Greetings to the blogosphere from professor trek! Spring semester is now in full swing, which means that on Friday and Monday mornings I jam on my collegiate cap and sally forth to educate the Mongol hordes of students who have waited in near-interminable lines in order to glean knowledge about computer systems and information technology under my experienced tutelage.
I met the second half of my spring semester students yesterday morning. Things went pretty well; we spoke of the information processing cycle during lecture and worked on blog creation, manipulation, and maintenance during lab. They created blogs, edited settings, added gadgets to the sidebars, and made their very first blog posts ever.
Oh, look, they used what they learned: they put the information processing cycle into practice!
Inevitably, there are always some people in any crowd who just do not seem to be able to follow directions and yesterday was no exception, but as I wandered about the room, I was pleased to see that most of them required only a little assistance in getting their posts published and their settings correct. I sent them on their way at the end of class feeling very good about my skills as an educator and their abilities as my padawan learners.
At home, I ensconced myself on the couch, balancing the computer on my lap, surrounded by rosters, syllabi, and handouts, a hot cup of English Breakfast at my elbow. For five hours, I checked and graded blog posts and created blogrolls for my students. In most cases, I granted full credit, merely whipping out my Good Homework Rubber Stamp of Approval in the comments of their posts. In other cases...
Those "other cases" always seem to spring up without warning, don't they? Life would be much less interesting without the "other cases", easier, of course, but also less interesting.
May you live in interesting timesand all of that.
Some students did not create their blogs using the URL format specified in class. A few of these students' blogs I was able to locate through some creative manipulation of the ASCII character set. As for the rest of them, well, I remain ever-hopeful that those students will read the class blog and realize that their names are not in the blogrolls for their sections and contact me promptly.
A few students did not use the display name format designated in class. This is a very simple change, as you, my blog peeps, are well aware. On those blogs, I left instructions for the edit. Now, if the students visit their own blogs occasionally and actually read the comments...
Perhaps I should email them individually and directly.... I was going to do just that last night except that I could not access my college email account...
Email access was restored by this morning, just in time for the first wave of
To: professor trek
From: Student Requiring Access Code
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professor trek,
I was wondering if there is a website that I can order the access code from, seeing as I am borrowing both textbooks from a friend.
Thank you.
SRAC
To: SRAC
From: prof trek
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Yes, there is. Visit this site [hyperlink] and follow the directions.
After making this post, I checked the stats on the blog. I have already made twelve posts this semester.
Did I mention that my first class meeting was this past Friday? Yes, I thought I had.
In addition to the how to purchase an access code post, I have one welcome post, four blogroll posts, two assignment posts, two tutorial posts, one reminding students to bring their access codes to next class, and one reminding students to use only their college email accounts for communicating with me.
To: professor trek
From: Student Needing Google Account Access
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professor trek,
I tried logging into [blogging software] multiple times and it keeps saying my email or password is incorrect. I tried typing my email different ways to log in. I don't understand which way to put it in when logging.
SNGAA
To: prof trek
From: SNGAA
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Well, I used the email [blog URL] and the password [correct password] and it won't let me in.
To: SNGAA
From: prof trek
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Ah, I see your problem now. Your login is not your blog URL. It is your college email address.
Log in with [college email address] and [correct password]. I was just able to log in to your account with these credentials.
I still have a small heap of administrative work to do so get things situated here on my end but it is well in hand. Blog posts are due this evening at six and again Thursday evening, also at six. The comments should then begin to trickle in.
You might say that I will be rather busy over the next couple of days, especially considering that I also have to prepare my lab and lecture material for Friday morning.
Don't expect to see much of this
knit into the mitered squares blanket anytime this week.
Posts
5 yarns:
Eeek! I feel tired just reading about your teaching experiences.
But the yarn pyramid is pretty.
I am losing mosta of my marbles, but I'm harmless, generally. I cannot find your email address, although I've once emailed you. Sooooo, this is just to let you know that a yarny box is headed your direction, memories included. Got it to the po just before closing time! Enjoy!
Paula in Iowa
I was happy that the kids remembered to put their laptops away like they're supposed to yesterday. If I had to ask for anything more than that, I think I'd be very disappointed.
Good work, Professor Trek!
I don't know how you keep track of it all ... but this blog assignment is such a great idea. Last semester's results must have been met with approval by your department.
(I especially love the color in that koigu!)
I'm working on a project where we'll be getting students to blog next year so I understand some of your pain :)
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