Web Page

After tonight's class, I have really started thinking about what kind of web page I would like to have. We looked at a lot of bad pages, which made me worry. We are going to be forming pretty basic web pages, or at least not anything super fancy. Part of me, the tiny inkling of perfectionism for things I present to the world, doesn't want to show my students a web page that does not look professional and artsy. I want it to look great and very put together.

I also started thinking about what I would put on the site, and being that I only teach one course and have no CV to speak of, it will probably be pretty lacking. I will have to look at other ways to bolster my site, perhaps use it as a e-portfolio.

Facebook Irritation

While most days, I love and adore Facebook - I was reminded just now of a recent irritation that someone on Facebook caused me. We have discussed the possibilities of using Facebook as publishing. The possibilities are endless - but maybe they shouldn't be. I know of a man who is currently in a relationship with a woman, and their relationship status keeps changing. They fight all the time, and a lot of their fights appear right on their Facebook walls for everyone to see. I find this amusing at times which is why I remain "friends" with this guy. Anyway, last week the man changed his status to something like, "This sucks - kill me now." One somewhat newer feature of Facebook is that a member can comment on another member's status. So, one of his friends commented that he needed to lose his girlfriend and move on, which caused a commenting battle between that friend and the girlfriend. Then the man had the nerve to post that his relationship was his and his girlfriend's business and no one else's. Interesting....then why post every bitter detail for all the world to see?

Technology Can Hurt

At the very beginning of this semester, I signed up for an appointment to bring my students to the library for an instructional session. Still being somewhat new to campus, I don't feel very confident about explaining SCSU's library system to students. Today was finally the day for my students to go to the library, and guess what? Huskynet was being moody this morning. The librarian instructor rearranged the schedule a little bit, and made some time for the website to start working. Then it seemed like everything was on track - oh wait, no it wasn't. The SCSU library search wasn't working because they have been working on making changes to it. The guide couldn't even show my students how to search for a book at our own library. All of my great planning didn't get me anywhere except Frustration Station. I know it wasn't the librarian's fault - but I realized that our dependence on certain technologies can also be detrimental when those technologies don't cooperate.

Facebook Lexicon

Recently, Facebook has been making more changes - most of the changes have been upsetting to Facebook users, but some seem interesting. One new thing is Facebook Lexicon. This information can be found on the Facebook Lexicon information page:

"Facebook has always tried to help people learn more about the world around them. Now with Facebook Lexicon it is helping them learn more insight into the collective conversation on the site. Curious about which U.S. presidential candidate is being talked about the most? Which one is talked about more positively? Or how the chatter about "skiing" and the "beach" changes over time? Lexicon aggregates and analyzes millions of Facebook Wall posts every day to provide a searchable database of trends over time. Users can query a single word or two-word combinations and compare as many as five strings per query. The results display a chart plotting the frequency with which the words are being discussed each day. All this is done automatically with no person reading individual Wall posts and all information aggregated anonymously to protect your privacy.We hope that Lexicon will help bring a little more understanding about what’s happening in the world. Check it out for yourself."

This whole idea is pretty interesting, especially to students of language. It would even be a cool assignment starter to have students each look up different terminology. The idea of seeing word usage change over time seems a little over the top though, because Facebook hasn't been around for very long.

Photo Essay Assignment

I just got a great idea for an idea for a photo essay assignment. I remember being assigned Process Essays many times throughout my life. The photo essay would be a great way to show a "process" like making a peanut butter sandwich, teaching someone how to tie their shoes - plus you get all the great visuals.

Photo Essays

I really enjoyed the idea of photo essays presented in class tonight. We have discussed in the past redefining composition and I feel like this really does that. I can come up with lots of assignments that would work with finding pictures to tell a story. It really brings the idea of visual literacy to the forefront.

Creation Question

Tonight I got thinking about creating new definitions of composition. If we just have our students post their normal work on a blog, it may put their writing in a different context but it isn't really different writing. If our classes were longer, if we had more time, what new types of composition could we work with? Or do they need to stick to normalacy and rules for a while before they can move on to funkier writing?

Further Explanation

Tonight in class while I was leading discussion I felt like there was an issue that needed to be clarified. I still question whether or not we are being led by our students. It seemed like my colleagues felt that we weren't led by our students, that we aren't being changed by them. I tend to believe that we are following our students, maybe not blindly, but definitely following. We are working towards our students interests, but I do feel there must be a line that we don't cross. We still have to remember what goals are important to us and our programs, and integrate that with the changing world. What I meant about involuntarily changing is that we change unconsciously due to changes in our student's interests. We don't just start using YouTube in our class for no reason...