"Finished in Two Sittings"

That's what Melissa Dahl, MSNBC.com's intern, said. I, too, finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in that same time-span. I liked it - as I have the other six books - because of the rolicking, detailed emotional ride Rowling sets out before her reader. She understands hooks of all kinds: emotional, visual, chronological, literal. A good read, but I wouldn't want to teach it!

Archives

That's what I like to call what I've accumulated in my office: found the textbook I used in 1990 to teach Technical Writing the first time I was at Century (called Lakewood then). I just couldn't toss it, not with my tidy marginalia: "Stress in class!" and "Note" and "Day 2 Exercise."

I've been trying to empty out the space so the sabbatical replacement can move in (he's been asking) and also so that I can start pruning my paper: like lilac bushes, take out a third every year. But I've been in that office for four years (having been across the hall in a closet for two before that), and so I have not adhered to this lilac-pruning maxim.

Today I had the following terrible-true thought: These archives must now become a potential data-source for research! "How does community college tech writing differ over the decades?" or "History of pedagogy via personal archive." I've got the artifacts. I really don't need such a project, of course, but I do need to get back to some kind of research. Get thee to the library!

Paper Cuts

So my pal Night Editor has her pulse on the current book scene: I'm jealous, of course. Here's a blog she introduced on her blog: Paper Cuts, by folks at The New York Times. Isn't that just the best title? Check it out.

Ten Days

That's about how long I'm into my "summer vacation." All week long I've been meaning to go into the office to clean it out, but all week long other tasks/opportunities have kept me away: sedum and geranium and Chinese lantern transplanting, not-the-best-novel reading, letter writing, bill paying, meal preparing, daughter chatting, biking. One of these days, I'm going to read an academic text - but I suppose I should count Adrienne Rich's Diving Into the Wreck and Arts of the Possible (Norton 2002), both of which I've read this week. She's amazing: brilliant, compassionate, angry. I need to read her newest book of essays, Poetry and Commitment (Norton 2007).

"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"

I suppose I like the Wallace Stevens' poems best, but these short animations might intrigue students. Click above to see them.

In the midst

Of grading, naturally, for the end of the semester. One voice tells me "Why read things closely at this point? Just assign a ballpark grade and be done with it." Another voice says, "Remember how much you hated working hard on a final project only to have the professor ignore your work? Don't be like that professor."

So I'm reading closely but trying not to write comments except for small notes with scores at the ends of essays and projects.

Perhaps going to this website, Campus Calm, will help me.

By Monday?

That's the target date for finishing grading. Let's do the math: 24 student x final exams/papers/projects (minimum 6, maximim 10 pages each) = 144-240 pages of student writing to read.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but when writing is not felicitous (I'm being generous here), I have to read between the lines, figuring out what the students are trying to say. It's tough assigning writing projects as a demonstration of student knowledge because so much decoding is required of the reader (me). The documents don't exist in isolation - at this ending-point of the semester, I read as I think about what writing advice I've already given students (I've seen drafts for many of these folks), what the writers have said in class, how they've demonstrated their knowledge (mastery?) of the subject matter in other ways (usually verbal, of course - I've had a chatty, chatty bunch this semester!).

Wish me the ease and time (and perhaps red wine) to read this work with continued generosity.

Almost done

Last day of the summer session is supposed to be tomorrow, but with the computer problems, I've extended my students' deadlines for 48 hours. Frustrating for all of us. It'll mean that I have TONS of grading to do in a very, very, very short period of time. Yuck. But better for them.

It's Getting Old . . .

. . . blogging about computer problems. I've been reading student work for the last hour, and I've wanted to return it via our course website. But for the last hour, our course website won't allow me to access either of my courses, and I'd told students I would get back their progress memos tonight. Also, my passwords for my email account don't work (emailing students their work was my plan B). It's the last week of class, so these glitches are especially infuriating.

Documentation

I just sent an email to the MN Campus Alliance, who asked for an updated description of the college's GLBTQA campus resources. Here's what I sent:

*Q&S [Queer & Straight] Club
*/The Q&S Club is a student organization that invites all Century College students to meet together to discuss and explore GLBT issues, plan campus events, support GLBTQ students, and foster an inclusive community. Weekly meeting topics and activities vary, from planning our table displays at every semester's Student Activities Fair to watching movies together. Q&S student representatives attend twice-monthly Student Senate meetings to update the rest of the student body about the club's activities. Club advisor is a faculty member from Century's Women and Gender Studies Program.

*Ally Training Program
*/Century College's Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) program provides GLBTQ Ally Training sessions every semester. SEED invites a staff member from OutFront Minnesota to conduct the training. Participants are awarded an "ALLY" sticker, which they can then display in their offices and doors. Currently, 48 Century Faculty and Staff have earned ALLY stickers. The Ally Training Program also maintains a website: http://centuryseed.project.mnscu.edu/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={20047333-9660-46B7-85C5-39FFB0C184C7}

*WGST 1071: Introduction to GLBT Studies
*/This three-credit college course, the only GLBT course existing at the two-year college level, is offered twice yearly. It is taught by faculty from Century's Women and Gender Studies program, the oldest Women's Studies Program at a two-year college in the country. The course fulfills part of the requirements for the 15-credit Women and Gender Studies Certificate from Century College, the only two-year college in Minnesota to offer an academic certificate in WGST.

*"Dealing with Diversity: GLBTQ Issues in College"
*/This seminar is offered every semester as part of Century College's award-winning student retention initiative called Student Success Day. Facilitators include faculty from Century's Women and Gender Studies program. Students who attend this seminar receive certificates of participation and handouts that include resources and FAQs.

Makes it sound as if we have an inclusive, enlightened campus, doesn't it? Amazing how language can hide reality.

Tired Tallying

But feeling proud of my team! Seventeen volunteers in total helped out this weekend: today's group included Emily M., Amira, Emily P., Wade, Laurie, Amber, Char, Debbie.

Other sightings this year: former Century students Pancho, Laura, Tony, Jesse, Jeanne. Current students Joe, Amanda, Jake (who didn't even know about the student club). Dr. Whitney G. Harris, MnSCU's executive director of equal opportunity and diversity, AKA the big cheese for diversity in MnSCU, was surprised and pleased to know we have the oldest Women and Gender Studies program in the two-year colleges, and he offered to teach a course for us!

Brochures distributed this year: Auto Service Technology, Accounting, Business Administration, Business Management, Chemical Dependency, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Emergency Medical Technician (including Paramedics), Horticulture, Interior Design, Kitechen and Bath Design, Marketing, Medical Assistance, Office Technology (both general and medical), Prosethic Technician, Public Safety, Visual Communications Technology, Women and Gender Studies.

Trinkets distributed: six window clings, 65 lip balm, 65 keychain/flashlights, 75 pens, 150 Smarties, 160 Double-bubble gum.

I guess I should add the two pans of Rice Krispy bars to this list somewhere . . . and maybe tally up my out-of-pocket costs: over $10.00 for sure for Smarties, Double-bubble, Rice Krispies, marshmallows. My total hours working on this weekend: 16 just at the park; another two for traveling and schlepping; another eight for organizing, sending emails, producing volunteer charts, gathering materials. Sounds like over 25 hours in the past week have gone into this event. Wow.

The Art of Representation

I just spent eight hours managing our college's table at the annual Twin Cities Pride Festival in Loring Park, Minneapolis. For the most part, the volunteers who agreed to staff the table showed up - eventually - and represented the college pretty well. Students included Tammy (with her daughter Shannon), Courtney, Selena, Fanneice, Thomas for a moment or two. Staff included myself, Wade, Brian, Jill and her beau Zach. Tomorrow we'll have another half-dozen folks, and this total number of volunteers (could be 18!) is the highest it's been since I took over as Q&S Club advisor (and Pride table czar).

Only two other two-year MnSCU colleges from the Metro area were there: MCTC and St. Paul College. Last year, we also had Inver Hills and Anoka-Ramsey. This year, we were supposed to have Dakota County, but they cancelled at the last minute. Hmmm. Four-year MnSCU institutions were Metro State (of course with its full-time staff and university support), Moorhead (the same group of leather men always sits at a table with about 4 brochures), and Bemidji State (They get the award for driving the farthest distance!).

The MnSCU section of College Row was least inviting, I think (despite the Smarties I bought to hand out and despite Brian's feather boas decorating our canopy). Other colleges had games, prizes, photo collages, plenty of giveaways, and trained admissions people as greeters. One of the private colleges, St. Mary's, had a Hawaiian theme, complete with a limbo pole and grass hut.

But we managed to chat with over 40 festival goers, including the father of a former Century student, current Century instructors, and current Century students who didn't know we had a Q&S club or an Intro to GLBT Studies course at the college (note to self: advertise!!). Five folks signed our email list, and that should help us build the club next fall when I'm on sabbatical and Brian takes over as club advisor.

Tomorrow we'll be out again - luckily we have a cool site under a tree and under our canopy. I haven't yet made rice krispy bars like I did for today's gang - I guess I'll have to whip some up in the morning.

Extreme, extreme frustration

Both mine and my students:

Tech Writing is a tough course for most students because it requires accuracy and correctness as well as the ability to read and process complicated instructions. It also requires that they think about audience and purpose in a way most of them have never thought about it before.

Now add the online component, which creates a less-than-robust learning environment, and some students get really overwhelmed. Now add summer session, which asks students to compress the work of a sixteen-week session into six weeks. Now add computer glitches that 1) make it impossible for me or my students to access our course website for extended periods of time, 2) send error messages when we post discussion questions or take quizzes, and 3) do not allow students to download documents that I have uploaded into their personal "drop boxes" with my comments.

Significant work is due *right now* in my course since it's the last 10 days of the course. A small-but-vocal minority of students misunderstood the last assignment and have to re-do it.

Panic has set in, I'm getting angry email messages, students threaten to drop the course. I'm sure they're trashing me and the course in the private "Student Lounge" discussion space on the website - wait, they can't get into the website!

When it comes to our technological infrastructure, I do not like how my college treats its staff or its students. I'm very, very ready for my sabbatical, and I hope the technology will have improved when I get back, but I'm not hopeful. Things have been getting worse rather than better, I think. This current frustration is just that - the current one. I have many, many more frustations, including the fact that when I have communicated past frustrations/suggestions, they are not heard.

Ouch. I'm crabby.

A Marker with a Lot of Ink

Click and watch!

Continuous Discovery

Teaching really is about adaptation, trying new things, discovering new problems and solutions. Teaching online adds an extra layer to this process - or maybe I should continue using my metaphor of magnification: I've always said that the internet is just a big magnifying glass: all that's in our culture, terrific and terrible, can become larger, faster, wider, farther - extreme-ified (that should be a word).

Case in point: teaching my tech writing students makes me think about verbal register, the types of words and phrasing I use to convey tone. What are the different effects of ending an extended comment to a student with one or another of the questions below:

Do you get what I'm trying to say?
Do you get what I'm saying?

Do you get the point I'm making?
Do you get the point I'm trying to make?

Does this make sense to you?
Does my explanation make sense?

Do you understand what I've said?
Do you see what I mean?
Does my message help clear things up?

I've used all these variations in an effort to get students to let me know they've read my feedback - ending with such a question is my new discovery teaching online this semester. A question provokes or invites or requests or demands a response, and then I know they've read at least some of my feedback.

At least that's my hypothesis, my hope. (How are those two things different? :-)

Many points of contact

Or maybe the title should be "many points TO contact" because my students can get to me in so many ways:

Electronically, I get at least a half-dozen pages a day, about the same number of emails, and even more messages via the course website (normal for the online course, of course, but the non-online course students still send messages to me when they upload their essays, for example).

Traditional technology includes the telephone, and I've received about 8 phone messages from students this summer, which averages out to almost a third of my students contacting me this way. That statistic isn't quite accurate, though, since the same students prefer to use the phone.

F2F, of course, is the primary way my students contact me: coming by the office (a few of the online students prefer to ask their questions this way - first time I had that experience was last semester!), staying after class (what a long conversation after the midterm on Monday!), and the conventional in-class discussion. With only two courses, I can actually know my students well, and the points of contact don't feel onerous or incomplete or supplementary or not-the-point: they feel necessary and surprisingly useful, for the students and for me. I can be more thoughtful with them and about them than I can be when I have upwards of 100 students.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that education happens when the points of contact are multiple, sustained, and engaged rather than overwhelming. This observation is not news.

Free Lunch!

Today's campus activity involved cotton candy, Famous Dave's BBQ, watermelon, and lots of Greek-Mediterranean food that I don't know the name of. Yum. The festivities included tie-dying t-shirts, listening to music, and other stuff that my brief perusal didn't quite take in. (Too bad our college doesn't have a website where these events are publicized.)

Summer school at its best, I'd say, on the day that my students took their midterm. A good combination!

More Technical Difficulties

So I just found out that the pager in my online class has been non-functioning for a week: I'd wondered why I hadn't heard from students via that tool! Here's what happened: I'm both an online instructor of my own courses and an online student in two colleagues' courses (because I'm reviewing their courses for them). In my student role, I began a quiz in a colleague's course to see how it worked, but I didn't ever "submit" it because I was just reviewing the course. The software will not allow students who have unsubmitted quizzes to use the pager function - makes sense, I suppose, so students won't page each other with answers to quizzes. But I got NO notification that my pager was disabled, and I wonder if this particular function should be a default.

Anyway, so students have been thinking that I've been ignoring them. I had over a dozen pages waiting for me when I finally got things fixed, and I've had another eight in the last hour. Oh, the joys of technology.

Technical Difficulties

Been reading/grading tech writing students' instructions all day today - with lots of interruptions because of computer frustrations. I'm working with a couple of computers - a Mac laptop for getting online to retrieve/send information and a Dell desktop for reading/commenting on students' work. Both computers are slow, freeze when I don't want them to, and need some kind of professional attention. Time for a PC doc visit!

Creating Quizzes

I've just spent three hours creating a 20-point quiz for my Intro to GLBT Studies course. Why, you ask? Here's the story:

The students and I meet today in cyberspace instead of on campus. We agreed to all be together in the course "Chat" from 1:15-2:15 p.m. In preparation for that synchronous chat, they are to have read a chapter called "Historical Explanations and Rationalizations for Transgenderism" by Gordene Olga Mackenzie, a terrifically interesting 27-page article about the (mostly German and American) theories about transsexualism, transvestitism, and transgenderism from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century. Since it's such a comprehensive article, names and dates figure prominently, something I don't always stress in my courses because I never remembered well in my own schooling. But students seem to like having the fixed certainty of a name/date association, so I often include a few such questions on quizzes, especially open-book quizzes like this one.

But just which names and dates will choose? The most important, you say - easy answer, right. But is Alfred Kinsey more "important" than D.O. Cauldwell, the first American medical doctor to use the term "Transsexual" in the medical literature? (It was 1949, the year after Kinsey used the term in his opus The Sexual Behavior in the Human Male). Is Richard Krafft-Ebing more"important" than Walter Williams, the anthropologist who attemped to introduce the term "amazon" as the female equivalent of "berdache"? (It still hasn't caught on, and I hear "berdache" used by all kinds of contemporary GLBTQ scholars when they talk about any "two-spirited" Native Americans.)

In these two cases, I've made the judgment call: Kinsey and Krafft-Ebing are on the quiz (they contrast nicely, having opposing scientific motivations: one progressive, one conservative), and Cauldwell and Williams are not. I can defend this choice, of course, but the point I'm making here is that thinking through selections such as these makes quiz creating a time-consuming process.

I haven't even mentioned how hard it is to craft good questions! Questions that elicit the answers you want from students while simultaneously not giving those answers away. (That metaphorical construction is interesting, isn't it?) Wording is crucial, especially with multiple-choice questions, the kind I use most often for online quizzes (although rarely in f2f classrooms) because they allow both teaching and testing at the same time (that is if you provide a good series of choices - my daughter has been great at helping me craft these choices because she's a good guesser, one who sees patterns in the teacher's multiple-choice answers and uses them to guess).

Anyway, the point here is that the whole process has taken me three hours: to re-read the chapter, mark important passages, construct fair questions, eliminate redundancies, clarify ambiguous wording, and finally type all these questions into the clunky software interface we have (selecting the correct "properties" and "restrictions" and "display options" so that students get meaningful information on their end). Whew!