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Yes, so I’ve been reading and thinking and teaching. Quite often I’m reading about teaching or thinking about teaching and even reading about thinking. Most of what I’ve been reading (and thinking) has to do with my prelim area of digital pedagogy, or how to effectively incorporate computers into instruction. The strong inclination is to simply give assignments that imply computer use (“print it out and bring it to class” or “post your response to the course website”), but this isn’t really grappling with key issues of teaching students how to be more sophisticated and critical users of technology, rather than being passive users of technology. It very much seems to me that instructors are better off constructing a course with these goals in the foreground, and budgeting time for the teaching, experimentation, and reflection on computing technologies over the entire semester.

For example, students in my College Writing and Research class often show interest in something Robert Davis and Mark Shadle refer to as a “multimedia research essay,” whereby the writer incorporates a number of different media into the paper: images, music, videos, links, etc. I happen to be interested in the academic hypertext, and I could see students taking a number of unique approaches to constructing a non-traditional research “essay” in the form of a blog or even a small website with a variety of content linked and/or embedded. But there are problems. One, the way our program does portfolio review, there is no mechanism for the assessment of a hypertext document; two, I don’t know if all of my colleagues would feel comfortable applying the course goals and objectives to a hypertext document (though perhaps they would); and three, most students won’t know how to create a multimedia document. And of course, it could also be argued that students in English 102 should focus on rhetorical strategies common to print documents.

For the instructor (i.e. me) it becomes a battle of what stays and what goes in the syllabus if you want to take, say, two weeks to engage with the question of the multimedia research essay. This quickly becomes tricky. And, as I point out earlier, it’s much easier to “make time” during course planning rather than trying to “find time” after the starting gun has been fired.

I’m also reading James Paul Gee’s What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy and I’m buying what he’s selling hook, line, and sinker. Gee’s basic point is not that video games should take the place of classroom learning, but rather that educators should rethink their teaching styles in order to get students as engaged with school material as they are with video games. My memory of my K-12 experience was one of boredom. I did not (and still do not) learn very well by rote, and I tend to get bored with a lack of variety. I distinctly remember one (awful) high school Spanish teacher telling the class with unmistakable irritation that her job was not to entertain us. While I agree with this sentiment, she also went beyond the call of duty to ensure that she never tried anything new to make the material more engaging. Gee makes a lot of great points about situated learning and semiotic domains and I keep saying, “Yup… yup… yup…” as I’m filling up page after page of notes. If you like video games and are interested in education, check it out. It’s fast and pretty accessible.

Gee’s book has also gotten me thinking about creative writing pedagogy and questioning the generic workshop format that’s commonly used. But more on that as I kick it around…

The Champions League kicks off this afternoon (or tonight, if you’re in Europe) and it’s going to be interesting. AC Milan versus Manchester United and Real Madrid versus Lyon on the docket today and both should be good matches. All four of these teams run hot and cold so the first leg matches are very hard to predict. Ah, what the hell, I’ll 2-0 to United and 2-1 to Madrid. I think both Milan and Lyon will be pushing to get a goal at home and will leave themselves exposed to these two good counterattacking teams.

Otherwise I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of European football and some of the changes that UEFA and the Premier League are thinking of instituting, and wondering if we’re nearing another crisis moment between the big clubs in Europe and all the rest. The big talk is how Germany’s clubs are largely sensibly run and community owned, which has led to relatively inexpensive tickets, huge attendances, lots of turnover in the league table, and poor performances in European competition. The problem is that German clubs largely operate within their means, which means they get crushed by teams from other countries with ridiculously deep pocketbooks (Madrid, Barcelona, Chelski) and those big-spending clubs mired in massive debt (Liverpool, Man Ure).

In the next decade, the situation will tip in one of two ways: either something like a European-wide salary cap will come into play and make the playing field a wee bit more competitive, or the European giants will kick their marketing into a higher gear and form a breakaway league that’s sold to a global audience. I’m rooting for the former but expecting the latter; insert your cliche’ about geese and golden eggs here.

Current Mood: Sick |