on what should be a beautiful 30 degree day (that’s 87, American readers). I hope they’ve fixed the A/C in my seminar room. Apart from that little worry, I am feeling the usual beginning-of-the-year optimism. Perhaps it’s tempered a little bit by the knowledge of the administration that lies in wait for fall, but I […]
Category Archives: Teaching
Why I hate WebCT, Part III
This is part of an <a href=”http://superbon.net/?p=599″>ongoing</a> <a href=”http://superbon.net/?p=612″>series</a>. Coursepacks are due at the bookstore in mid July, and so I thought I’d get my big course together on time for a change, since I only require a few changes. So I started plotting out my calendar for the year. I go into WebCT […]
Academic Labor Politics in the Air
It must be the season or something. Today, our TA union staged a demonstration outside the front gates in support of their ongoing contract negotiations. McGill teaching assistants are quite underpaid compared to their counterparts at other Canadian universities and “R1” universities in the U.S. It’s a Quebec thing, since they’re better paid than TAs […]
Why I Hate Mercury
No, not the planet. It’s cool. Mercury is the name for McGill’s online student course evaluation system. For most of my career as a teacher, there has been a day at the end of the term when students have filled out course evaluation forms, commenting on the instruction, their impressions of the course, and other […]
More on Coverage
There are some excellent comments in the thread for my post on lecturing and retention. The question seems to be: is coverage more important in fields with strong canons, and what’s the alternative? My sense is this: Physics has as strong a “canon” as any humanities field, so the issues of core curriculum seem as […]
How to Read a Book in Less than an Hour
Chris Kelty’s advice. I haven’t tried his method though I have my own “plowing” methods which I may detail at a later date if I decide there’s something original in it. I tend to real slowly and obsessively when I teach. Leaving aside dull and moralistic arguments about how much effort should be expended in […]
Lecturing and Killing the “Coverage” idea
I don’t think I’ve written about this, but I am obsessed with large lecture pedagogy. Although a sizeable number of students in my intro class seem to really like it (although liking isn’t the point necessarily) and I get good ratings, I have always been interested in how to be a better teacher. The thing […]