If there’s one thing I’ve learned this season, it’s that I’m unwilling to watch the Badgers play god-awful football week in and week out whereas I feel it’s almost an obligation to watch my beloved Packers stumble to a losing season.

Mike McCarthy is not a good coach and unfortunately Ted Thompson, the man who can correct the situation, is a bigger moron. How many close games do the Packers have to lose this season before someone wakes up and realizes that McCarthy and his team of coaches is a huge part of the problem. Lousy defense, excessive penalties, awful special teams, and horrible play calling have killed the Packers this season and all of that points to bad coaching.

That last one is especially true today. How many times have we seen the Packers in a short yardage situation with a down or two, where they line up clearly showing a run up the middle and then fail to get it? It happened at least twice today, and Rodgers narrowly QB sneaked a third. Erm, if it hasn’t worked all season, might you not try to switch things up? McCarthy is an idiot.

I’m working on my assignment sequence for next semester and I plan on incorporating some online component, a space where students post things to a secure course discussion board and then comment on each others’ writing. Studies show that if you do this the right way, students get really involved and pitch in with ideas they might be hesitant to say in class. However, if you do it the wrong way then students don’t interact, they just post random responses without engaging each other. And there’s definitely risk involved: one study suggests that online first-year comp courses take 85% more time to teach. I didn’t find any results for hybrid courses (some online content mixed with classroom time) but that stat is enough to give anyone pause.

It’s amusing to think back to my undergrad years when I would complain about TAs and professors making students sign up to lead discussion for one class period. I felt this was a cop-out, a way for them to get out of work. Now that I’m on the other side of the fence I see that’s only partially true. One theory behind having students lead class discussion is that students are more likely to chip in and add to the discussion when it’s one of their peers struggling to get people to talk, whereas they’re far more likely to fold their arms and clam up when it’s the course instructor attempting to spark discussion. My class this semester was good about talking, but I teach later in the afternoon next semester and folks have told me that it’s hard to keep students engaged later in the day.

I just finished up my final final paper moments ago, coming in at a cool 18.5 pages. I’m so close to being done for the semester I can taste it. And boy, won’t that be nice.

Current Mood: Fine |