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:The right — and surprisingly wrong — ways to get…

Walkthrough (Zork Funk)

Walkthrough pifieErrol Download this MP3 Directly Similar:Office Hours in the Pool Hall My favorite story comes from the week …AcademiaA Robotic Dog’s MortalityFascinating video journalism from the Ne…CultureStudents Are Using ChatGPT to Write Their Personal Essays Now: AI can replicate the shape …Students say they appreciate AI’s abilit…Academia7 web design trends you’ll actually see this…

The Fiction Generator

All kinds of awesome metatronics going on here. Similar:Why Audiences Hate Hard News—And Love Pretending OtherwiseA reminder that polls that ask people to…CultureMedia Bias Chart version 10 — Left / Center / Right; Fact vs Fabrication; (Ad Fontes Medi…The very useful “media bias chart” is on…CultureJerz and Daughter Teach Scratch (Digital Storytelling Tutorial)In the past…

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:In September, 2001 I was blogging about… With a grant from UWEC, I was able t…AestheticsHey there, chaotic world in academia and beyond, could you settle down just a bit so I can…AcademiaBeautiful. No Data / Lore opposition required. AestheticsGIFs, memes and…

The 15th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition

>get text games Similar:Inverted Pyramid: A news story starts with what's most important, not with whoever spoke f…Jerz > Writing >&nb…JournalismThe AI Mirror Test: Why Even the Smartest People Keep Falling ShortWhat is important to remember is that ch…CultureUnification, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 7) Picard Questions Sarek a…Rewatching ST:TNG Informed that t…DramaIn 2019, I…

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:Seton Hill Hogwarts Dinner What would I get if I added powdered…AcademiaOnline dating is a method of virus controlI first met my wife in person, but we we…UncategorizedArsenal of Freedom (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 21)With an A-plot that comments on the Cold…CultureThe…

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.…

The New-Media Crisis of 1949

Old joke… when’s the best time to air a radio drama? 1937.  Radio is still around, but the salary of TV personality Katie Couric ” is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered combined.” (so says Michael Massing).  If you knew nothing about the internet beyond what you…

Princeton Students: Kindle 'Disappointing, Difficult to Use'

When the University announced its Kindle e-reader pilot program last May, administrators seemed cautiously optimistic that the e-readers would both be sustainable and serve as a valuable academic tool. But less than two weeks after 50 students received the free Kindle DX e-readers, many of them said they were dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the devices.…

Library 'scissor ban is absurd'

Ms Watts, from Islington, north London, said: “I asked why I couldn’t borrow a pair of scissors and she said, ‘they are sharp, you might stab me’. “I then asked to borrow a guillotine to cut up my leaflets but she refused again – because she said I could hit her over the head with…

Videogames now outperform Hollywood movies

Videogames may be economically formidable, but they remain a byword for crass, shallow thrills. A game, it’s understood, can look spectacular, but it will have little to offer its audience in the way of values, insights or craftsmanship. It’s a curious and increasingly untenable situation, given that, to the increasingly large percentage of the population…

Washington Post Issues Twitter Guidelines: Signing Their Own Death Sentence?

In all media that boasts your byline remain impartial, and don’t do anything stupid. But is it in the best interests of the paper? Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander points out the the Post (along with just about every other mainstream publication) has at times come under fire for being partisan. These guidelines aim to…