from flickr user darkstream
(CC-licensed)
After this weekend, August is officially in the home stretch, which means that the start of the semester is either upon you, imminent, or within sight. Don’t worry! Prof. Hacker is here to help you survive the deluge.
First, let me welcome two new writers to the Prof. Hacker fold: Julie Meloni and Ethan Wattrall. (And there are even more writers coming online this week!) Remember, if you want to write for us, please get in touch! (Especially if you are from “any discipline that is not English literature.”)
Post of the week this time is Julie’s overview of introducing and integrating blogging into the classroom, which has also sparked helpful responses elsewhere by Mark Sample and Nate Kogan. And if you’re thinking of blogging, or using any technology in class, then you’ll want to think about what role you’ll take up as a result, and learn from the experiences of other first-timers.
This week featured a strong emphasis on backup: Ethan explained how to back up your social network and I passed along a back-to-school discount for online backup, which would especially make sense if you store most of your teaching materials on your computer.
Prof. Hacker looked at social questions, too, ranging from academic labor and edupunk to the ethics of milking your coffee shop for the free wifi.
Lots, and lots, and lots of tips this week: learning goals & grading; Zotero groups and student-to-student transparency; dressing up Firefox, and much else besides. Thanks for reading!
Reminder: Prof. Hacker’s official launch will be on or about Sept. 1. We are currently in a public testing mode, so features of the site may pop in and out of existence. Something you want to see? Contact George or me.
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