Here's a nice group of blog links on plagiarism from Leslie Madsen Brooks's BlogHer blog. I haven't had time to look through them all, and I also have to think very hard about how much I will talk about my particular case. But I will have something to say on the topic later in the week.
I really just linked to it because it mentions me, and for some reason it makes me very proud when I am linked on BlogHer. Makes me feel like a "real" blogger. :)
And also because I think that Leslie's blogs are great and I make a point to look her up every time I surf over to BlogHer. You should all check her out.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
What is the point of this assignment?
Last week my students completed an assignment that asked them to critique a peer review program we have used this semester. There are a lot of ideas about the purposes and benefits of the peer reviews, and there are benefits that I see that they don't necessarily pick up on. I think that this happens frequently--students complete assignments without really understanding, much less believing in, the purpose of the assignment. They don't know what they are supposed to be learning; they just go through the motions and do what they're told.
This has me thinking--I know that students can learn a lot without being told what they are "supposed to" learn and even without consciously realizing what they have gained along the way. But I wonder if there is a pedagogical benefit to spelling it out for them. What would happen if I gave them not just instructions for completing an assignment but also listed for them the learning objectives of the assignment. What I would like them, ideally, to get out of the whole thing. Why I think that this particular assignment is useful for our purposes.
As I plan my class for next semester I have been thinking critically about the assignments I want and why I think each one is useful. Why should I assign a research paper? Just because that's what we have always done? Or is there something specific that makes that the best assignment for accomplishing particular educational goals. As I'm thinking about these questions, I have begun to wonder if I should keep the reasons for my decisions to myself or if my students might benefit if I share some of my thought processes with them.
This means some work and writing on my part to prepare, and I realize that many students will not read what I hand them. But the good ones will. The ones who really want to become better writers will. And those are the ones I want to teach.
This has me thinking--I know that students can learn a lot without being told what they are "supposed to" learn and even without consciously realizing what they have gained along the way. But I wonder if there is a pedagogical benefit to spelling it out for them. What would happen if I gave them not just instructions for completing an assignment but also listed for them the learning objectives of the assignment. What I would like them, ideally, to get out of the whole thing. Why I think that this particular assignment is useful for our purposes.
As I plan my class for next semester I have been thinking critically about the assignments I want and why I think each one is useful. Why should I assign a research paper? Just because that's what we have always done? Or is there something specific that makes that the best assignment for accomplishing particular educational goals. As I'm thinking about these questions, I have begun to wonder if I should keep the reasons for my decisions to myself or if my students might benefit if I share some of my thought processes with them.
This means some work and writing on my part to prepare, and I realize that many students will not read what I hand them. But the good ones will. The ones who really want to become better writers will. And those are the ones I want to teach.
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Media
Can we please stop using the phrase “the media”? It has no meaning. The media is liberal. The media is conservative. The media is to blame for ____________.
“The media” has become a kind of monolithic force exercising power over us, its helpless victims. That is evident in the now standard singular form it takes in our speech (media used to be plural, remember? One medium, many media.).
We can’t begin to address any of the problems we perceive in the media until we break out of this tendency to conceptualize it as some great singular force with power of its own. Various pieces of information published via multiple forms of media are produced and consumed by individual people with public and private agendas and complex influences. It is about as useful to talk about “the media” as it is to tackle to problems of “today’s society.”
“The media” has become a kind of monolithic force exercising power over us, its helpless victims. That is evident in the now standard singular form it takes in our speech (media used to be plural, remember? One medium, many media.).
We can’t begin to address any of the problems we perceive in the media until we break out of this tendency to conceptualize it as some great singular force with power of its own. Various pieces of information published via multiple forms of media are produced and consumed by individual people with public and private agendas and complex influences. It is about as useful to talk about “the media” as it is to tackle to problems of “today’s society.”
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
frustrated with students
While some of my students are doing well, several are doing what they perceive as the minimum to get by. I say it is their perception because I disgree--their work has not met the minimum requirements, and I have not given them credit. Here's the kicker--instead of just sucking it up and taking their grade because they know they are slacking, they are arguing with me. Ordinarily I would suspect a miscommunication on my part--perhaps I had not been clear in the assignment--but I have double checked my instructions and I have stated explicitly and repeatedly what is expected of them. So why are they insisting that they should get credit for doing nothing? They are mad at me, but I am being clear and consistent in my grading.
Once again, this is a downside to the online class. My week has been full of dealing with the people who do not want to get their work done but want to argue with me about why they should get credit for it. Meanwhile I don't get to really interact with the students who are doing well because the slackers have me tied up. And they are not very nice.
I also had a complaint recently from a student who insisted that the peer review apparatus we are using is unfair because the students in the class (as he generalizes his feelings to include his classmates) do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a good technical document. He revealed the next day that he does not have a textbook. Perhaps the two problems are related?
Today being a teacher is not fun.
Once again, this is a downside to the online class. My week has been full of dealing with the people who do not want to get their work done but want to argue with me about why they should get credit for it. Meanwhile I don't get to really interact with the students who are doing well because the slackers have me tied up. And they are not very nice.
I also had a complaint recently from a student who insisted that the peer review apparatus we are using is unfair because the students in the class (as he generalizes his feelings to include his classmates) do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a good technical document. He revealed the next day that he does not have a textbook. Perhaps the two problems are related?
Today being a teacher is not fun.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
this is why I include my middle name on just about everything
Perhaps I will have something of substance to offer by the end of the week. For now, here is something fun I picked up from Anastasia.
That's first and last name. Both very common. And for those who knew me before I succumbed to the archaic patriarchal ritual of changing my name when I married, here is how many of me there used to be.
Go ahead, Google me. It's probably not me.
That's first and last name. Both very common. And for those who knew me before I succumbed to the archaic patriarchal ritual of changing my name when I married, here is how many of me there used to be.
Go ahead, Google me. It's probably not me.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Halloween update (and an RB funny)
In case any of you were holding your breath for the resolution of that conflict, we have a Halloween costume. My husband took RB to the store last night to get her a new toothbrush and she came back wearing a bright orange T-shirt with a Jack-o-lantern face. Instant costume. Zero effort.
BTW, the reason they had to get a new toothbrush was that I had somehow lost hers. I tore the house apart looking for it and after two days decided that I would just have to get a new one. She picked out her own Care Bears toothbrush. When she got home she took it out of the bag, showed it off proudly, and then went immediately to the entertainment center, opened the drawer, and there among the DVDs was her old toothbrush, exactly where she had left it (and where Mommy never thought to look). She held them both up and shouted, "Now I have all of them!" Sneaky.
BTW, the reason they had to get a new toothbrush was that I had somehow lost hers. I tore the house apart looking for it and after two days decided that I would just have to get a new one. She picked out her own Care Bears toothbrush. When she got home she took it out of the bag, showed it off proudly, and then went immediately to the entertainment center, opened the drawer, and there among the DVDs was her old toothbrush, exactly where she had left it (and where Mommy never thought to look). She held them both up and shouted, "Now I have all of them!" Sneaky.
positive birth experience CAN happen in a hospital
I just read Anne Drapkin Lyerly's "Shame, Gender, Birth" (Hypatia 21:3 (2006): 101-18), and it is the best piece on feminist childbirth I have ever read. I definitely think that feminists need to take on issues of childbirth and that frequently the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth has caused anxiety, physical and emotional pain, and even trauma in some women. But I am not comfortable with most of the articles I've read proposing solutions to these problems because they all seem to want to reject technology and take birth totally out of the hospital. That's fine for some women, but not for everyone. I feel a sense of security in a hospital setting, and I would feel frightened and anxious giving birth in any other place. So clearly it is not a good solution for me. As Lyerly points out, the emotional life of each women needs to be taken into account to help make her birth experience positive. And she says that technology is not all bad--finally! The real key is the sensitive use of technology--sensitive to the desires and emotions of the birthing woman. And that all comes down to the support around her.
I had a highly medicated birth--pitocin to induce contractions because my water was leaking, then Stadol for the pain (I actually didn't like that and will choose not to use it again), and then (hooray!) the epidural. And episiotomy. Lots of medical intervention. And it was actually a pretty great experience because the people around me were sensitive to my needs and desires and cared for me in the way that I personally needed. My nurse was fantastic--very nurturing and reassuring. They allowed my parents to come into the labor room so that in the long waiting period, I was relaxed and happy with my family around me. Then I could choose who got to stay and who had to leave when I started pushing. I am also very appreciative of my anesthesiologist--she gave me an epidural that ensured that I felt no pain but that I did feel all of the contractions and even the baby moving down and out. At all times I felt like I had control of the situation and that my caregivers respected me. And because the epidural was applied with what I consider a great deal of sensitivity, I never felt a distance from the experience of birth that might come with total numbness. I always knew what was going on. I strongly believe that this is the key to a positive birth experience--not more or less technology, not in or out of hospital, but caregivers who earnestly listen to the birthing woman and try to provide the care that makes her comfortable, secure, and happy.
I had a highly medicated birth--pitocin to induce contractions because my water was leaking, then Stadol for the pain (I actually didn't like that and will choose not to use it again), and then (hooray!) the epidural. And episiotomy. Lots of medical intervention. And it was actually a pretty great experience because the people around me were sensitive to my needs and desires and cared for me in the way that I personally needed. My nurse was fantastic--very nurturing and reassuring. They allowed my parents to come into the labor room so that in the long waiting period, I was relaxed and happy with my family around me. Then I could choose who got to stay and who had to leave when I started pushing. I am also very appreciative of my anesthesiologist--she gave me an epidural that ensured that I felt no pain but that I did feel all of the contractions and even the baby moving down and out. At all times I felt like I had control of the situation and that my caregivers respected me. And because the epidural was applied with what I consider a great deal of sensitivity, I never felt a distance from the experience of birth that might come with total numbness. I always knew what was going on. I strongly believe that this is the key to a positive birth experience--not more or less technology, not in or out of hospital, but caregivers who earnestly listen to the birthing woman and try to provide the care that makes her comfortable, secure, and happy.
Monday, October 09, 2006
A link for you
This is a couple of weeks old, but very good. Everyone should read it:
Leslie Madsen Brooks, "Disciplining the Breast, Disciplining the Woman: A Meditation in Six Parts"
Leslie Madsen Brooks, "Disciplining the Breast, Disciplining the Woman: A Meditation in Six Parts"
Friday, October 06, 2006
I don't want to do Halloween
I'm so unmotivated in general right now, and that extends to Halloween. I'd really like it to just pass by unnoticed, and RB is young enough that I could get away with that. But my husband was appalled by that suggestion, so I guess we're doing Halloween. So now I need a low-effort, low-cost costume for a small person.
How about a T-shirt that says, "I'm a feminist. We look like everybody else."
How about a T-shirt that says, "I'm a feminist. We look like everybody else."
blogs in composition class
After pondering blogs vs. message boards, I have begun to think of things differently. Originally I was thinking of which medium would be better for student responses and engaging with other students, but I'm thinking that a blogs aren't really that useful for that purpose. When students are required to read and respond to a other students' posts, the responses are typically superficial and don't accomplish what I wish they would.
So what do I want out of a blog? Here are a couple of old posts on audience and blogging that I wrote when I first started this blog. I was excited about my developing sense of audience and how that shaped what my blog became. I want my students to experience that, and I also think that frequent "low stakes" writing is really useful to me and to my students to help us feel like writing is a habit and even fun and not a scary, anxiety-inducing reach for perfection that we cannot achieve--I think that most students feel this anxiety to some degree, and for many it is paralyzing. This is the value I see in a blog--a vehicle by which to work out ideas through writing (or as the dreaded freshman comp books call it, "prewriting"), to write habitually, to gain a new understanding of audience. And that end cannot be reached through forced interaction.
I had a great talk recently with a fellow teacher who is using blogs in a way that I think is really useful. She is teaching an Advanced Composition class and giving blog assignments that are not direct responses to readings but rather related questions that can be taken out of the context of this class and might be of interest to a blog reader who is not in the class. An example of one of her questions is, "What are you doing here?" Here, meaning online, on the web, in the electronic world of communication. So students can answer this question is many different ways and readers can stumble onto the blogs and read interesting posts that are not limited to a specific reading or specific course. The students have an opportunity, while meeting certain criteria, to create blogs that are interesting to them and might interest others--in other words, real blogs and that do more than just go through the motions. She has also asked them to link to other blogs in a couple of posts, which has started getting them some response because, as we know, any diligent blogger knows about every link.
And students are not required to read or respond to the blogs of other students. Which leaves a place for message boards, although I'm not convinced they work so well. We'll get to that in another installment.
While this will not work for all classes in all subjects, I think this is a great way to use blogs in a composition class, and I'm going to do this next semester.
So what do I want out of a blog? Here are a couple of old posts on audience and blogging that I wrote when I first started this blog. I was excited about my developing sense of audience and how that shaped what my blog became. I want my students to experience that, and I also think that frequent "low stakes" writing is really useful to me and to my students to help us feel like writing is a habit and even fun and not a scary, anxiety-inducing reach for perfection that we cannot achieve--I think that most students feel this anxiety to some degree, and for many it is paralyzing. This is the value I see in a blog--a vehicle by which to work out ideas through writing (or as the dreaded freshman comp books call it, "prewriting"), to write habitually, to gain a new understanding of audience. And that end cannot be reached through forced interaction.
I had a great talk recently with a fellow teacher who is using blogs in a way that I think is really useful. She is teaching an Advanced Composition class and giving blog assignments that are not direct responses to readings but rather related questions that can be taken out of the context of this class and might be of interest to a blog reader who is not in the class. An example of one of her questions is, "What are you doing here?" Here, meaning online, on the web, in the electronic world of communication. So students can answer this question is many different ways and readers can stumble onto the blogs and read interesting posts that are not limited to a specific reading or specific course. The students have an opportunity, while meeting certain criteria, to create blogs that are interesting to them and might interest others--in other words, real blogs and that do more than just go through the motions. She has also asked them to link to other blogs in a couple of posts, which has started getting them some response because, as we know, any diligent blogger knows about every link.
And students are not required to read or respond to the blogs of other students. Which leaves a place for message boards, although I'm not convinced they work so well. We'll get to that in another installment.
While this will not work for all classes in all subjects, I think this is a great way to use blogs in a composition class, and I'm going to do this next semester.
I feel wretched
Okay, so I did ask for some morning sickness early on to ease my fears. I got plenty. And now I should be done. And I'm still vomiting. Not fun.
I have a pile of work to do right now, and it is so hard to get work done when I feel so so bad. This is the hard part about being pregnant in graduate school--that first few months when you're so sick and so sleepy and people want you to read books and write papers and teach people things.
I have slacked off a bit in the beginning of the semester, just getting by, really, which means that I now have to be seriously on top of things for the next two months. I have a conference at the end of the month--long paper must be converted to short paper--and I have an essay due December 1 for a collection--and I keep having fears that my paper is going to be booted out in the end. I don't know why I think that--maybe because I haven't written a paper yet! And I am writing a paper for my politics of motherhood class, which should contribute significantly to my dissertation, so I'm just going to count that paper as working on my dissertation, thank you very much. And I'm applying for a fellowship, so that's a lot of work, too. My plate is full.
I have a pile of work to do right now, and it is so hard to get work done when I feel so so bad. This is the hard part about being pregnant in graduate school--that first few months when you're so sick and so sleepy and people want you to read books and write papers and teach people things.
I have slacked off a bit in the beginning of the semester, just getting by, really, which means that I now have to be seriously on top of things for the next two months. I have a conference at the end of the month--long paper must be converted to short paper--and I have an essay due December 1 for a collection--and I keep having fears that my paper is going to be booted out in the end. I don't know why I think that--maybe because I haven't written a paper yet! And I am writing a paper for my politics of motherhood class, which should contribute significantly to my dissertation, so I'm just going to count that paper as working on my dissertation, thank you very much. And I'm applying for a fellowship, so that's a lot of work, too. My plate is full.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
thoughts on the blog and a note to readers
I've been thinking a lot about blogging and its personal, professional, and pedagogical potential. This blog has a tendency toward the personal (obviously) but is not exactly a confessional (though, of course, it gets that way, too). I conceive of it as having a particular subject matter (widely defined) and do not stray much from it. I write about teaching, academic work, academic culture, and parenting. So there's a lot in my life that's not up here ever.
Lately a few people I know IRL have "confessed" that they read my blog. I just want to say that if you know me and read this, it's okay, I don't think it's wierd, I don't think it's prying. After all, I publish this stuff. And, really, it makes me happy when someone says they read my blog. And even happier when I get comments. I don't think of this as a personal journal. I think of it as communicating. So I want readers. Readers make me happy :)
My husband watched me commenting on other blogs recently and said "You're such a blogger." I'm not sure what connotations were attached to that, but it made me smile.
Lately a few people I know IRL have "confessed" that they read my blog. I just want to say that if you know me and read this, it's okay, I don't think it's wierd, I don't think it's prying. After all, I publish this stuff. And, really, it makes me happy when someone says they read my blog. And even happier when I get comments. I don't think of this as a personal journal. I think of it as communicating. So I want readers. Readers make me happy :)
My husband watched me commenting on other blogs recently and said "You're such a blogger." I'm not sure what connotations were attached to that, but it made me smile.
Googlers
I just checked the tracker and found a plethora of interesting Google searches that led to me. Here are my favorites:
o'connor "violent bear" satan
I am not smart enough to get a ph d
being a pregnant PhD student
happy and joyful reaction to pregnancy
no one wants to talk about miscarriage
funny female characters
The Little Mermaid - Female Competition
hobbies to do when bored or hungry
I need to check that thing more often. Those were just from the past two days!
o'connor "violent bear" satan
I am not smart enough to get a ph d
being a pregnant PhD student
happy and joyful reaction to pregnancy
no one wants to talk about miscarriage
funny female characters
The Little Mermaid - Female Competition
hobbies to do when bored or hungry
I need to check that thing more often. Those were just from the past two days!
what I like about Turnitin.com
I'm not going to weigh in on the controversy over intellectual property. But I will say that I have used Turnitin for several semesters and I like it, and not really for plagiarism detection. Here's how I use it.
Plagiarism deterrent: I think that Turnitin works better as a plagiarism deterrent than a detector. There are a lot of ways to cheat and most of them cannot be detected by Turnitin. (But I'm not going to tell you what they are, you mischievous Googler. You'll have to figure out how to cheat for yourself!) But I do think that students are deterred from participating in the very easy cut-and-paste kind of cheating that Turnitin can detect because they are pretty sure that they'll get caught. So that's not bad.
Teaching proper attribution: I think that a lot of the problems with student writing is not that they want to cheat but that they don't know how to use sources properly, especially electronic sources that can be cut and pasted so easily. I think that some students really don't get that it's cheating. (I know, that's a lot of benefit of the doubt there, but I tend to extend that benefit until I see evidence that it is undeserved. I like to think that people are trying to do good.) So allowing student to see their reports on Turnitin points them to poor paraphrasing and insufficient attribution, so they can then revise and resubmit. Great teaching moment. (Of course, some argue that it actually teaches them how to be better cheaters.)
Gradebook: It has a nice gradebook function that allows students to check their grades on their own and keeps a running tally so I don't have to do complicated math that I don't understand. Honestly, I don't know what grade a student is getting half-way through the semester. I can just do the formulas at the end. Plus, it annoys me when they ask. It also keeps attendence. But if you're using it, you should download a backup frequently.
Peer Review: The peer review function is pretty good. It can be anonymous or not, and the instructor has the option of choosing from a library of questions or of writing her own questions. You can set a word count requirement for responses. You can require a combination of short and long responses and numerical ratings. Lots of options. And students can leave marks one the paper to point out specific areas for comment or correction. Good stuff, overall.
Grademarking: Nice. I expected not to like it, but in the end was quite pleased. I wrote about it here.
Electronic paper submission: One simple aspect of it is the easy and secure method of electronic paper submission. Email can be so iffy. Inbox is flooded with trash, messages can get deleted or bounced, or you can just miss one altogether because students have not mastered the skill of the subject heading. This is a nice, central place to collect papers, and you can easily download them ALL in one step onto your hard drive for a backup instead of one paper at a time in email.
I've been thinking about all the different technologies I've used and am using now in class, and I'm going to write a series of posts about how I've used them in the past and how they might be useful in the future.
Plagiarism deterrent: I think that Turnitin works better as a plagiarism deterrent than a detector. There are a lot of ways to cheat and most of them cannot be detected by Turnitin. (But I'm not going to tell you what they are, you mischievous Googler. You'll have to figure out how to cheat for yourself!) But I do think that students are deterred from participating in the very easy cut-and-paste kind of cheating that Turnitin can detect because they are pretty sure that they'll get caught. So that's not bad.
Teaching proper attribution: I think that a lot of the problems with student writing is not that they want to cheat but that they don't know how to use sources properly, especially electronic sources that can be cut and pasted so easily. I think that some students really don't get that it's cheating. (I know, that's a lot of benefit of the doubt there, but I tend to extend that benefit until I see evidence that it is undeserved. I like to think that people are trying to do good.) So allowing student to see their reports on Turnitin points them to poor paraphrasing and insufficient attribution, so they can then revise and resubmit. Great teaching moment. (Of course, some argue that it actually teaches them how to be better cheaters.)
Gradebook: It has a nice gradebook function that allows students to check their grades on their own and keeps a running tally so I don't have to do complicated math that I don't understand. Honestly, I don't know what grade a student is getting half-way through the semester. I can just do the formulas at the end. Plus, it annoys me when they ask. It also keeps attendence. But if you're using it, you should download a backup frequently.
Peer Review: The peer review function is pretty good. It can be anonymous or not, and the instructor has the option of choosing from a library of questions or of writing her own questions. You can set a word count requirement for responses. You can require a combination of short and long responses and numerical ratings. Lots of options. And students can leave marks one the paper to point out specific areas for comment or correction. Good stuff, overall.
Grademarking: Nice. I expected not to like it, but in the end was quite pleased. I wrote about it here.
Electronic paper submission: One simple aspect of it is the easy and secure method of electronic paper submission. Email can be so iffy. Inbox is flooded with trash, messages can get deleted or bounced, or you can just miss one altogether because students have not mastered the skill of the subject heading. This is a nice, central place to collect papers, and you can easily download them ALL in one step onto your hard drive for a backup instead of one paper at a time in email.
I've been thinking about all the different technologies I've used and am using now in class, and I'm going to write a series of posts about how I've used them in the past and how they might be useful in the future.
Monday, October 02, 2006
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