#Class Group

[explainlearning]

Class Group Dynamics: Building Effective Study Partnerships

Class group are an integral part of modern education, fostering collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. However, for a study group to be successful, it's essential to cultivate positive dynamics among its members. This article will delve into strategies for building effective study group partnerships and how Explain Learning can support your group's success.

Understanding Group Dynamics

Effective class groups are more than just a collection of individuals. They are communities where members feel valued, respected, and motivated to contribute. Understanding group dynamics is crucial for creating a positive and productive learning environment.

Key Factors Influencing Group Dynamics:

Shared Goals: Members should have a common understanding of the group's objectives and how they contribute to individual and collective success.

Respect and Trust: A culture of respect and trust is essential for open communication and collaboration.

Effective Communication: Clear and open communication is vital for avoiding misunderstandings and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Balanced Participation: Encourage all members to contribute equally, preventing dominant personalities from overshadowing quieter members.

Conflict Resolution: Establish a mechanism for addressing disagreements or conflicts respectfully and constructively.

Building Effective Study Partnerships

Here are some strategies for fostering positive study group dynamics:

Establish Ground Rules: At the beginning of the semester, create a set of ground rules that outline expectations for behavior, participation, and communication.

Encourage Active Listening: Promote active listening by encouraging members to paraphrase or summarize others' points.

Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer feedback that is specific, actionable, and delivered in a respectful manner.

Celebrate Successes: Acknowledge and celebrate individual and group achievements to boost morale and motivation.

Address Conflicts Proactively: If conflicts arise, address them directly and respectfully to maintain a positive group atmosphere.

The Role of an E-Learning Platform Like Explain Learning

An e-learning platform like Explain Learning can significantly enhance the effectiveness of class groups by providing essential tools and features. Here's how:

Collaborative Tools: Explain Learning offers features such as shared documents, online whiteboards, and collaborative project spaces, facilitating efficient teamwork and knowledge sharing.

Communication Tools: Our platform provides group chat, messaging, and video conferencing options, ensuring seamless communication among members.

Organization and Time Management: Explain Learning can help groups stay organized with features like task management, calendars, and progress tracking.

Resource Sharing: Members can easily share notes, study materials, and other resources on the platform, ensuring everyone has access to the necessary information.

Personalized Learning: Explain Learning's personalized learning paths can help individual members address their specific learning needs and challenges.

Tips for Creating a Thriving Study Group

Diversify Roles: Assign different roles within the group, such as leader, note-taker, timekeeper, and presenter, to ensure everyone contributes and takes ownership.

Leverage Technology: Explore online tools and resources that can enhance your group's productivity, such as educational apps or online tutoring services.

Celebrate Achievements: Acknowledge and reward individual and group successes to maintain motivation and a positive atmosphere.

Be Flexible and Adaptable: Be prepared to adjust your study group's approach as needed to accommodate changing circumstances or individual needs.

By implementing these strategies and leveraging the power of Explain Learning, you can create a class group that fosters collaboration, communication, and academic success. Remember, building strong relationships and creating a positive learning environment are key to the success of any study group.

Know more https://explainlearning.com/blog/class-group-dynamics-effective-partnerships/

[hiveswap]

my heavy smoker grandparents came over very briefly and the whole house smells like absolute shit now. So I (chronic tumblrina) got thinking.

[inkskinned]

having good & true friends will literally save and protect you in a million unfathomable ways. like okay we have written so many times about lovers. but the way a platonic friend laughs and cries with you. the way they hold your hand at 14 years old and at 34. the way they keep a little silver tie to you, touching base over and over and over. how you can go years without talking, only to re-meet and discover: oh shit! you're still cool!

there are people who have been in my life for more than half of it, and i have loved every version of them. do you know how fucking beautiful that is. yeah love will save the world. but the way friends love you is gonna save the you.

[thelivingsin]

why did i choose this role

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Red Lobster was killed by private equity, not Endless Shrimp

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

A decade ago, a hedge fund had an improbable viral comedy hit: a 294-page slide deck explaining why Olive Garden was going out of business, blaming the failure on too many breadsticks and insufficiently salted pasta-water:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/940944/000092189514002031/ex991dfan14a06297125_091114.pdf

Everyone loved this story. As David Dayen wrote for Salon, it let readers "mock that silly chain restaurant they remember from their childhoods in the suburbs" and laugh at "the silly hedge fund that took the time to write the world’s worst review":

https://www.salon.com/2014/09/17/the_real_olive_garden_scandal_why_greedy_hedge_funders_suddenly_care_so_much_about_breadsticks/

But – as Dayen wrote at the time, the hedge fund that produced that slide deck, Starboard Value, was not motivated by dissatisfaction with bread-sticks. They were "activist investors" (finspeak for "rapacious assholes") with a giant stake in Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden's parent company. They wanted Darden to liquidate all of Olive Garden's real-estate holdings and declare a one-off dividend that would net investors a billion dollars, while literally yanking the floor out from beneath Olive Garden, converting it from owner to tenant, subject to rent-shocks and other nasty surprises.

They wanted to asset-strip the company, in other words ("asset strip" is what they call it in hedge-fund land; the mafia calls it a "bust-out," famous to anyone who watched the twenty-third episode of The Sopranos):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bust_Out

Starboard didn't have enough money to force the sale, but they had recently engineered the CEO's ouster. The giant slide-deck making fun of Olive Garden's food was just a PR campaign to help it sell the bust-out by creating a narrative that they were being activists* to save this badly managed disaster of a restaurant chain.

*assholes

Starboard was bent on eviscerating Darden like a couple of entrail-maddened dogs in an elk carcass:

https://web.archive.org/web/20051220005944/http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~solan/dogsinelk/

They had forced Darden to sell off another of its holdings, Red Lobster, to a hedge-fund called Golden Gate Capital. Golden Gate flogged all of Red Lobster's real estate holdings for $2.1 billion the same day, then pissed it all away on dividends to its shareholders, including Starboard. The new landlords, a Real Estate Investment Trust, proceeded to charge so much for rent on those buildings Red Lobster just flogged that the company's net earnings immediately dropped by half.

Dayen ends his piece with these prophetic words:

Olive Garden and Red Lobster may not be destinations for hipster Internet journalists, and they have seen revenue declines amid stagnant middle-class wages and increased competition. But they are still profitable businesses. Thousands of Americans work there. Why should they be bled dry by predatory investors in the name of “shareholder value”? What of the value of worker productivity instead of the financial engineers?

Flash forward a decade. Today, Dayen is editor-in-chief of The American Prospect, one of the best sources of news about private equity looting in the world. Writing for the Prospect, Luke Goldstein picks up Dayen's story, ten years on:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-05-22-raiding-red-lobster/

It's not pretty. Ten years of being bled out on rents and flipped from one hedge fund to another has killed Red Lobster. It just shuttered 50 restaurants and declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Ten years hasn't changed much; the same kind of snark that was deployed at the news of Olive Garden's imminent demise is now being hurled at Red Lobster.

Instead of dunking on free bread-sticks, Red Lobster's grave-dancers are jeering at "Endless Shrimp," a promotional deal that works exactly how it sounds like it would work. Endless Shrimp cost the chain $11m.

Which raises a question: why did Red Lobster make this money-losing offer? Are they just good-hearted slobs? Can't they do math?

Or, you know, was it another hedge-fund, bust-out scam?

Here's a hint. The supplier who provided Red Lobster with all that shrimp is Thai Union. Thai Union also owns Red Lobster. They bought the chain from Golden Gate Capital, last seen in 2014, holding a flash-sale on all of Red Lobster's buildings, pocketing billions, and cutting Red Lobster's earnings in half.

Red Lobster rose to success – 700 restaurants nationwide at its peak – by combining no-frills dining with powerful buying power, which it used to force discounts from seafood suppliers. In response, the seafood industry consolidated through a wave of mergers, turning into a cozy cartel that could resist the buyer power of Red Lobster and other major customers.

This was facilitated by conservation efforts that limited the total volume of biomass that fishers were allowed to extract, and allocated quotas to existing companies and individual fishermen. The costs of complying with this "catch management" system were high, punishingly so for small independents, bearably so for large conglomerates.

Competition from overseas fisheries drove consolidation further, as countries in the global south were blocked from implementing their own conservation efforts. US fisheries merged further, seeking economies of scale that would let them compete, largely by shafting fishermen and other suppliers. Today's Alaskan crab fishery is dominated by a four-company cartel; in the Pacific Northwest, most fish goes through a single intermediary, Pacific Seafood.

These dominant actors entered into illegal collusive arrangements with one another to rig their markets and further immiserate their suppliers, who filed antitrust suits accusing the companies of operating a monopsony (a market with a powerful buyer, akin to a monopoly, which is a market with a powerful seller):

https://www.classaction.org/news/pacific-seafood-under-fire-for-allegedly-fixing-prices-paid-to-dungeness-crabbers-in-pacific-northwest

Golden Gate bought Red Lobster in the midst of these fish wars, promising to right its ship. As Goldstein points out, that's the same promise they made when they bought Payless shoes, just before they destroyed the company and flogged it off to Alden Capital, the hedge fund that bought and destroyed dozens of America's most beloved newspapers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/16/sociopathic-monsters/#all-the-news-thats-fit-to-print

Under Golden Gate's management, Red Lobster saw its staffing levels slashed, so diners endured longer wait times to be seated and served. Then, in 2020, they sold the company to Thai Union, the company's largest supplier (a transaction Goldstein likens to a Walmart buyout of Procter and Gamble).

Thai Union continued to bleed Red Lobster, imposing more cuts and loading it up with more debts financed by yet another private equity giant, Fortress Investment Group. That brings us to today, with Thai Union having moved a gigantic amount of its own product through a failing, debt-loaded subsidiary, even as it lobbies for deregulation of American fisheries, which would let it and its lobbying partners drain American waters of the last of its depleted fish stocks.

Dayen's 2020 must-read book Monopolized describes the way that monopolies proliferate, using the US health care industry as a case-study:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/29/fractal-bullshit/#dayenu

After deregulation allowed the pharma sector to consolidate, it acquired pricing power of hospitals, who found themselves gouged to the edge of bankruptcy on drug prices. Hospitals then merged into regional monopolies, which allowed them to resist pharma pricing power – and gouge health insurance companies, who saw the price of routine care explode. So the insurance companies gobbled each other up, too, leaving most of us with two or fewer choices for health insurance – even as insurance prices skyrocketed, and our benefits shrank.

Today, Americans pay more for worse healthcare, which is delivered by health workers who get paid less and work under worse conditions. That's because, lacking a regulator to consolidate patients' interests, and strong unions to consolidate workers' interests, patients and workers are easy pickings for those consolidated links in the health supply-chain.

That's a pretty good model for understanding what's happened to Red Lobster: monopoly power and monopsony power begat more monopolies and monoposonies in the supply chain. Everything that hasn't consolidated is defenseless: diners, restaurant workers, fishermen, and the environment. We're all fucked.

Decent, no-frills family restaurant are good. Great, even. I'm not the world's greatest fan of chain restaurants, but I'm also comfortably middle-class and not struggling to afford to give my family a nice night out at a place with good food, friendly staff and reasonable prices. These places are easy pickings for looters because the people who patronize them have little power in our society – and because those of us with more power are easily tricked into sneering at these places' failures as a kind of comeuppance that's all that's due to tacky joints that serve the working class.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/#invertebrates

[hamsterdads]

after school hang out :]

[checkadii]

too lazy to grab a ref whatever girl

[lupucs]

Light World class pic ☀️

Wireframe:

Solid View:

Raw Render (without comp):

Wooo its finally done peeps! At last, here's the Deltarune Light World group render featuring Alphys's whole class! It's sort of a counterpart to my Dark World group render from a couple days ago. I also added some comp to improve the lighting and reused an old bg (some of you might remember which anim that's from hehe).

From left to right: Susie, Kris, Berdly, Noelle, Alphys, Jockington, Temmie, Catti, Monster Kid and Snowy!

These models were a ton of work to make but overall I'm really happy with how this turned out. The only light world model missing here is Rudy... I didn't know how to add him here since this was supposed to be a class pic of sorts, but maybe I'll make a designated render for him one day, since I really like his character even though he doesn't get a lot of screentime in-game. Oh, also first look at Deltarune Alphys!! Since I already made her rig for my Undertale animation, I just had to model her Deltarune clothes and bind em to the rig with an extra switch.

Anyways, feel free to use this as a wallpaper if you want!

Here's a link to the full resolution should the resolution be crushed by Tumblr.

[ryllen]

love is a compilation of coincidences

... and chances u create urself

[tabithatwo]

I relate to lottie because if I had to soothe a group of cannibal teens in the wilderness who for some reason depended on my guidance, I too would probably just start throwing out fucking dbt ass name five things you can see techniques and pray none of them knew what it was

[crabsnpersimmons]

(slowly cleaning out all the art i drafted but never posted)

sometimes the only way to recharge after a long day

is drawing your current blue trauma boi* in the outfit of your previous blue trauma boi**

*Moon, from my hairdresser AU "New 'Do, Same You" AU

**Red Clad Dewey from Another Eden

[explainlearning]

How to Create a Fun and Productive Study Group: Need Ideas

Whether you're tackling challenging college courses, navigating middle school science projects, or simply looking for a way to make reviewing for a spelling test more engaging, a well-structured study group can be a powerful tool. But let's face it, traditional study sessions can sometimes feel like a slog – especially for younger learners.

The key to a successful group study lies in striking a balance between fun and productivity. This article explores ways to create engaging study sessions that not only enhance learning outcomes but also keep everyone motivated and having a good time. We'll provide ideas for different age groups, from kids study groups to college study groups, and explore how Explain Learning can further enhance your group study experience.

Making Group Study Fun for All Ages:

Setting the Stage for Success

Before diving into specific activities, consider these foundational elements for creating a fun and productive study group:

The Right People: Choose members who share similar learning goals and learning styles. This ensures everyone can contribute meaningfully and feel comfortable participating.

Positive and Engaging Environment: Select a comfortable and well-lit location with minimal distractions. For kids study groups, consider incorporating fun elements like colorful decorations or comfortable seating.

Set Ground Rules: Establish clear rules for everyone to follow. This could include respecting others' contributions, staying on topic, and taking breaks when needed.

Snacks and Breaks: Especially for kids study groups and younger students, incorporate short breaks with healthy snacks to maintain energy levels and focus.

Fun and Engaging Activities for Different Age Groups:

Now, let's explore some specific ideas to make group study fun and engaging for different age groups:

Kids Study Groups (Elementary School):

Games and Activities: Turn studying into a game! Use flashcards for memory challenges, create vocabulary bingo sheets, or act out historical events to make learning interactive.

Arts and Crafts: Incorporate art projects related to the study topic. This could involve drawing diagrams for science concepts or creating posters for historical figures.

Role-Playing: Encourage role-playing scenarios related to the subject matter. This can be particularly engaging for language learning or social studies.

School Study Groups (Middle School and High School):

Debates and Discussions: Assign debate topics related to the course material and have students argue different sides. This fosters critical thinking and communication skills.

Collaborative Mind Maps: Use online tools or whiteboards to create a mind map together, visually organizing key concepts and brainstorming ideas.

Quizzes and Challenges: Turn reviewing into a friendly competition. Create quizzes for each other or use online quiz platforms to test knowledge in a fun way.

College Study Groups:

Case Studies and Problem-Solving: Work together on real-world case studies related to the course material. This applies knowledge to practical scenarios and encourages teamwork.

Presentations and Teaching: Assign each member a specific topic and have them present it to the group. This fosters understanding and helps identify areas where clarification is needed.

Study Games and Apps: Utilize online learning platforms like Explain Learning with interactive games and quizzes to make review sessions more engaging.

Explain Learning: Your Partner in Fun and Productive Group Study

Explain Learning is more than just a repository of learning materials. We offer features that can significantly enhance your group study experience:

Collaborative Learning Tools: Work together in real-time using whiteboards, online document editors, and shared study guides. This facilitates brainstorming and collaborative problem-solving.

Engaging Resources: Utilize our library of interactive exercises, video tutorials, and gamified elements to keep study sessions dynamic and interesting.

Communication Features: Stay connected with your group through online forums, group chat functionalities, and video conferencing options. Discuss course material, plan study sessions, and share resources easily.

Conclusion: Learning Can Be Fun!

By incorporating these ideas and leveraging the tools available on Explain Learning, you can create a study group that is both fun and productive. Remember, a positive and engaging learning environment fosters a deeper understanding, boosts motivation, and ultimately leads to better academic outcomes. So, grab your study buddies, choose a fun activity, and get ready to learn together!

Know more https://explainlearning.com/blog/study-group-ideas-create-fun-productivity/

[bixels]

The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

[comingyourlugubriousness]

Here is a transparent version of this manga panel. Please run free with this. A meme to kick it off:

[heartorbit]

🩷💛💚💜

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next