On Monday, HISPinParis 2025 will officially set off. Over their month in Paris students will be expected to blog at least twice a week. The blog aggregator can be found here: I thought about writing instructions and then thought I could teach by doing …
I am in Paris for #HISPinParis22. It’s my first time back since 2019, the longest I’ve been away from my native city. As usual, one assignment for the class is that students have to blog about their experience. Personally, I haven’t b…
Friendly disagreement Read More »
I spent over a decade pouring my heart and soul in this site. I perfected the pages for my classes, constantly updated to new plugins, read up on WordPress changes, and generally spent lots and lots of time making the site as useable and pretty as poss…
I’ve now spent over a decade railing against the use of LMS. I’ve put my money where my mouth is, too, developing my materials on this site, keeping them available without a paywall, and making interfaces as easy as possible. My ethical objections to t…
back to the drawing board Read More »
I posted semi-recently about the convergence of my nerdery and work interests with the Urban Design Alignment Chart. That was a fun little project, but last fall I joined those two interests more seamlessly. So seamlessly, in fact, that I didn’t even t…
It’s all fun and games (until you build a city) Read More »
Leaving for France in two weeks exactly. You think after having taught this course three times already, it would all be routine by now. And mostly, it is. Still, lots and lots to get done. Teaching a course abroad is an interesting experience. Some of it is just like teaching a regular class: syllabus prep, …
Prepping for Paris Read More »
At the invitation of Steve Greenlaw (hi, Steve!) I’ve enrolled in the #OpenLearning17 cMOOC. On the one hand: I’ve done plenty of work with OER in the past. I’ve posted about it. I’ve even presented about it. That doesn’t mean I’m doing as much as I could, and it doesn’t mean I’ve learned all that can …
Learning sans fear Read More »
I haven’t been shy over the years in criticizing the LMS. Students have consistently told me to stick with my website instead. Downside: they can’t see their grade up-to-the-minute. Upside: it’s organized to make it simple and easy to use. Plus all the stuff I’ve mentioned before (openness, availability outside semesters, etc.) Still, my critique …
Giving the LMS a chance Read More »
Last year, in an effort to “walk the walk”, I reviewed the LEGO Robie House. I find myself teaching the LEGO FSEM again this fall, and figured: well, let’s walk again. This time, I picked a set I was super excited about, the CITY Fun in the Park set. It’s a pretty small set, considering …
LEGO Critique Deux: CITY Fun in the Park Set (This time it’s PERSONAL!) Read More »
Recently my dad came to visit, and he asked me questions about my job that made it clear he doesn’t really know what profs do. This isn’t exactly a surprise: my dad is a Frenchman who never finished high school (or more exactly, he never passed the baccalauréat). Really, why would he be familiar with …
Explaining professoring to foreign parents Read More »
