Category: EMU

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Something I'll do different with English 516 next year

I’m teaching the graduate course I teach all the time, Computers and Writing, Theory and Practice, online for the first time, and I think it’s turned out to be a great experience. (It’s been kind of an odd semester on the whole, because I’ve been way over-stretched by doing double-administrator-duty and because I’m not teaching any “face to face” classes this term, a teaching experience I have mixed feelings about, though they’re largely positive. But that’s a tangent and a slightly different story).

The class started a little slow, in part because some of the students were unfamiliar with the online format and the level of participation I was expecting, and in part because I wasn’t as prepared for teaching this class as I should have been. And I’ve been over-committed (see above). But once the ball got rolling, I think this class has been extremely exciting and vibrant, a lot more interactive and participatory than face-to-face versions from the past. I probably won’t do it online next year because the plan has been to alternate between face-to-face versions and online ones. But I’m looking forward to doing it online again.

There are a lot of things I’d do differently of course, and that for the time being brings me to what was to be the original point of this post:

Checking through my blog feed for the first time in a while this morning, I must say that I am constantly impressed by the stuff that is available from the site Open Culture. Podcast after podcast, info and examples of how we’re making the cross-over to video-based podcasts, about searches of wikipedia, a nice little podcasting primer, and podcasts (the old-fashioned kind and video ones) galore.

Just a really great distracting site, and one that I can see figuring into the next version of 516 for sure.

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Ending "Conversations"

I’ve been a bit of a stranger this week because I’ve been one of the coordinators (well, probably fair to say the main coordinator/organizer) for a conference we have here in the English department at EMU, “Extending Conversations.” This year, the theme was “multimedia,” though we meant that in the broadest possible sense– we had panels on sound poetry, “low tech” multimedia, children’s books, video games, etc., etc. The keynote speaker was none other than Dan Anderson. He gave a very thought-provoking speech (he’ll have to remind me of the link at some point), and was just an all-around good egg/good sport about the thing.

From my point of view, it was fun, kinda, I guess. A number of things happened in the last week or so that threatened to derail planned panels, promised helpers, finances and food supplies, etc., etc. I suspect this is par for the course for conference planning. I’m happy that it seemed to have come off relatively well, and that I was able to escape from the event with what I perceived as a majority of attendees being pleased with it all.

It’s not the kind of event that makes me think about ever hosting a much larger conference in my field, though. Though, oddly, the larger scale of that event might make it easier only because (I am only imagining here) there isn’t quite as much of a shoe-string budget and the way that the panels end up getting organized makes it easier to a) pull it all off in general terms, and b) less troublesome to get individual panels to run. Presenting at C&W is somewhat competitive, so, since you have more folks who want to present than can present, you don’t have to worry about panels not “making,” about twisting arms, etc., etc.

But hey, like I said, relatively speaking, I think it went off well. I’ll wish next year’s coordinator all the luck I can and I’ll pass along my wisdom.

And now, I think I’ll probably go to sleep for a while….

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Stupid meetings…

From MSNBC (and via Dan’s blog) comes this story, “Meetings make us dumber, study shows.” It’s kind of an interesting story, I guess. Dan makes a point about meetings and writing peer review groups, but my first thought was about the meetings I go to in my life as a happy academic type. Three quick thoughts on all that:

  • One of the things that really surprised me when I first started down the tenure-track was how much of my job didn’t really have much to do with teaching or scholarship. Lots and lots and lots of meetings, and an hour here and an hour there really starts to add up fast.
  • In my role as the Interim WPA and the coordinator of our writing program, I go to even more meetings this year. And if I’ve learned anything about my year in this duel administrative role (and I have certainly learned a lot) it is that I do not want to become a full-time administrator and spend even more time attending meetings.
  • Having said all that, most of the meetings that I go to aren’t really “brain storming” sessions. Mostly, I think most of my meetings are about following procedures and policies, about “governance” of the faculty role in the department, etc., etc. I mean, sure, there is some brainstorming about things, but at most of those meetings, people throw around some ideas and then they go off and think about those ideas for a while, and then they come back to vote on them.
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Winter Break 2007 "To Do" List

It’s winter break season here– what everyone else in the universe refers to as “spring break.” Given that it’s February and it’s a slushy/icy mess outside right now, winter break seems a lot more accurate to me.

This year, we’re not visiting relatives in Florida nor are we off to Mexico (the destination of several of my colleagues with their families). We’re hanging out here, where my wife and I both hope to catch up on work while our son is in school and in various after-school activities. As long as there aren’t any snow days.

Here’s some of what’s on my “to do” list this week:

Make listAlways the first item I put on every list I make.
Go through email
Register for Computers and Writing Don’t worry, Jeff– I’m coming, but I just don’t want to spend the big bucks any earlier than I have to.
Clean House
Clean Garage
Clean Dog
Clean computer labs at EMU. Actually, this one got done on Friday. Long-story short: we have had always had problems getting our computer labs cleaned, in part because the janitors can’t get in their for security issues, and in part because no faculty person is in charge of these labs right now. Anyway, after a series of complaints, I said I’d help clean it ourselves, and I persuaded a “crew” that consisted of Steve B., my colleague Christine Tracy, a long-time journalism lecturer (thanks, Arnie!) and even our department head, Laura George. Laura generously invested in a variety of cleaning supplies, including a cheap shop-vac (btw, one of the best tools ever for sucking the dirt and dust out of computers, IMO). Besides dusting, washing, and mopping up the general filth, we also threw away four giant construction-grade plastic bags of junk: software at least six years old still in the box and the shrink-wrap, stacks of manuals for some mystery product (also still in the shrink-wrap), journals and articles a decade old, cables and plus and adapters for mystery bits of equipment, old course packs and student projects, papers folders and posters, and, inexplicably, one pinata.
Work on The Process of Research Writing web site. When my textbook project went belly-up last year, I started to put it up on the web. As happens in life, I got distracted with other things. But now I’m feeling like it’s time for me to put this thing up to bring some closure to this project.
Clean my school office.
Work on the Department Conference coming up the first week in March.
Get English 516 stuff up to date.
Get English 328 stuff up to date.
Sign up English 516 folks for class blog.
Get busy (again) with BAWS project. I really would like to get the survey/Human Subjects Review stuff going before the end of this week.
Go to the gym more.
Wait patiently for delivery people. I ordered a new home computer the other day, a 20 inch iMac along with a second 19 inch monitor. I know, it’s overkill, but it’ll be my overkill. Stay tuned for details.

Hmm, seems ambitious. I guess if I finish half of this, I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something….

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EMU in the CHE for all the wrong reasons

From the January 5 Chronicle of Higher Education comes this article, “Cashing In on Virtual Courses: At Eastern Michigan U., professors can double their pay by teaching online, but some of their leaders find that unfair.” For the most part, it’s a recap of the problems with the grading stipend loophole for online teaching at EMU that I’ve discussed here in the past and also on EMUtalk.org. But there are a few differences.

First off, this has now become national news, and (I assume, at least) that one of the reasons why this is in the Chronicle at all is because this deal of paying teachers $150 extra per head for classes of more than 25 students is so out of whack with the normal practices at other institutions. I mean, this is a pretty sizable article, and there isn’t one other school mentioned in it. Shouldn’t this give the people in the leadership at EMU pause?

Second, my department and my department head are both specifically mentioned in it. Go figure! Here’s a lengthy quote with a few editorial comments along the way:

Mr. Eiss [note– This is Harry Eiss, the “poster boy” for this practice of enormous overrides and a guy who has an office just down the hall from me] used to teach more courses online, but his department has capped the number a professor may teach online each semester at two courses. [note– This happened a couple years ago, before the rise of online classes, when Eiss was scheduled to teach five or more overload CE classes, some of which appeared to be meeting at the same time.] And it has decided to cancel the online version of his advanced course on critical approaches to children’s literature, which he taught in the fall. [note– This was because Eiss was letting in so many students into his advanced online writing class that the other versions of the class that other faculty were teaching were canceled because they didn’t fill.]

According to Laura J. George, head of the English department, the children’s literature committee decided it was important to have face-to-face interaction in every writing class that is offered, which includes Mr. Eiss’s advanced course. She says the department introduced the cap because it became clear a few years ago that Mr. Eiss was teaching an “exorbitant” number of classes online.

“There were some concerns about quality and service to students,” she says.

[note– Not surprising, all this is more complicated than is suggested here. I think it’s fair to say that the department (and this is a discussion at the department level now, not just at the Children’s Literature committee) is okay with online classes, but it believes that these classes shouldn’t be overloaded.]

Mr. Eiss says his fellow professors are wrong about the quality’s being lower. He thinks they are simply jealous.

According to the grading-stipend policies at Eastern, for every student Mr. Eiss takes over an established limit of 25 he earns $150. So for this winter’s course, in which he may enroll up to 100 students, or more than 70 extra, he could make as much as $10,000. A salary report released recently by the university reported that Mr. Eiss was the second-highest wage earner among the university’s 680 faculty members last year. His nine-month base salary was about $68,000, and he made an extra $95,000 by teaching overload courses.

I wouldn’t want to speak directly about Eiss, but let me just say something in general terms here about the charge of faculty being “jealous,” about the “hard work” of these faculty teaching these huge overloads in online classes. If one decided that they wanted to completely divorce themselves from the workings of the department– that is, hypothetically, if faculty member decided they no longer were going to come to department meetings or volunteer to serve on the various committees that do the work of the department, then one could probably teach extra classes. Also, if one decided and/or convinced themselves that it was okay to lower the standards of what counts as teaching in these overloaded online classes in order to “cash in,” then it seems to me that a faculty member could indeed manage to teach online classes like this.

But for me, this isn’t something to be jealous about. It is a practice of a fellow faculty member that I for one find unethical.

Two more “behind the scenes” aspect of this story I thought I’d mention: first off, this is a “discussion” that is still going on in the department in terms of policies that we will be adopting to govern online teaching. That’s all I’ll say about that for now.

Second, the writing faculty started talking about this a while ago, and I think it’s fair to say that we’re all on the same page when it comes to these class caps. Simply put, online writing classes don’t have any more students than face to face classes. My online version of English 328 has 20 students in it and my online version of English 516 has 15 students in it, the same caps as I would have in a normal classroom.

Besides the obvious pedagogical benefits of these lower numbers, we decided as a committee that we didn’t want to undercut or cannibalize each others’ teaching. I mean, if I let in 80 people into my online section of English 328 just because I want to make more money oh, excuse me, work harder, then I would end up causing some of my colleagues’ versions of English 328 to not make. Thus the term cannibalize.

And third, this is (as you can imagine) a topic of discussion on EMUtalk.org right here.

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A Little More about our WPA Search

We’re hiring this year for a Writing Program Administrator-type person. And if you’re interested in this job, please do me a favor and read past the “bad” part that follows the ad. I promise, I will get to the good stuff!

Here’s the ad itself from the MLA JIL:

English, 612 Pray-Harrold, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
http://www.emich.edu/english
Assistant Professor Composition/Rhetoric [1638]
Tenure track position in composition and rhetoric starting Fall 2007. We are looking for a faculty member who values teaching, research, and service to join a dynamic department and an active group of composition/rhetoric faculty in a nationally recognized writing program. We seek expertise in some combination of the following: writing program administration, first year writing, and writing and technology. Responsibilities will include administration or co-administration of the First Year Writing Program (with commensurate reassigned time), and some teaching in FYC and/or upper-level or graduate courses in Written Communication. Teaching excellence, scholarly publication, and service are required for academic advancement. Candidate must have Ph.D. in hand by Fall 2007. Phone interviews will be held before MLA. Please send letter of application and a dossier containing letters of recommendation, teaching/administrative philosophy, and evidence of exemplary teaching and scholarship to: Position F0715, 202 Bowen, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Screening will begin 11/27 and continue until position is filled. We encourage applications from women and members of minority groups. For more information contact Linda Adler-Kassner (ladlerka@emich.edu).

Now, for some more info– the “inside story,” if you will.

First off, I’d be lying through not only my teeth but the dozens of entries I’ve made here recently about the not yet resolved faculty strike if I said that everything was just hunky-dory and happy on campus. It’s not. (Oh, and the short version fo where we’re at right now: faculty are working under the conditions of the old contract and the process of “fact finding” has begun. If we go all the way through with the “fact finding” stuff, it will probably be another six months before we have a contract. There’s a good chance though that the parties will reach some sort of agreement sooner; fingers crossed on that one).

Beyond this immediate issue, there are of course other longer-term concerns. EMU has been traditionally under-funded by the state and that situation isn’t improving in a state where the economy is in the dumper. The building where the English department is housed, Pray-Harrold, is something of a hole. It’s not easy to get resources like new(ish) computers, decent furniture, and so forth. The parking situation on campus is horrible. Etc., etc., etc.

Okay, with that out of the way: even with all of this crap, even with the situation we’ve got with the board of regents and the upper administration, even with all of these other problems, I still think EMU is a pretty good place to work, and I still think this WPA position is going to be a pretty good job. Here’s why, in no particular order:

  • Within the writing program, I’ve got great colleagues. Sure, a couple of folks are less active than they should perhaps be, but for the most part, my fellow colleagues are super invested in their teaching, in their service to the department, and to their scholarship. And basically, they’re nice people, too.
  • I have A LOT of fellow writing colleagues. In terms of “quantity,” we are a program with a lot of folks invested in the writing program: eight faculty who are squarely in “composition and rhetoric” and/or “tech writing,” another five faculty in journalism and/or public relations, four faculty in English Education (and they work closely with our program, especially in teaching some of the graduate courses in the “teaching of writing” MA program), and another four faculty in creative writing. That, as they say, is a lot of people, and the value of having that many folks in writing within an English department cannot be over-emphasized. At my first job at Southern Oregon University, I had one other colleague who did comp/rhet stuff, and 10 or 11 other colleagues who did “straight-up” literature stuff who didn’t always “get” the scholarship and teaching I did. That’s never been a problem here.
  • Beyond the writing programs, I’ve got a lot of other great colleagues. Hey, some of my best friends are literature specialists! Seriously though: while there are some political tensions in the department between different programs and personalities, we are a department that prides itself on being a friendly and collegial place. I really do think that our English department is unusual in our ability to work together and even kind of like each other.
  • The process for tenure and promotion at EMU is transparent. The faculty union is bad for all sorts of different reasons. However, one of the ways in which the union is very very good is that it has essentially codified the process for tenure and promotion. There’s none of this five old guys getting together and deciding with no input from anyone who gets tenure and who doesn’t. At EMU, it’s all laid out in the “Department Evaluation Document,” pronounced “DEaD.”
  • EMU is the kind of place where you have the flexibility to be the kind of academic you want to be. One of the problems with Ph.D. studies (IMO) is that the programs that train future college professors tend to have a skewed and extreme version of what it means to be an academic. Because Ph.D. programs tend to be tier one research schools, there’s a lot of “publish or perish” vibe going on, a lot of pressure/stress/anxiety about, well, everything. I don’t think that’s the system here. I mean, you can be a “hard core publishing machine” type of professor at EMU, and those people are certainly respected by my colleagues and the institution. But you can also be someone who publishes an article once in a while and then puts a lot of energy into your teaching, or even into your service work. That flexibility is a very very good thing.
  • The Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area is a great place to live. We’re close enough to Detroit to have access to “big city living” things (major sports teams, great art museum, international airport, shows and concerts, every shopping and dining experience under the sun, etc.), and yet far enough away to have a bit of a “big town/small city” feel. Ypsilanti has its charms and many of my colleagues have a lot of pride and attachment to this town. But personally, I like the things that Ann Arbor offers. In the nutshell, because of the quaint liberal arts school there, Ann Arbor is the quintessential “college town,” with all of the book stores, coffee shops, funky stores, groovy people, and other assorted hangers about that you can imagine.

I could go on, but you get the idea. So if you’re “on the market” this year and you’re interested in this gig, think about applying. And if you want to email me and talk more about this thing a bit more privately (skrause at emich dot edu), feel free.

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New iMac/Distraction…

iMac w/monitor

EMU sometimes does smart things, and one of the smarter things they’ve done in recent years (IMO) is agressively “refresh” older computers in faculty and staff offices. Generally, folks get a new desktop computer around here every three or so years. There are some problems with that system still, but it is better than it used to be for sure.

Anyway, I was due and and got a new iMac on Wednesday. I also managed to waste piddle away spend too much time getting this machine set up and to get my old computer for someone else in the department who really needs a new machine. Oh well; I guess it means I’ll spend tomorrow working instead of reading the newspapers.

I had an extra monitor in my office left behind by the thieves who took the Mac Mini server that we used to have in here (we now, at least for the time being, are using an iLamp configuration Mac for that). So I decided to hook it up to this new desktop. I did it mainly because I could, and yeah, I know it has a bit of a “these amps go up to 11” quality to it, but I couldn’t resist. And I am enjoying the screen real estate this gets me, too.

Click the link on the picture there to get the flickr with notes tour.

Also, if you’re really curious, you can take a look at this little movie I shot with the iSight camera on the iMac— as much to see if I could do it as anything else. It’s 5 MB. Yes, I have a lot of stupid junk in my office.

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EMUtalk.org is up and running!

I think I’ve got a good start with the EMUtalk.org site. Go there right now, check it out, start commenting, let me know if you want to contribute, start posting, etc., etc.

Let’s build off of the energy this stupid strike generated there to make something for the whole EMU community!

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emutalk.org: Who's interested in this experiment?

First off, I have no real strike news. I’ve heard a few interesting stories/pieces of gossip in the hallway that I might share once we have a deal, but not before then. All I really know is what Howard has sent around, that offers and counter-offers have been made and talks continue. It is too early to tell, but it is worth noting that the latest email from Bunsis tells people to be ready to picket tomorrow morning.

But while I still have the attention of a lot of you EMU folks (I assume most of you won’t keep reading this blog after I return to my usual posts on computers and writing stuff), I want to run an idea by everyone:

One of the things that has become very clear to me is that people have been coming to this site because they’re seeking information about the strike from a first person perspective, something not edited, something that can be commented on, etc. I suppose you could argue that this has come about because of the lack of press coverage and the challenges of some of the other resources, but I like to think there’s something more to it. I like to think that this was a place where people could “talk” too.

That’s been really cool. It’s helped keep me semi-sane during this stupid strike, and I think it’s helped others too. So that got me to thinking: what if we were to take this energy to launch a blog that was dedicated to this sort of “talk” about EMU issues, matters that are about news, personal observations, cheers, jeers, rumors, gossip, sports, classes, security, the union, the New Union (the building, that is), whatever.

So here’s what I am suggesting:

  • Let’s start a blog– I’m suggesting emutalk.org, but I’m open to other ideas.
  • I am willing to administer it, but I don’t want to be the main writer of it. Rather, I’m looking for at least a handful of different people to be, at least initially, the main posters/writers. Ideally, these folks would come from a lot of different parts of EMU– faculty, students, maybe even some administrators, PTs, clerical, whatever.
  • I am thinking that folks who want to be a writer– that is, someone who would have access to create posts of their own– would need to let me know who they were, but they could remain anonymous on the blog if they wanted.
  • This space would obviously have no affiliation with EMU– at least not officially. Rather, I’d suggest that we use a commercial provider, and the one I use (and have been very happy with) is ICDSoft.
  • This wouldn’t cost much– $72 for a year. But here’s the thing: I’m not willing to bankroll this myself for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is I’m still not sure how this strike thing is going to turn out. But I will chip in $10 or $15. So that means I need to find six or so more people to kick in $10 each.
  • And then we’ll see what happens. I am certain that there would be a TON of problems that would have to be worked out along the way. But hey, that’d be part of the fun.

So, who’s interested? Leave a coment or send me an email to let me know.