It's been a crazy busy semester this spring, and I'm in the middle of final grading right now...which explains why I'm posting, right? Some spring semester notes (teaching related primarily, but also a bit of a hodge-podge): Never, ever, ever will I ever agree to multiple independent studies in the same semester; I ended up... Continue Reading →
Blendkit2012 week 5: big picture thinking
The final week of Blendkit2012 is upon us, and this week's focus is on "quality assurance" related to the blended course. In other words, what strategies can I use to make sure my blended course is as effective as it can be? Who can I ask for feedback and when? These are the kinds of... Continue Reading →
Blendkit week 4 activity
For week 4, we are supposed to create a draft of one module for our envisioned blended course. I chose to work with the sequence leading up to the first major project in my Comp II course--an interview write-up. The module draft is quite rough; in fact, I'm pretty sure I might have gone a... Continue Reading →
#Blendkit2012 week 4: Blended Content & Assignments
The first part of the reading for Blendkit week 4 reminds me of something I was told as a first-year graduate student T.A. ten years ago: I was in the middle of teaching my first ENG 101 class (Composition I) at the University of Kentucky and one of my office-mates, another new T.A., told me... Continue Reading →
Blendkit Week 2 deliverables
They're rough, but here they are. For the record, I decided to work with a different course. I started with ENG 1113: Comp I, but I've decided to focus on ENG 1213: Comp II instead, because I'll be teaching it next semester. I'll be able to implement these ideas sooner. As always, there's more work... Continue Reading →
Blendkit2012 Week 2: How & when will students & I interact?
I'm thinking this post is a kind of response to the weekly reading question "What factors might limit the feasibility of robust interaction face-to-face or online?" Correct me if I'm wrong... An opening note: I was struck by how the "techno expression" section of the reading focused on so many rhetorical factors--audience, purpose, writer/student positioning/need.... Continue Reading →
Blendkit Week 1 DIY projects
I've finally had the opportunity to complete the DIY activities for Blendkit Week One. The activities for this week involved creating a Course Blueprint in which I identified course goals, performance objectives, and learning outcomes, and how different assignments fit into the learning objectives for "modules" within the course. I also created a "Mix Map"... Continue Reading →
#Blendkit2012: week one
I am participating in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) out of the University of Central Florida for the next 5 weeks: the course is Blendkit2012, and the focus is blended learning. (This is actually the second MOOC I've participated in, the first being a "Power Searching With Google" course I completed this past summer).... Continue Reading →
Re-envisioning Comp II (again)
Okay. I think I almost have the assignment sequencing down for my Comp II classes. With some tweaking. Of course. Here's what I'm thinking (keep in mind that we're required to have 4 major projects in Comp II, at least 2 of which must be research-based): Sequence I: keep the interview write-up, but add 2-3... Continue Reading →
Writing.
I'm teaching a creative nonfiction workshop this semester, which excites me and makes me nervous. This is the first upper-level course I've taught at my current university, and it is populated mostly with graduating seniors, who, though good students, are more focused on getting the heck out of here than on the intricacies of my... Continue Reading →
essaying the plains 