b.rox

Today I moderated a panel discussion titled “Web Logs and Scholarship.” I recorded the audio live, so here’s a slidecast of the entire thing.

Yesterday’s front page story really captured our attention. All credit to reporter Sarah Carr. I’d never heard of the school she focused on, but the parallels to Xy’s experience are striking. I’ve quoted the story at length below, interspersing some of my own thoughts where relevant.

Early every morning, Akili Academy’s teachers gather for a daily [...]

Here I am just hanging out with my favorite college president, Dr. Norman Francis.
Actually this photo was taken by Irving Johnson at a banquet where I was recognized for ten years of service here at the University.
I first realized Dr. Francis would be an inspirational figure to work for back in 1999, when I tuned [...]

If I haven’t written here as much lately, perhaps it’s because I feel constrained from public discussion of many of the topics which are currently preoccupying me.

There’s an election coming up, and I’ve got opinions, but I’m afraid to express them. Whoever wins, FOLC will have to work with them. It won’t help FOLC’s cause [...]

I’m still trying to catch up to the present.
We celebrated Xy’s birthday last Tuesday. Since she was feeling sick and I was run ragged it was a pretty lame birthday, but of course she’s used to such disappointments, as are all children of late December. I tried to recontextualize the Escape as Xy’s birthday present, [...]

Yesterday I presented a workshop which I called “Global Immediacy: Using Video Telephony to Bring Distant Guests into Your Classroom.” It was designed to get faculty thinking about how they might use applications such as Skype in their teaching. I had a little help from George “Loki” Williams of SocialGumbo, we had a good attendance, [...]

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I’ve been doing faculty development for over ten years. Yet I’ve never attended a conference on the subject — until now. Last week I went to Houston for the 34th Annual POD Network Conference. The theme was “Welcoming Change: Generations and Regeneration.” And it was a blast.

I attended a number of sessions, including:

Welcoming the [...]

I found and scanned an old photo from my files. Here’s Brian Jones and I getting into a serious subterranean study session.

I’m not sure who took this photo. Possibly Shelley Richmond aka Michelle Richmond Vallejo. Circa 1988? Anyway it’s at Greene Hall, Collins Living Learning Center, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Naturally there is some music for underground [...]

So what is it I do anyway? Lots of different things. For example: Today I’m leading a faculty workshop on Firefox 3.5, so here’s a mix of awesome cyber-geeky pop tunes.

And here’s sneak peek at the slideshow I’ll be using.

(I’m still working on this so it may be a little unfinished in places.)
I thought this [...]

Today I’m being heaped with honors for working here ten years. Of course I’ve got a thematic mix for this occasion.

(Though it should be noted this is a silly assemblage of tracks which have no cohesion other than their titles. I haven’t even heard most of this music. So, all disclaimers can and do apply.)
If [...]

This is what I like to listen to in my office. Not too distracting but with enough of an edge it doesn’t put me to sleep.

This is about an hour and a half of music by Alio Die, Winquist Virtanen, Bomis Prendin, and others. Some of this stuff creeps out my co-workers — tell [...]

Sometimes it really sucks being married to a public school teacher. Sometimes? Well, pretty much all the time. But sometimes it sucks more than others.
We knew this would be a tough year for Xy going into it. Not only is she at a new school, it’s in a temporary location, with a move expected mid-year. [...]

It’s new faculty orientation here at the University.

This is the busiest time of year for those of us who work in faculty development. It’s the storm before the calm. Once classes begin, faculty and students will be busy, but we’ll get a chance to catch our breath.

Lots of stuff going on lately, and so little time to write. The days slip away uncounted. I can’t stand that. So here are some things that have gone down over the last five days or more.

Xy made a trip to the north shore with Persephone and Daisy and Lavender to visit the splash park [...]

Posting’s been a little thin here lately because we were on a two-week vacation, visiting friends and family in Indiana and Tennessee. But I’m back now and hopefully will get caught up soon.
In the meantime, here’s a bit of fresh good news to chew on: Xy had an interview lined up for today — we [...]

Xy’s job hunt is in full force. She had a interview at a nearby elementary school last week. Yesterday I came home for lunch to look after the girl for an hour while she did a phone interview with another school. And this morning she went in to teach a sample lesson at the first [...]

Today makes ten years I’ve been working here at the University.
Somehow this seems more significant than marking ten years in New Orleans. Not sure why. Maybe because we’ve moved around to different houses and neighborhoods in the city, but I’ve been working in the same place the whole time — coming into the same building, [...]

Xy is officially looking for work. She’s been teaching over in Algiers for six years, pretty much continuously, with a little interruption for that storm we had a few years ago. However, the principal that inspired her so much retired a while ago, and she’s decided she’d like to work on this side of the [...]

Classes ended yesterday. Final exams begin tomorrow. But today is nothing. It’s Quiet Day here at the University.
Apparently at other schools this is called Dead Day. Back at IU, we didn’t have such a day, but we did have Dead Week, which was simply the last week of classes during which no big assignments would [...]

Once upon a time, there was a used car lot next to the University. Now it’s a parking lot for the University faculty and staff. There’s a fence on the perimeter. The fence still had some ugly razor wire along the top, but since the fence no longer goes all the way around, the razor [...]