Comments on: Another non-course

By: monicaiguy

monicaiguy — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:47:19 +0000

Alex, I have no idea what P2PU means, but if you need some student back-up for the mobile/locative pitch, and for the value of electives over required courses… I’m on your side all the way.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:08:23 +0000

Yes, I agree with Jason. I thought I was being au courant with the title, but I think it turned out to just be opaque.

I’ll definitely be working the badge system into my courses, and I’ll make a pitch for teaching both my sections of 501 online in the fall, so I can do a badge/no badge experiment and see which one has better outcomes. (And, of course, write it up.)

On the electives, it’s hard to gauge. I think there is a move afoot to get rid of the kind of one-off electives that I prefer. In my perfect world, it would be just the opposite, though: two or three required courses, and the rest electives. In fact, I’m going to make a hard pitch for that in coming discussions about the curriculum.

If I lose that battle, then I will probably start offering 1-credit “courses” focussed on the projects I’m most interested in. Either that, or offer the courses only on P2PU, and offer independent study credits for students at QU who want to take them. In both cases, since it’s not part of my regular load, I wouldn’t have to worry about the courses “making.”

By: monicaiguy

monicaiguy — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:45:20 +0000

Alex, as one of your students on the interactive communications course, I wish someone had asked my opinion on whether there was enough interest in mobile & locative! It’s the way the world is going – rapidly – and anyone who wants to be anyone in this field needs to be ahead of the game. For what it’s worth, I really hope you can teach this course next year, or at least before I graduate.

Agree with Jason that perhaps thinking up a snazzy title will up the interest factor. This is a world where outward appearance matters as much as content…

Do like your Badge system idea, though – hope you can apply that to future courses that you teach.

By: Jason Mittell

Jason Mittell — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:02:41 +0000

I’ve discovered that titles can make or break a course, with an unknown or confusing term turning off students immediately. I had a class called “Narration in Film & Media” fail to make – the next year I retitled it “Storytelling in Film & Media” (without changing the description) and enrollment was fine. I’d bet that eliminating “Locative” from the title would boost enrollments, even if you make no actual content changes.

By: Adam Pacio

Adam Pacio — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:32:01 +0000

Nice course concept. I especially like the badge concept, though I’d be hard pressed to come up with specific pedagogical reasons for it right now. Something intuitively more familiar about structuring the effort/reward system along a badge-based initiative. Interesting approach to teaching. I’d love to see more about how it worked.

By: complicitytheory

complicitytheory — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:47:23 +0000

Oh, Alex. That sounds like such a wonderful course. Exactly the sort of course I want to run at Ryerson. Don’t give up.

By: alex

alex — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:56:56 +0000

An automatic A should be appealing to a lazy student, if working in an area that actually has employment prospects doesn’t :). In any case, I hope this does not indicate a disconnect between my expectations and interests and those of ICM students, which would be broadly concerning.

I’ll be teaching the writing course instead. Though there is some likelihood it will become “writing for mobile and locative platforms” :). There is no escape…

By: Scott J. Messina

Scott J. Messina — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:47:19 +0000

An attractive concept on a survey or in a lecture setting, but perhaps too vague and ambitious a description for your average lazy student (of which I was one) when it comes time to enroll.

If the utility for such a course remains in question, I read this post on my phone… in the bathroom.