If … there be kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~ Etienne Grellet
Students know that they learn better when they speak up in class--whether that is asking clarifying questions, sharing an idea, practicing an explanation, or inviting their peers to expand on their ideas. Still, it can be hard. Students may worry about their spoken English skills, especially for non-native speakersdislike or be surprised at their voice... Continue Reading →
My least favorite part of online teaching is the possibilities for intellectual freedom and freedom of speech to be curtailed in online classrooms. Online teaching produces a number of records (almost all student interactions, except those conducted by phone or video conference and not recorded) that can be reviewed, and faculty have little control over... Continue Reading →
Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a fan of the possibilities for online teaching and learning--but I also recognize that different disciplines face very different barriers in creating successful online courses. In particular, science labs, theater classes, studio arts, and other classes that require physical engagement with tools can be a challenge.Today I... Continue Reading →
You probably have an In Case of Emergency (ICE) contact in your cell phone--the person to be called if you have a heart attack on the street, the number accessible even if your phone is locked. You need one for Fall 2020 teaching. It's possible that you, as a teacher, will become ill in the... Continue Reading →
Need some teaching inspiration? The South Phoenix Oral History Project is a digital oral history of a rich but understudied part of Phoenix--and it began as a student history project at the local community college. If that doesn't get you excited about the relevance of teaching right now, I don't know what will! Dr. Summer... Continue Reading →
The foundational text of my teaching philosophy is "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus: Notes Towards an Investigation" (1970) by Louis Althusser. As many of us transition to remote teaching, I'm reminded of this passage: I ask the pardon of those teachers who, in dreadful conditions, attempt to turn the few weapons they can find in... Continue Reading →
One of the lovely and also hardest parts of teaching online is that you often feel like you are teaching one student at a time. Student-faculty interaction can be quite high, and many students open up quite vulnerably in an online setting. Some will use the class as individual coaching--which may work well in a... Continue Reading →
If you’ve been following this series of posts about building an online course by design, you’ve framed your course, selected your materials, chosen your assignments, and written your syllabus. In a typical F2F course, you'd be making copies of your syllabus and writing your assignments. For an online course, it's time to build the shell... Continue Reading →
By now, virtually everyone has canceled school for the remainder of the year. Some colleges have already announced that summer courses, many of which begin in just a month, will already be taught online; the announcement allows us time to do more than pivot to remote teaching but to build, even if hurriedly, online-by-design courses.... Continue Reading →
If you've been following this series of posts about building an online course by design, you've framed your course, selected your materials, chosen your assignments, written your policies, and added all the other information your syllabus needs. Now is a good time to review your syllabus to a make sure it includes everything it needs... Continue Reading →