The End of the Email Era

When people can more easily fire off all sorts of messages–from updates about their breakfast to questions about the evening’s plans–being able to figure out which messages are truly important, or even which warrant a response, can be difficult. Information overload can lead some people to tune out messages altogether. Such noise makes us even…

The first action heroine

In the figure of the coltish, resolute Sigourney Weaver, Alien may just be the film that overhauled the old, unreconstructed horror genre and dared to put a woman centre-stage. Because make no mistake: a horror movie is what Alien is. “It’s basically a haunted house film,” explains the critic David Thomson. “The only difference is…

Tips on Writing a Literary Book Review

I’ve asked students in my “Writing about Literature” class to write a book review, in order to establish a connection to the literary world outside the classroom. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has a brief handout, Writing a Book Review, which begins by explaining the difference between a “book report” (written for the teacher who…

Alice and Kev

Robin Burkinshaw has finished Alice and Kev, an interesting exercise in computer-assisted storytelling, using screen shots from The Sims 3 to tell the story of a homeless father and daughter. Originally the story was told serially, with a few posts a week; then there were a few very long gaps, but the story is finished…

Insidious pedagogy: How course managment systems impact teaching

Course management systems (CMSs), used throughout colleges and universities for presenting online or technology-enhanced classes, are not pedagogically neutral shells for course content. They influence pedagogy by presenting default formats designed to guide the instructor toward creating a course in a certain way. This is particularly true of integrated systems (such as Blackboard/WebCT), but is…

The Simpsons on Classroom Technology

Full episode. “Text ‘uncle’! Text ‘uncle’!!” “But why talk… when I could text?” “That text was totally worth the 15 cents it cost to receive it!” “Then Zach Skyped us, liveblogged our spelling bee, and friended us on Facebook!”“Faculty lounge talk out in the halls?” Similar:Meridian (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 8) Dax falls…

Walkthrough (Zork Funk)

Walkthrough pifieErrol Download this MP3 Directly Similar:College Professors Hate Sharing These Mind-Blowing Study Tips (#3 Made Me Cry) Read the syllabus. Read the syllabu…AcademiaTwitter Cheat Sheet to Help Increase Engagement-Brands see 17 percent more engagement d…Business10 Rules of Internet – Anil DashA very useful, concise summary of web-en…BusinessUp the Long Ladder (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Two, Episode…

The Fiction Generator

All kinds of awesome metatronics going on here. Similar:Star Trek TOS Main Theme but it never gets to the Main ThemeArrgh! This is sooo stressful! (Some gre…MediaEye of the Beholder (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 18) Troi probes a crewman's… Rewatching ST:TNG An agitated eng…AmusingPlay-Doh was Originally Wallpaper CleanerThe story of Play-Doh began when…

Federal Judge Rules Video Games are Protected "Expressive Works"

On Wednesday, a federal district court in Los Angeles dismissed Brown’s claim against Electronic Arts for the use of his image in its Madden NFL series. Judge Florence Marie-Cooper essentially found that video games are “expressive works, akin to an expressive painting that depicts celebrity athletes of past and present in a realistic sporting environment.”…

Online Books, Poems, Short Stories – Read Print Library

A good collection, on a well-designed page. www.readprint.com Thanks for the suggestion, Josh. Similar:Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class. Twelfth-grade reading scores are a…BooksDance of "the awkward nerd trying to act really cool" Carolyn (doing a really cool dance m…AestheticsMy student journalists sport their fashionable “What Would Jerz Do?” wristbands.AcademiaDOJ Enters…

The 15th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition

>get text games Similar:2020, In One Photo. ("Come join us!")AmusingWired and Business Insider remove articles by AI-generated ‘freelancer’Journalists who can’t verify their sourc…Current_EventsEnterprise-D Blueprints As a newlywed, when my in-laws were …BooksTeaching myself the #Unity3D game engine. Each step requires a lot of focused attention. I… Teaching myself the #Unity3D game engi…AestheticsBlender Griffin, Part 3Okay,…

Everyone Appreciates a Little Boost

I just got a phone call from the parent of a prospective student I spoke with on a campus visit over the summer.  The student has decided to come to Seton Hill, and the parent told me that the time I spent talking with the family over the summer was a major factor. (I’m sure…

Clockwords – Unique Word Game

A fun, free steampunk word game. Too bad I have to work today… Similar:Daughter doing a thing. Interviewing the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s Randall Miller for Bur… AcademiaMy mentor interrupted me. “Ignore your students from the neck down,” she said.Early in my teaching career, I noticed s…UncategorizedThanks to all the students, faculty, staff, and family who…

Transcendentalism Today: Echoes of Walden, online and in the classroom

Our students are transcendentalists, but they don’t know it. Speaking metaphorically, Thoreau writes “I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.”  Rather than treating children as wild creatures that needed to be tamed and civilized, Thoreau seesorder and meaning in nature, which is threatened, worn down, and buried by civilization.…