Dear TOK Conference Attendees,
We are less than a week away from the big event. I have been in consultation about how to foster a sense of community and the exchange of ideas with my good friend and C-I colleague Dr. Elena Savina. In brain storming with her, the following
idea emerged and so we are sharing it with you:
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One of the major goals of this conference is to foster discussion about the implications that big Theories Of Knowledge (TOKs) have for the future. The back half of Friday will be devoted to fostering small and large group discussions,
and soliciting ideas from the participants. Given that these are big topics and our time will be limited to a couple of hours, we have decided that it might be helpful to foster some small group communities leading up to the conference. As such, we have created
groups of 7 or 8 and will be contacting you via email later today and inviting you to introduce yourselves, review the big questions, and offer any reflections, thoughts or desires in advance of the conference. These will form the discussion groups for the
back half of Friday (for those who can attend; we realize some of you can only attend Thursday, but we have assigned you to groups to be a “distant participant’ if you would like). That way, folks can hit the ground running so to speak.
One possible way that participation might be fostered in this regard is share short articles or op ed pieces with their group to get folks talking. For example, an article on higher ed by Christian Smith
Higher Education is Drowning in BS offers a clear reference point for themes of this conference. Here is an article by David Brooks that
argues the United States needs a new story, which is relevant for the state of society today. If you had articles or ideas or questions that you wanted to focus on or learn about, this format will hopefully help plant those seeds.
And email to you and your small group will be forthcoming.
Thanks for your participation in this event.
Sincerely,
Gregg Henriques and Elena Savina