Edu-Clubs

We discuss books or articles on innovative and new approaches in the education of our interest. Members of the club suggest readings for our next meeting and then all members of the club vote on the proposed choices. It's OK to come to a club meeting not reading the chosen reading or reading it partially -- those members are responsible to ask good questions about the readings (e.g., what is it about?). Usually, the sponsor of the chosen reading becomes the facilitator of the meeting.
The edu-club has existed for more than 20 years at the University of Delaware and recently it moved to the University of Students. In past, we discussed writings by Bakhtin, Vygotsky, Biesta, Gray, Tolstoy, Kant, Rousseau, Labaree, Rietmulder, Graeber, Greenberg, Neill, Matusov, Hampel, Blacker, Dewey, etc.
Organizer: Ana Marjanovic-Shane
Location: Zoom
Time: Monday, at 5pm EST/EDT, at the end of the month, subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Monthly
Language: English
Current status of the club: Active
Sign up for the club: click here

We are watching and discussing movies – documentaries and fictional of different countries and times -- about education.

The edu-club has been started at the University of Delaware in September 2020 and recently it moved to the University of Students. In past, we watched and discussed writings by "Captain Fantastic," "Summerhill at 70," "The hole in the wall," "Please vote for me," "Hindi Medium," "Accepted," "Detachment," "Socrates Cafe," "The Class," " Sociocracy: School Circles," "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," etc.

Organizer: Eugene Matusov
Location: Zoom
Time: Every third Saturday, at 12:00PM - 2:30PM EST/EDT, subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Once in three weeks
Language: English
Current status of the club: Active
Sign up for the club: click here

We, researchers and practitioners of education, discuss problems, excitements, puzzlements, and findings of our educational research and teaching at any stage of the progress.

The edu-club has existed for more than 20 years at the University of Delaware and recently it moved to the University of Students.

Organizer: Eugene Matusov
Location: Zoom
Time: Every other Wednesday, 6:30pm EST/EDT, biweekly; subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Bi-Weekly
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: click here
Current status of the club: Active
Language: English
Sign up for the club: click here

“Civilization arises and unfolds in and as play,” claimed a great scholar of play, J. Huizinga.

We are interested in studying play as a complex human practice and its relations to education, learning, and human development in general. We are learning about play and playfulness, and how is it different from acting seriously and "for real." We study Playworlds (Lindqvist, G., 1995) where children and adults play together. We study when education is or can be like play. We are interested to learn about play and games in diverse times and cultures (Sutton-Smith, Opie and Opie). We study playfulness as a linchpin of human cultures (Huizinga, J., 2009). We are interested in the relationship between play and symbolic practices including languages and human dialogues (Piaget, Vygotsky, Bakhtin) roles and relationships in play and education, drama and improvisation in education, etc.

Organizer: Ana Marjanovic-Shane
Location: Zoom and in-person (later)
Time: Wednesdays at 10AM EST
Frequency of meetings: Once a month - subject to change by the club members
Current status of the club: Inactive (past)
Language: English
Sign up for the club: click here

We invite you to create and sponsor your own events: a lecture, a presentation with a discussion, a discussion, a workshop, and so on (be creative) on the issues of Democratic Dialogic Education (broadly defined). As an event creator, you will set a date (on our calendar), the format, and the platform of the event.

Organizer: Eugene Matusov, Ana Marjanovic-Shane
Location: Zoom
Time: Every other Tuesday at 11AM EST
Frequency of meetings: Biweekly -- subject to change by the club members
Current status of the club: Active
Language: English
Please sign-up to become a creator/sponsor of an Open Symposium event using the following link

As a very beginner, I invite you to learn how to manipulate pictures using Affinity Photo 2. Affinity Photo 2 is relatively cheap software on par with Adobe Photoshop that can run on Mac OS, Windows, and iPad: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/ (30-day free trial is available). We have started our club in May 2023.

As it is now, my learning goals are the following. First, I want to learn how to carefully select, eliminate, add, move, and edit particular objects on a ready-made picture (e.g., a photo). Second, I want to learn how to add, edit, eliminate, and move text on a ready-made picture and combine several ready-made pictures together. Third, I want to learn how to change brightness and contrast on the part of a ready-made picture. Fourth, I want to understand photoshopping jargon (e.g., layers, filters, masks, states, persona, arrangement): what they are for, and how to use them. Fifth, I want to observe what photoshopping can do to develop new learning desires. Your learning goals may differ from mine.

I want to invite beginners like me for fun learning together, mutual moral support, help, developing new challenging but doable photoshopping projects, possible learning collaboration on a project, source of information, advice, guidance, and so on. More advanced photoshoppers are welcome if you do not mind having beginners like me around you and are willing to help us from time to time. Non-bossing teachers of photoshopping are welcome as well :-)

Organizer: Eugene Matusov
Location: Zoom
Time: Ad hoc, subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Monthly, subject to change by the club members
Language: English
Current status of the club: Inactive (past)
Sign up for the club: click here

Our goal is to study how to design and conduct an interview and analyze the interview data. We want to learn how to interview people about their experiences of self-development and self-determination. We also want to write a book afterward. We are ready to write the book in collaboration with those who are interested.
Organizers: Alina Sharova, Artyom Fyodorov
Location: Zoom
Time: Tuesday, at 17:00 MSK (Moscow time), subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Weekly
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: click here
Current status of the club: Inactive (past)
Language: Russian
Sign up for the club: click here

The use of electronic gadgets by children is very stressful in some families. Many parents are worried, they think that gadgets have a bad effect on the development of children, that it is their responsibility to protect children from gadgets. And at the same time, gadgets are a cultural tool and an effective means of solving life problems and medium of many fun games. ... There is already a lot of experience in democratic schools since gadgets in schools are legitimized. Let's figure out how terrible the devil is, how he is painted. We will write a book about it and publish it...
[Update: the book was published in Russian:
"43 истории (не) про гаджеты и свободное образование"("43 stories (not) about gadgets and free education")]
Organizers: Alina Sharova, Artyom Fyodorov
Location: Zoom
Time: Tuesday, at 18:00 MSK (Moscow time), subject to change by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Weekly
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: click here
Current status of the club: Inactive (past)
Language: Russian and English
Sign up for the club: click here

The idea of the club is to look at the various levels of people's interactions (psychology, physiology, social level, level of ideas), methods of thinking, ways we make decisions, and find out that those are all schemes that we might choose, change and therefore meet completely different perception of life/situation.
Organizer: Viktoria Sadovnikova
Location: Zoom
Time: Friday, time to be selected by the club members
Frequency of meetings: Weekly
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: click here
Current status of the club: Inactive
Language: English and Russian
Sign up for the club: click here

The club is for reading and discussing Peter Senge's book "The Fifth Discipline". The book was recommended to me by a strategist, Peter Hartkamp, when I asked him: how do strategists think? I became interested in the skill of thinking through short- and long-term effects of various scenarios, hence my interest in this book and collaborative reading and discussing of it. I propose to read the book in parts and meet to share questions/thoughts. I would like to invite Peter Hartkamp to join us in the final discussion of the book.
There is a shortened version of the book/audiobook. I propose to read the full version.
Organizer: Larissa Kiyashko
Location: Zoom
Time: Day and time to be selected by the club members
Frequency of meetings: To be selected by the club members
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: click here
Current status of the club: Inactive
Language: English and Russian
Sign up for the club: click here

To those of you who practice P4C/CPI the idea of "thinking to gather together" should be readily appreciated. You will want to know in what sense we will make this practice a game. The short answer is that, following David Greber's definition of a game as "a purely rule-governed activity", we are simply creating the conditions for people to host their own inquiries in a shared public frame. After a shared 'stimulus' prompt activity, pods will run independently but will share back (1) their questions and (2) short narrative summaries of their inquiries. At the closing of a Sympodsium, individuals will also be given the chance to ask 'just questions' to the assembly. Just Questions are provocations to further thought, but are offered to all and hang unanswered.

There are two distinct paths for your participation. We need people to play the game and we need people who would like to become facilitators/hosts of this model. For those already practicing CPI public philosophy, this could be an opportunity to connect your groups with others and broaden your impact.
Consequently, for our playtesting, we have two stages. Firstly, we need players to join a fully virtual 90-minute Zoom call. We are seeking 10-20 players for this play-test. Secondly, we need players who can host their own CPI pods for a HYBRID model. This latter would be most suitable for people with facilitation training, as each in-person pod will require someone to facilitate their inquiry. The dates and times for these play-tests are TBD, but since this model relies on hosting parties we expect the playtests to run on weekend nights/days.
Organizer: Abram De Bruyn
Location: Zoom and in-person (later)
Time: Day and time to be selected by the club members
Frequency of meetings: To be selected by the club members
Club's details on the UniS Miro Board: To be developed
Current status of the club: Inactive
Language: English
Sign up for the club: click here