Of MOOCs & Higher Ed

I know I need to insert myself into the conversation about MOOCs, and I recognize I’m in a unique position to do so. It’s not class reading, so it’s not on the top of the priority list, but the conversation about MOOCs and higher education in general is one that, if I intend to remain…
Read more

5 Readings for Class

Our guest lecturer for next week’s Major Debates in English Studies class is Dr. Igloria. She’s sent us five readings to prepare prior to class. The Defense of the Poesy Workshoppe by Paisley Rekdal Responding to Paisley Rekdal’s “The Defense of the Poesy Workshoppe” by Luisa Igloria Writing Like a White Guy: Language, Race, and…
Read more

Of Research Tools and Publishing Platforms

technology and research

As a result of a comment I posted on The Chronicle of Higher Education ProfHacker blog article, “How Do Your Tools Help You Move Forward?” I learned about Citelighter, an online research tool. I’ve taken a brief look at the tool, which enables researchers to download a browser extension that allows highlighting and annotating of…
Read more

Gamification – MediaCommons

I just posted a response to an article on MediaCommons, part of my new-found involvement in new media scholarship through the English PhD program at Old Dominion University. The article was written in response to this survey question: How does gamification affect learning? The article, “Game…check. Research…check. Practitioner buy-in…?” by University of Southern California’s Zoe…
Read more

No Longer the Disrupted?

Computer monitors

I’m in the process of writing a brief report for class on two articles addressing this question: What should the role of technology be in the composition classroom? Neither article explicitly addresses this question, but both take a position on the question of whether and how technology ought to be used in the composition classroom….
Read more

Distance Classroom Experience 2.0

I’m not having my father’s seminary classroom experience. I’m not even having my own master’s-level graduate classroom experience. The classroom experience as a distance student in the Old Dominion University English Ph.D. program has been flipped by technology—and I mean that in a really good way! Let me describe what a three-hour class session “looks”…
Read more

Seeking the Best Research and Writing Tool

As I begin my doctoral studies, I’ve struggled to find the best tool for recording research, taking research notes, taking reading notes, writing responses, and maintaining a collection of annotated PDFs. The digital age offers so many tools for conducting research and recording notes, but I’ve not found the single tool that will do everything…
Read more