Mar 2012
Twitter Theory and the Public Scholar
March 23, 2012 | Filed in: Profession
by Pete Rorabaugh
The most important benefit of Twitter is its open compatibility with the best web sharing practices. The ability to drop a link (especially shortened ones) into tweets means that Twitter’s 140-character limit is actually a fallacy. I can write a 2,448 page manifesto and direct people to it with one 10 character link built on bit.ly. We can attach an image to tweets that do not impact the character limit. (For example, my students sometimes take pictures of our notes on the board that can be tweeted to other class members.) Twitter users can quickly review the metadata of other users following or replying to them, and make decisions about whether to encourage or refuse interaction.
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The most important benefit of Twitter is its open compatibility with the best web sharing practices. The ability to drop a link (especially shortened ones) into tweets means that Twitter’s 140-character limit is actually a fallacy. I can write a 2,448 page manifesto and direct people to it with one 10 character link built on bit.ly. We can attach an image to tweets that do not impact the character limit. (For example, my students sometimes take pictures of our notes on the board that can be tweeted to other class members.) Twitter users can quickly review the metadata of other users following or replying to them, and make decisions about whether to encourage or refuse interaction.
Read More...Comments
Hybrid Academy, or How #altac Changes Pedagogy
March 15, 2012 | Filed in: Profession
by Roger Whitson
I’d like to move this conversation in a different direction, discussing how I believe the #altac movement to be an attempt to create what I call a “hybrid academy:” an academic model that bridges traditional divisions between academic practice and the public sphere. #altac originally started as a hashtag on Twitter, but has evolved to include an amazing edited collection published on MediaCommons, as well as numerous presentations at MLA and THATCamps across the country. The #altac movement is primarily about giving students more job opportunities, but it is also about broadening the reach of the humanities in such a way that it impacts people far beyond the ivory tower.
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I’d like to move this conversation in a different direction, discussing how I believe the #altac movement to be an attempt to create what I call a “hybrid academy:” an academic model that bridges traditional divisions between academic practice and the public sphere. #altac originally started as a hashtag on Twitter, but has evolved to include an amazing edited collection published on MediaCommons, as well as numerous presentations at MLA and THATCamps across the country. The #altac movement is primarily about giving students more job opportunities, but it is also about broadening the reach of the humanities in such a way that it impacts people far beyond the ivory tower.
Read More...Crowdsourcing a Curriculum, pt. 3: Degree Requirements
March 13, 2012 | Filed in: Digital Pedagogy
by Jesse Stommel
Now, I’d like to turn this crowdsourcing project toward the degree requirements for the major. The intention for this program is to have its content (literary studies) and its medium (the internet) be thoughtfully connected. This is not just a simple English degree delivered online. In addition to more traditional study of literature, we will also consider the evolution of our various technologies of text, thinking critically about what happens to literary texts when they are made digital and when we engage them via digital interfaces.
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Now, I’d like to turn this crowdsourcing project toward the degree requirements for the major. The intention for this program is to have its content (literary studies) and its medium (the internet) be thoughtfully connected. This is not just a simple English degree delivered online. In addition to more traditional study of literature, we will also consider the evolution of our various technologies of text, thinking critically about what happens to literary texts when they are made digital and when we engage them via digital interfaces.
Read More...Hybridity, pt. 2: What is Hybrid Pedagogy?
March 09, 2012 | Filed in: Critical Pedagogy
by Jesse Stommel
My hypothesis is that all learning is necessarily hybrid. In classroom-based pedagogy, it is important to engage the digital selves of our students. And, in online pedagogy, it is equally important to engage their physical selves. With digital pedagogy and online education, our challenge is not to merely replace (or offer substitutes for) face-to-face instruction, but to find new and innovative ways to engage students in the practice of learning.
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My hypothesis is that all learning is necessarily hybrid. In classroom-based pedagogy, it is important to engage the digital selves of our students. And, in online pedagogy, it is equally important to engage their physical selves. With digital pedagogy and online education, our challenge is not to merely replace (or offer substitutes for) face-to-face instruction, but to find new and innovative ways to engage students in the practice of learning.
Read More...Who Are We? Scholarly Identity Under Interrogation
March 03, 2012 | Filed in: Profession
by Pete Rorabaugh
On my first day as a student-teacher in a public high school (1999), my mentor teacher left me in the room at 8:20 a.m. to take a call in the front office. As students began filing into school for the day and eventually into her room, the minutes dragged on. It was 8:30. The bell rang. More minutes. Eventually, at 8:35, one of the students in the Senior Literature class said: “Are you our sub?” I was wearing a tie, but I was not the sub. I hadn’t taught a day in my life.
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On my first day as a student-teacher in a public high school (1999), my mentor teacher left me in the room at 8:20 a.m. to take a call in the front office. As students began filing into school for the day and eventually into her room, the minutes dragged on. It was 8:30. The bell rang. More minutes. Eventually, at 8:35, one of the students in the Senior Literature class said: “Are you our sub?” I was wearing a tie, but I was not the sub. I hadn’t taught a day in my life.
Read More...