NJCEA: Teaching With Technology

The first panel I attended at NJCEA was the Teaching With Technology one early in the day. Julie Cassidy was the first speaker. Cassidy spoke about requiring students to creat commonplace blogs for her classes. This is an idea I am going to try and implement into my courses this fall. Right now, I am thinking of using Tumblr for this. (see mine)

  • According to Cassidy, blogs allow conversation to begin before class.
  • Students are required to pull three quotes for each story/novel/etc
  • An example of Dr. Cassidy’s classes.
  • Blogs are low stakes, informal, writing, so lots of room for reflection.
  • Cassidy has students use WordPress for the assignment. I’m leaning towards using Tumblr.
  • The required quotes can be worked into prep for paper writing.

Next, Geoff Klock spoke about pacing and technology in the classroom.

  • Klock uses film clips in class to break up discussion.
  • Klock used to use Youtube in class, but he found the clips were too low quality. He now uses DVDShrink, which I have used in Windows before, and MPEGClipStream to pull clips. Is there a Linux version? DVDShrink doesn’t work too well in WINE.
  • Klock also incorporates mp3′s of poems into discussion. I am going to start doing that later this summer.
  • Klock argues that clips bring back interest. Clips refresh class discussion and bring full attention back.

Finally, Megan Titus spoke about student perceptions and blogging.

  • Titus has used edublogs in the past, but they have spammed students.
  • Blogs help teach ethical responsibility and community.
  • Professional writing is increasingly online.
  • Blogging increases opportunity to practice argumentation, citation, and ethics.
  • Titus requires proposals, which are peer reviewed by students and Titus.

ThatCamp Jersey Shore: An Overview

One of the highlights of the spring semester was being accepted to attend the latest ThatCamp, this time here at the shore in Atlantic City at the Carnegie Library. Even more thrilling was the fact that The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey was the sponsor and host for it. I did some work with Stockton’s own John Theibault, vetting applications, and doing some general organizational work for the conference.

Over the next few weeks, along with NJCEA posts, I will post my notes from ThatCamp Jersey Shore. I made a point to heavily tweet my notes on the #thatcampjs hash tag. For now, however, here are some pictures.

(Amanda French discussing our written, voted upon, schedule for the conference)

One of the biggest highlights of ThatCamp was getting to meet my internet pal Amanda French. After meeting up with John on my way in, she was the next person I saw and we greeted each other with a big hug. Amanda explained that everyone hugs at ThatCamp, which I will keep in mind, and we spent some time together while she, as a representative of ThatCamp, worked on organizing some aspects of the first day.

By far, the coolest aspect of ThatCamp is that the session for the conferences are completely “camper” driven. At the beginning of day one, after Amanda introduced the conference, those of us who wanted to propose a panel wrote it in one of the squares on the board. Campers then voted on which they would like to participate in or view. I proposed a session on using wikis in the classroom, which is something I am doing as of the spring semester. My session got, I think, the most votes, which gave me a lot of confidence heading into it.

John talking to the assembled group of campers on the final day. 

Amanda French speaking during a session. 

A nice surprise at ThatCamp was running into and spending time with Deborah Gussman, my first ever literature professor at Stockton. She has gotten very interested in the digital humanities in the past few years. 

NJCEA Presentation: The Gaping Garments of Electronic Literature

Here is my presentation from the annual NJCEA conference at Seton Hall. The Gaping Garments of Electronic Literature looks at how electronic literature has moved off the page and into the world around us. There is discussion of the works of Espen Aarseth, Jill Walker-Rettberg, Shelley Jackson, Roland Barthes, and more.

I posted the pdf as it stood when I read it at the conference. There may be citations missing, paragraphs crossed out, and parts where I go make lists to discuss in more detail in person. I wanted to preserve what I actually read that day.

As the summer goes on, I will post my notes from the different panels I attended at the conference.