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Let’s Get Digital, Digital (Humanities)! Part One
The Alabama Digital Humanities Center (ADHC) opened in 2010. At the beginning of my second year at UA, I just now discovered the ADHC and its amazing home in Gorgas Library Room 109A . I arranged for a consultation with Emma Wilson yesterday. We enjoyed a vibrant discussion about how my teaching might deploy a digital humanities project. […]
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Power-Using and Hacking Blackboard
Do you use Blackboard in your course? I do. Here’s why: I think it’s easier for me, as well as the students, to have a simple, one-stop place to find and do everything related to a course outside of class. Now beginning my second year of teaching at UA, I find my commitment to grasping the basic features of […]
Something’s in the Way: Struggling Students in Large Courses
Since it is almost Thanksgiving, many students will be leaving UA for home, where they will inevitably be asked, “So, how are things going?” Here is a short story about a student who dropped by my office this term: Last week, a distraught student stopped by my office to ask about withdrawing from my class […]
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Is “Learning Management System” a Misnomer?
Is there a difference between “course delivery” and “teaching,” or are these equivocal terms? What does it mean to deliver versus to teach? Think about this for a moment in pedagogical terms. Do the following make pedagogical sense? Delivering a learning objective. Delivering formative assessment. Delivering the ability to compare differing perspectives. Delivering the critical thinking. I am not […]
My Students are Not Missing the (Power) Point
I met Ollie Dreon at The Teaching Professor Technology Conference last week, thanks to a travel grant from CCS. His recent blog post, “Hating on PowerPoint: My Take,” confirms that I am doing the right thing this term. My 153-student REL 100 course makes no use of that now-ubiquitous program. I used to be a power-pointy power user. But in 2010 […]
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These Aren’t the Grades You’re Looking For
Today is the final day for the entry of mid-term grades for lower-level courses. As a new faculty member at UA, I had already noted the provost’s blog entry on entering these grades. I teach a 100-level course, so I have until midnight tonight to do so. According to the FAQ posted by the University Registrar, this is […]
Quick Tips for Online Teaching
Allison Hetzel, a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, shares how she manages her online courses and offers tips for connecting with distance learners. How do you reduce anonymity and build community in your online courses? I work to connect with my class as often as possible. I make sure that I am part of the class […]
Mistakes were made. What next?
I felt a little bit like John Lindsay this morning. I put a quiz on Blackboard, and, as he said in one of his 1969 campaign ads, “some mistakes were made.” When the student emails started trickling in, I started to have a Lindsay moment. In reality, this is my first term teaching at UA, and […]
Giving Quizzes in Blackboard Learn
by Alecia Chatham, Department of Modern Languages and Classics In my online courses, I often post short, weekly quizzes that are graded immediately by Blackboard. There are a few different quiz types that I use for certain things. Key concept quizzes sometimes take students a little more time to figure out on their own, though they may only […]