Category: Pedagogy

the double-edged hobson’s choice janus-faced statement of learning objectives

We’re closing in on getting classes started for spring, so I’ve been updating syllabi and course statements.  I’m really trying to cut – heavily cut – what I provide in the current Weblogs and Wikis statement. Not condense, not rework, but just cut.  One problem is that in explaining objectives and criteria for evaluation has to take… Continue reading the double-edged hobson’s choice janus-faced statement of learning objectives

the high summer turn, books, and a consideration of method

I don’t look forward to it, but the week of the 4th of July strikes high summer – the turning point of summer towards autumn. The green starts to fade, the wildflowers start to seed, and I have to get my fall book orders in and start some serious work on syllabi. The bookstore asks… Continue reading the high summer turn, books, and a consideration of method

getting a start on rethinking composing in fedwiki

I finally made a start on Composing in FedWiki, with Rethinking Composing in FedWiki. The premise: FedWiki presents a rhetorical context unlike that of traditional, commons-based wikis. So it’s an opportunity to rethink some of the compositional moves developed for the traditional wiki. I have two ends here. One is to make wiki writing more… Continue reading getting a start on rethinking composing in fedwiki

course guarantee syllabus boilerplate

In keeping with the commodification of the teacher-learner relationship, I’m providing students in my classes with this guarantee. I can guarantee that what we are studying in this course, both subject and method, is applicable outside the classroom in your daily and your professional life. This course is designed so that what you learn during… Continue reading course guarantee syllabus boilerplate

notes on designing a future of academic programs

Note to: BSU Future Academic Programs Workgroup Re: Reframing the brief Think of the charge of coming up with ideas for future programs as a design problem. It’s not a matter of refining already established traditions and practices, but of inventing new conventions. We are being asked to invent new conventions. We can think of… Continue reading notes on designing a future of academic programs

updating for weblogs and wikis, spring 2012

Success with a MOOC/PLE approach in Weblogs and Wikis last spring was mixed – ok, lackluster. It created some management problems for me that prevented the kind of rss aggregation and re-distribution that I was hoping for. But more significantly, the approach as I implemented it didn’t provide enough scaffolding and guidance. Students had too… Continue reading updating for weblogs and wikis, spring 2012

box-logic

Three lessons on reading Geoffrey Sirc’s “Box-Logic” for the 4th or 5th time in preparation for a graduate seminar in Composition Theory. Lesson One I attended the local Times Talk lunch on Wednesday, and I appreciated the salad of iceburg lettuce and sliced chicken with oil and vinegar dressing over spaghetti, but  I discovered, when I… Continue reading box-logic

pay no more than £2.99, or, let the faculty set the pricing of textbooks

Back  when I was a student in London and Bristol (c 1979) I found The Specials’s first album at Virgin records with a sticker on it that read Pay No More Than £2.99 £2.99 was a chunk of change back in the day, but not outlandish. Singles were 70p. A pint of bog-standard IPA was 35p.… Continue reading pay no more than £2.99, or, let the faculty set the pricing of textbooks