Monthly Archives: March 2009

Victorian parody: Bulwer

Posted on March 30, 2009 by jbj

I want to post more regularly about Victorian topics, and thought that the best way to kick it off was with this satirical take from Fraser’s Magazine in 1832 on Edward Bulwer’s Eugene Aram (the end is worth it–how often … Continue reading →

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Learning from our public schools: What matters in evaluations

Posted on March 29, 2009 by jbj

So, this weekend we received a document with two forms: the teacher of the year nomination and a parent survey, largely about satisfaction with the school.  We’re pretty happy with the school, and very happy with the teacher, so no … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, assessment, higher education, new britain, public schools, silliness, teaching, things that should stop | Comments Off on Learning from our public schools: What matters in evaluations

Deploying the iPod Touch in a classroom

Posted on March 26, 2009 by jbj

Put the case that you were piloting the widespread deployment of iPod Touches in a classroom.  You can assume the following: Two sections of the same class will be taught in a 5-week period.  For the sake of argument–let’s call … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, higher education, iPod Touch, teaching | 17 Comments

Updates to two recent posts

Posted on March 25, 2009 by jbj

Two points that, while interesting, don’t quite merit their own entries: If you were interested in the recent post about online quizzes in lit classes, then you might be interested in this posting from Tomorrow’s Professor about crafting effective multiple … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, higher education | 2 Comments

Changing attitudes among students and faculty

Posted on March 23, 2009 by jbj

Earlier this month, UCLA reported on their triennial survey of faculty attitudes and values, “The American College Teacher.”  (Here’s the study; here’s the InsideHigherEd.com writeup.  Quotations below are from the latter.)  The above-the-fold news from the study was that faculty … Continue reading →

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A small proposal for (esp. junior) faculty

Posted on March 17, 2009 by jbj

Everyone in graduate school gets drilled into their head that they should be good to the department secretaries.  Department secretaries can accomplish all sorts of excellent things–they can expedite your travel paperwork, teach you the funky new copier, make sure … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education, teaching | 1 Comment

Satisficing & grading

Posted on March 16, 2009 by jbj

I’m slow with the grading.  Some of it is garden-variety procrastination; some of it is bad planning (assignments for different classes coming in at the same time); some of it is overcommitments elsewhere; some of it is figuring out the … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education, teaching | 4 Comments

Even art critics need fact checkers; or, how ahead of his time *was* Darwin?

Posted on March 15, 2009 by jbj

In this morning’s Times, at least in the CT editions, Benjamin Genocchio reviews Endless Forms: Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts, an exciting show at the Yale Center for British Art.  By way of setting the exhibit up, however, … Continue reading →

Posted in darwin, things I love, things that should stop, Victorian literature | Comments Off on Even art critics need fact checkers; or, how ahead of his time *was* Darwin?

Online quizzes for lit classes

Posted on March 10, 2009 by jbj

A couple of years ago, I began requiring online reading quizzes in my 200-level lit classes (Brit Lit II, plus topics-based courses for nonmajors).  This year, I’ve extended it to any class where there’s assigned reading.  As usual, there are … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education, teaching | 8 Comments

About online grading

Posted on March 4, 2009 by jbj

Katy asked for a post about grading with the computer, and I always try to honor requests, so here goes: Online grading doesn’t save me any time, although that’s probably because I do it badly.  The main benefits I get … Continue reading →

Posted in higher education, teaching | 9 Comments