techniques and
    other aspects of their aesthetic force and signifying effects;
  • developing skills with analytic and interpretive writing, through feedback and revision
    researching and presenting information about scholarly debates around Ulysses
    mapping Ulysses in relation to other modernist cultural movements;
  • designing creative or non-academic responses to Ulysses, in various media and genres

Our intensive, collaborative approach to Ulysses will serve different needs for each student, based on individual academic and creative commitments – view the full course syllabus here

Summer registration in Sage is open and some classes are already full – so be sure to enroll soon!

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