The rush to get ready for next semester is on. I thought I was ready (my syllabi were mostly finished). But then there was unfiled HR paperwork, finding me office space, getting a university web account, etc.—not to mention the hassles of moving & settling in to a new place. Plus, of course, a backlog of manuscript reviews & other tasks.
But now I’m pretty sure I’m ready. I’ve set up my course websites. I’m using Ning, rather than Blackboard. Partly out of necessity (I only today got my university web account set up); partly because I’ve never been happy w/ how Blackboard works. So this is an experiment in creating a course-specific “social network” for each class. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m teaching two courses at Ole Miss in the fall. The first is a basic Politics in Latin America (POL 321). The other is two sections of a first-year seminar (LIBA 102) I’ve designed on “Travel as a Method of Inquiry.” The links take to the respective course website, where you can take a look at the syllabus. I’m eager to teach both, of course, but I’ve a special eagerness to tackle the first-year seminar. Despite teaching for three years at liberal arts colleges (Dickinson & Mount St. Mary’s), I never had the chance to teach a FYS.
The FYS doesn’t really have a “topic.” Instead, it’s a compromise on my original idea for a “topic-less” FYS (one in which the class, as a whole and/or as individuals, would decide what to learn & how, w/ the professor serving as a mentor & guide). So I’m basically teaching a first-year seminar meant to spark students’ curiosity, w/ an emphasis on getting them to think about study abroad (or just independent travel) as a way to more deeply explore their interests (whether for their major or not). We’ll see how that goes.
In my Politics of Latin America course, I’m using some of the same material I’ve used in the past. I’m again using John Peeler’s excellent Building Democracy In Latin America
In addition, I’m giving my Politics of Latin American class a slideshow “quiz” on some interesting factoids about Latin America. It’s not graded. And it’s really hard. I dare you to take the quiz, and see if you can get 5 out of 5 correct answers: “How well do you know Latin America?”
You decided to use Ning instead of Blackboard? Must be nice, at Holy Cross all communications must be through the college's systems.
The quiz *is* hard, at least for me. I got the one about the size of Cuba wrong as well as the one about free trade agreements. Fun quiz.
I got 4/5. Momentarily forgot about Belize.
Missed the one about Brazil and answered Colombia instead. Forgot just how HUGE Brazil is in comparison to the rest of LatAm.
BTW will your class include this:
http://www.la-razon.com/ultima.asp?id=867044
@Chasqui: LOL! I don't know if I'll fit in Bolivia's new space program. Although a question of how many Latin American countries have successfully launched space satellites would be a fun one (I don't remember the exact number, but quite a few have).
FYS sounds really interesting! I think that is the way of more classes in the future. Getting students to decide on things they want to learna dn discuss. I learned abt a self-funded school for children in a small town that have its students do independent learning with great success (exam results were higher than results in public government-run schools, plus the kids are much more curious and confident as a result).
Over the summer, I facilitated a course that had the students organise a musical in under 2 months. They were given a rather small budget, so had to find more sponsors, make the script, compose the music, act, direct, produce, sell tickets, everything to the nitty gritty. The tutors and lecturer were not to interfere. Whatever challenges they faced - and they did from blowing the budget to a freak car accident - they had to solve them. The best thing abt this is they're 1st year students. So these business students had the practical knowledge of how to do businesses, while taking the theoretical classes in the 2-3rd year.