This semester, I have been honored to serve as the First-Year Composition Embedded Multiliteracy Tutor Faculty Development Lead, working with the Writing and Multiliteracy Center to support composition faculty using embedded tutors (called EMTs) in their first-year courses. It’s certainly the longest title I’ve ever been able to put in my email signature, and it […]
Last week, I joined roughly 600 Dolphin Pod members to be part of CSUCI Picture Day in the Central Mall. All had gathered to take the official “20 formation photo” in honor of CSUCI’s two-decade anniversary. So many smiling and chatting people, along with one adorable campus support dog, came together to secure the latest […]
This semester, I’ve been participating in the Council for At-Risk Student Education and Professional Standards (CASEPS) training with Dr. Courtney Plotts. I’m not “new” to culturally responsive pedagogy and have taken part in CSU-wide professional development such as the “Teaching First-Generation College Students Drawing from Their Cultural Strengths” course in 2019. However, this kind of […]
One of the aspects of teaching in the world’s largest public university system that I love the most is the CSU’s bone-deep commitment to an equitable education for all. While most of us can point to a seemingly tone-deaf initiative or two, at its core, the CSU was created to be the people’s university. For […]
It’s April. It’s possible that you’re excited about your teaching or scholarship, but probably, you’re tired. If you’re like me, you’re a bit cranky. And what if this is the “April” of your academic career? There’s some decent time left before retirement—5 or even 10 years remaining—but there’s also potential for ennui or a sense […]
Did you know that classroom discourse patterns are so engrained in our K-College system that they have a name? Courtney Cazden coined the term I-R-E back in 1988, to represent what she calls the “default pattern” of classroom interactions: Initiate, Respond, Evaluate. A colleague recently pointed out that this spells IRE, as in Irate. As […]
MOOC mania is toast. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were expected to fundamentally change higher education. Clarissa Shen, Vice President of MOOC giant Udacity, recently conceded that MOOCs “are dead.” In their salad days, MOOCs would deliver the lectures of the “best faculty” to campuses around the US and the world. University administrators salivated at […]
What scares you? Really terrifies you? For me, it’s criticism. Recently I shared an online course with someone whose work I greatly respect and admire. I moused over the ‘send’ button on the email, and literally paused. More terrifying than any B-Rated slasher flick, were the ‘What if’s’ that flooded my conscious: What if it’s […]
My grandpa always used to say: “Education is free for anyone who remains curious enough in life.” That might be true. Yet with today’s soaring textbook costs, higher education is anything but free for the average college student. There are hundreds of articles that detail how textbook prices have risen 3x and 4x the rate […]
When I first began teaching fully online courses about five years ago, I was lucky that I had some incredible colleagues that let me “borrow” activities, course organization, and other lived-and-learned lessons from their experiences teaching online. I also used our Teaching & Learning Innovations resources — I was part of the Summer 2014 Blended […]
