E is for Eskwelabs Issue 056 - There ain't no classroom like an Eskwelabs classroom 📚🎉
In our fifty-sixth issue, we look at the ways an online classroom can be designed to be warmer, kinder, and safer.
We created this newsletter to keep our alums, partners, and anyone interested in learning skills for the future of work updated and connected to our ever-growing family. If you want to read our previous issues, you can check them out here.
What adjectives come to mind when you think of “classroom?”
Strict, organized, and forced?
OR
Warm, kind, and safe?
Hi everyone, it’s Francine here! 👋 I’m genuinely curious to know more about your time in school and the memories that come to mind when you think of your classroom experience. For some, it may have been anxiety-filled. For others, it could have been the time of their lives. This issue is one part tutorial and one part love letter to the Eskwelabs team who work hard to make our online classrooms safer, kinder, and warmer. Happy reading!
What makes an Eskwelabs online classroom different:
✨ Safety that is soul deep
❤️ Kindness that you feel in your bones
🔥 Warmth like the sun’s rays on your skin
🎶 For 90’s babies who remember S Club 7, here’s a playlist to match today’s issue: 🎶
READING TIME: 12 minutes
⭐ HOT OFF THE PRESS ⭐
The Eskwelabs that began in 2019 is not the same Eskwelabs that has grown in 2022. But one thing remains the same. It is our mission to democratize data skills education, in order to help people thrive in the future of work!
Thank you to our learners who give us joy, the team who work hard behind the scenes, the partners who continue to give us their trust, and the organizations whom we've had the honor of interacting with.
Cheers to the lovely Anri Ichimura, Section Editor at Esquire Philippines, for this dedicated feature on Eskwelabs as it exists today. We shared that so much has changed since 2019, and we are excited to let this feature highlight those areas of growth.
📣 TERMINOLOGY IN THE WORLD OF ESKWELABS | BEHIND THE SCENES 📣
🏃 Learning Sprints
Before we dive deeper into today’s issue, it’s important that we first explore the idea of the learning sprint. These are the building blocks of Eskwelabs education programs. For example, the Data Science Fellowship is composed of four learning sprints and topped off with a capstone project. The Data Analytics Bootcamp consists of four learning sprints as well but dedicates the final two to what we call the Company Business Review.
When it comes to upskilling partnerships, we also apply the format of learning sprints. You can read more about our experience working with the University of Nueva Caceres here.
For long-time followers of Eskwelabs, this term may already sound familiar—our 2-week “data sprints” in the Fellowship and Bootcamp are learning sprints.
But is a learning sprint always two weeks in duration? According to the Eskwelabs Education team, a learning sprint is always grounded on one case or project. If completing the project takes one week then the sprint runs for one week. If it takes two weeks, then it runs for that long. In a nutshell, 1 case or project = 1 learning sprint.
Speaking of partnerships, if you want to learn more about upskilling your university, company, community, or government organization, we’d be more than happy to help!
🔍 WHAT MAKES AN ESKWELABS ONLINE CLASSROOM DIFFERENT 🔍
✨ Safety
Which type of environment is better for learning? A safe or unsafe one?
The obvious and ethical answer is of course a safe learning environment. Tom Senninger, the one who developed the Learning Zone Model, presents that between our comfort zone and panic zone, there is a the middle space we call the learning zone. For Tom, if we go into our panic zone, and we feel all these negative emotions like anxiety, sadness, and embarrassment, learning is not only impossible but it can conjure up horrifying memories for learners later on.
But while this seems like practical and obvious information, it’s surprising how many classrooms can still feel unsafe.
The pandemic has made such fundamental changes to how both traditional and non-traditional education programs design classrooms. This has given us at Eskwelabs an opportunity to make safety a priority.
Tip 1: Set intentions at the beginning of the session
You can do this in the form of a slide and a simple spiel. You can inform the Zoom room guests that the values we’ll uphold in our time together would revolve around joy, trust, openness to learn, privacy, and of course safety. Better to make it clear than to assume.
Tip 2: Encourage people to open their cameras but give grace to those who are unable
You can do this by inserting a few sentences in your script or spiel to let people know that opening their cameras will make the online space feel more personal and intimate. You can close that statement with the very understanding note that they can keep their cameras closed if they want to take a rest to prevent Zoom fatigue or if their internet is unstable. This provision immediately creates a sense of trust and safety, because you help the guests maintain their self-agency without shaming them or forcing them in any way.
Apply tips 1-2 in: Zoom classrooms, physical or virtual meetings, direct manager and report 1on1s, teacher-student consultations
✨ The results of feeling safe
When you have alumni who are eager to contribute to the upskilling school they’ve graduated from, you can tell that they not only felt loved here, but also felt very safe.
Basty Vergara, Cohort 8 alum from the Data Science Fellowship, says it's TIME to learn about TIME SERIES ANALYSIS! What can you expect to learn in this blog post?
Basics of time series
Difference between time series analysis and forecasting
Difference between regression and time series
Components of time series for better data analysis
We know you'll love Basty's memes and of course, his beginner-friendly approach to this data science topic—which we actually tackle in one of our data sprints inside the Fellowship.
🔍 WHAT MAKES AN ESKWELABS ONLINE CLASSROOM DIFFERENT 🔍
❤️ Kindness
Who are the educators you never forget?
The ones who care about you holistically and authentically. These are the people who equip you with the skills you need to succeed and also provide you with the emotional support to believe in yourself as you go through the journey.
From our three core values in Eskwelabs, authentic connections and people-first are the ones that shine at the center of tip #3.
Tip 3: Do a quick check on the feelings of everyone in the online meeting space
You can do this by placing a question on a slide. A simple, “How are you?” with a series of emojis representing feelings can go a long way when used at the very start of an online gathering. Learners in the online classroom or guests in that space have the choice to respond in full sentences or via emoji reactions. This quick pulse check is helpful for everyone to feel connected to one another. It will also help the instructor, mentor, or Zoom room host to adjust their tone and pacing based on how everyone is feeling. This is one of the kindest things you can do.
Apply tip 3 in: Zoom classrooms, physical or virtual meetings, direct manager and report 1on1s, teacher-student consultations
❤️ The influence of kind instructors and homeroom hosts
When you see students power through a challenging data sprint and emerge with smiling faces at the end, you can tell a lot about their instructors and mentors as well. We take pride in the grit and growth mindset exhibited by our students, and we also take comfort in knowing how caring and emotionally intelligent Eskwelabs instructors and mentors are.
This data sprint (or learning sprint!) is proof.
Our Cohort 9 Fellows recently learned how to develop natural language processing models and deploy projects using FastAPI and Streamlit in 2 weeks! Through data sprint instructor Ran Magcalas, they learned four key things:
Web Scraping and Data Mining
Basic Text Processing
Introductory Natural Language Processing
Deployment using Fastapi and Streamlit
Create a data project just like this when you become our student!
🖥️ Cohort 10 of the Data Science Fellowship starts on September 12, 2022
Assessment exam coverage: View here
Deadline of assessment exam: August 26, 2022 (Multiple choice)
🔍 WHAT MAKES AN ESKWELABS ONLINE CLASSROOM DIFFERENT 🔍
🔥 Warmth
What is the formula for learner engagement?
It varies from edtech company to edtech company and from one upskilling school to another. But when you find that sweet spot, it’s like magic.
For Eskwelabs? It’s always about the learner. And to honor them in this newsletter, we wanted to share three of their favorite ice breakers in the Eskwelabs classroom.
The Whisper Challenge
What animal am I? (Charades)
This or That (Fast talk-style)
🔥 The glow of post-bootcamp reviews from students who experience next-level care
When you get testimonials like this from one of our recent Cohort 6 graduates, you can tell a lot about the people behind the program who made the experience extra warm and special.
Typically, in our social media channels, we congratulate our learners whenever they graduate. Today in this newsletter, we want to give a special shout out to the ones who make the program possible.
Cheers to our Program Lead (now Tribe Lead), Lex, who champions that data analytics works to empower people through problem-solving.
Kudos to Program Operations Head (now Program Lead), Chel, who always ensures that the learning environment is safe and enjoyable.
Thank you to Program Operations Officers, Krish and Ian, who supported the program brilliantly so that everything ran smoothly.
For those who'd like to experience the Eskwelabs touch and our level of care, enrol today to start your data analytics journey with Eskwelabs.
📊 Cohort 8 of the Data Analytics Bootcamp starts on October 10, 2022
Assessment exam coverage: View here
Deadline of assessment exam: September 21, 2022 (Multiple choice)
Eskwelabs Book Recommendation
📖 The Art of Gathering: How we meet and why it matters by Priya Parker 📖
We hope you enjoyed our book recommendation section in our previous issue, because we’re back at it again with a new one to gush over!
As of writing this issue, Fully Booked has this in stock, but you may also prefer a digital version which you can get here on Amazon. This is our end of July book club rec because at the core of all joy, safety, kindness, and warmth that you can find in an Eskwelabs classroom is community. Coming together is a sacred and beautiful act, whether it’s face-to-face or virtually in real-time. Priya is the master at making gatherings intentional and we are excited to see you inspired to make all your big and small meet-ups in life full of intention, too.
Book summary from Amazon (shortened):
“In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.”
Book club questions for all of us:
Despite the title having the word “art” in it, what are your thoughts on incorporating the science of learning in an online classroom?
When was the last time you truly enjoyed yourself in a gathering? What were the elements of that gathering that made you feel that way?
Have you been feeling lonely lately despite being surrounded by people? How do you combat this?
That’s it for our fifty-sixth issue of the newsletter! We hope you enjoyed it. 💖
What did you think of this format? Let us know here. We appreciate you so much for reading!
💌 Cheering you on always,
Francine
Learning Community Manager at Eskwelabs