#course planning

[whentherewerebicycles]

good morning! I got up around 7 and have been course planning in bed since then.

I was telling @bottleupandexplode earlier that the one silver lining of virtual hell year is that it forced me to create incredibly detailed, well-organized lesson plans and activity materials. I had set aside multiple long days for course planning this month because I’m so used to having to sift through scattered, fragmentary notes-to-self to try to reconstruct what I did the previous semester. but I read through my past stuff just now and was surprised by how organized and complete things feel already.

this morning I created a rough fall syllabus with readings, model projects, and proposed speakers for each date. I also made an initial list of the “mini-lessons” I want to weave into different activities, which I can refer to once I actually get into lesson planning.

for syllabus stuff I still need to:

finalize and format the syllabus

upload all readings, materials, and resources to Google Drive

review and update the learning outcomes

contact the former fellows who are going to be guest speakers [my tentative plan is to have us study the speakers’ projects in advance, then to have them do a short moderated conversation and Q&A about their research practice and experience, then maybe to put them in groups and have them do the activities alongside the current fellows, so the current fellows get to know them a little better (and might feel more comfortable reaching out for advice). they’re getting paid for all of this so I don’t feel guilty about asking them to do some extra stuff!]

after completing the rough schedule I spent a lot of time brainstorming some system and process level stuff (especially around feedback) that I want to tweak or add in order to address some issues that came up last year. I still need to figure out the logistics of how I’m implement those changes but I think it’ll just take an afternoon of experimenting to figure it out.

hmm and I will have to devote a few hours this month to updating and moving all of last year’s resources from the program handbook to the Google drive folder. I also need to create some new resources now that I have examples to draw in from last year’s student work (note to self: email to ask about using grad app SOPs and cover letters).

all in all though I’m in really good shape for the first week of August! I might come back to planning work later this afternoon, but for now I’m going to close this morning work session by making a running course prep to-do list. then I’m gonna write!

[ecostudier]

taking some time to plan out my schedule for the semester today using Coursicle!

[francescacoppa]

The Fan Fiction Studies Reader - Books on Google Play

An essential introduction to a rapidly growing field of study, The Fan Fiction Studies Reader gathers in one place the key foundational texts of the fan studies corpus, with a focus on fan fiction. Collected here are important texts by scholars whose groundbreaking work established the field and outlined some of its enduring questions. Editors Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse provide cogent introductions that place each piece in its historical and intellectual context, mapping the historical development of fan studies and suggesting its future trajectories. Organized into four thematic sections, the essays address fan-created works as literary artifacts; the relationship between fandom, identity, and feminism; fandom and affect; and the role of creativity and performance in fan activities. Considered as literary artifacts, fan works pose important questions about the nature of authorship, the meaning of “originality,” and modes of transmission. Sociologically, fan fiction is and long has been a mostly female enterprise, from the fanzines of the 1960s to online forums today, and this fact has shaped its themes and its standing among fans. The questions of how and why people become fans, and what the difference is between liking something and being a fan of it, have also drawn considerable scholarly attention, as has the question of how fans perform their fannish identities for diverse audiences. Thanks to the overlap between fan studies and other disciplines related to popular and cultural studies—including social, digital, and transmedia studies—an increasing number of scholars are turning to fan studies to engage their students. Fan fiction is the most extensively explored aspect of fan works and fan engagement, and so studies of it can often serve as a basis for addressing other aspects of fandom. These classic essays introduce the field’s key questions and some of its major figures. Those new to the field or in search of context for their own research will find this reader an invaluable resource.

Your first stop in putting together a course on fanfiction or fan culture!

(Second stop coming right up! :D)

[whentherewerebicycles]

learning outcomes

why is writing course learning outcomes so difficult?? (answer: because it requires you to get clear in your own mind about the overarching goals of the course, which can be difficult if you haven’t taught the course before and are still feeling your way through it.) but okay, here is an initial stab at our learning outcomes for this semester.

By the end of our fall seminar series...

You should be able to identify, discuss, and evaluate a range of different research methodologies & approaches to research in the humanities.

You should be able to explain (or thoughtfully speculate about) the ethical and practical reasoning behind a researcher’s choice of methodology or approach.  

You should be able to describe a wide range of research outcomes or research “products.” In evaluating different research products, you should additionally be able to assess who the project’s intended audience is and how effectively each project engages its target audience.

You should be able to thoughtfully articulate your values, commitments, and responsibilities as a community researcher (your personal research philosophy or “research ethos”).

You will have begun to develop and implement an approach to research that aligns with your personal values and is answerable to the specific communities you work with.

You should also expect to make concrete progress on your Capstone project this fall, primarily through your independent work and your regular meetings with your graduate mentor. Over the course of the fall semester, you can expect to: 

Generate an initial set of research questions you hope to answer and/or identify a specific challenge you want to address through your Capstone project.

Identify the specific community you hope to work with and complete a full “Community Engagement” plan with your grad mentor.

Compile an annotated bibliography of at least 8 sources and 3 projects that provide important context for your research and/or could serve as models for your own project.

Create a detailed spring semester timeline in consultation with your faculty and graduate mentors (by early January).

[whentherewerebicycles]

okay—I am beginning to move from “research only” mode into “course planning and ongoing research” mode. just did about three hours of good brainstorming about course structures and I am starting to see how the semester will take shape. i feel !!, which is to say, excited and a little apprehensive (in a good way) and ready to really dig into the work. tomorrow we have one interview midday but then the rest of the day free, and i think i am going to begin laying out a rough initial syllabus.

my plan is to look at the detailed bibliography i’ve put together and sort the texts into ‘definite’ and ‘likely’ readings, then write each one down on half a notecard, then begin physically laying out different pairings or clusters of texts so i can start to make decisions about the course sequence. i think this will also help me more clearly visualize where there are knowledge or skill gaps that i need to find readings or design activities for. then i can also fill in around those readings some of the background reading that i still need to do in order to effectively teach and contextualize each seminar’s material.

i also have this not-yet-fully-developed idea about visually representing for students the cluster or constellation or cloud of readings, ideas, theorists, etc. around each assigned text. like, i want them to see that when i select a text for us to read and discuss, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the only or definitive perspective on that topic. i want this constellation of voices visualization (whatever form it takes) to gesture towards the different traditions that have sought to answer similar questions—and i also want it to serve as a sort of resource for further exploration, so that if the reading really resonates with them, they can keep moving down that rabbithole. my thinking too is that it might be a way to sort of implicitly teach that way of thinking about research as listening attentively to different ‘critical conversations,’ which i wrote about last week.

i feel like there is probably some kind of digital tool i could use to create this -- something like a mindmapping tool that links out to different sources? or maybe i could just create them by hand and scan them for each week, although i like a hyperlinked version better (and also a digital version might allow me to excerpt key passages). i feel like scalar might be useful for this? but it would also be really cool if we could build those clusters together -- like if i provide maybe four or five sources that cluster around the assigned reading, but then they could also annotate it or add to it other theorists, concepts, etc. from their fields, so that we are building a denser, richer network of affiliations and connections. i would also love to be able to link them not just to additional readings but also to various humanities or community-engaged research projects that emerge out of, or are in conversation with, the more theoretical readings we’re doing. 

i wonder if i could also design some kind of ongoing assignment where they are using a similar tool or method for mapping their own constellations of research + project models... hmm. and maybe there’s even a way to somehow integrate that with another idea i’ve been mulling over—asking them to curate their own array of ‘touchstones,’ or passages that shape their values/sense of purpose and guide their work as community researchers... hmm. to think further!

[francescacoppa]

Rogue Archives

An examination of how nonprofessional archivists, especially media fans, practice cultural preservation on the Internet and how “digital cultural memory” differs radically from print-era archiving.

Oh, and let me push this too - want to read more about the history of fanfiction archives and the AO3?  This is the book for you.

[ellipicity]

Next semester schedules came out and this is pretty bad!

I still have to add one more random course (I'm doing a B.A. in chem with a psych minor so I only need to take 4 classes/semester to graduate). But even though I don't have any labs (besides 6-10 hrs a week of research) this is like my exact nightmare schedule!

I am genuinely incapable of getting up at 8:30 because I have a hard time both going to sleep AND getting up, and three hour classes once a week were designed in a lab to make me go crazy. If I can I design my schedule to work the best with my (lowkey fucked) natural sleep schedule and focus tolerance I do a lot better in my classes, but I guess we will adapt and overcome!??! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥