correspondence courses....

Reading about distance learning and various types of distance learning inspires within me the urge to vent somewhat regarding a correspondence course that I recently completed. My critiques are two-fold. Firstly, and this is a reality that I have had confirmed by friends who have also discovered as much when taking on-line courses, on-line or correspondence courses should carry more of a disclaimer regarding the amount of work involved and the associated difficulties--even for successful students--that come with taking a course that lacks classroom meetings and any type of regulated intermediate deadlines. In my opinion, this is a trap that can lead to disaster, especially in a day and age (not that this is a new development) when procrastination is often the modus operandi, even with successful students. I don't expect on-line courses to change dramatically, but setting up intermediate deadlines and more urgently warning students who are enrolling in such courses as to the inherent risks are both actions that would benefit the students and enhance the effectiveness of the courses. My second critique is more personal, and perhaps should be more explicitly directed at the institution or the professor (both of whom will remain nameless) through which I experienced my recent disappointment. Namely, I do not believe that the grading professor even bothered to read through the entirety of my submitted asszignments when grading them. Of course, I have no way of verifying this as the distance that separated the professor and myself and the structure of communication afforded no two-way communication regarding my realization, but I know for certain that the assignments returned to me contained comments only on the first 1/2 to 2/3s of the text. In my opinion, this practice is utterly unacceptable. I know that I would not stand for such a lacksadaisical response from a professor within a conventional class and I do not see why I should have to tolerate such a lack of input, feedback, and general response in an on-line or correspondence course. If a professor is assigning and requiring the lengthy submissions, then I believe that he should at least grant the student the courtesy of reading and responding to the submissions...especially when the student is almost exclusively responsible for reading, reflecting upon, and assimilating the material at hand. Thus stands my critiques of on-line and correspondence courses stemming from my recent experience with one. I appreciate your time and your allowing me to express my heartfelt frustrations....

a teachertube video....

Though this video deals with a concentration other than English or literature, this video by Jeremy Wetherhold is a brilliant example of a video created from still images and a limited number of sounds. A video of this format could be created in conjunction with any concentration using a program such as windows movie maker. PS I am currently in the midst of a video creation of my own...my directorial debut...and I will be sure to post it upon completion.....

interesting powerpoint presentations....

In searching Dana Huff's outstanding website (http://class.huffenglish.com/), I found a series of wonderful powerpoint presentations that she has created on such topics as Romanticism, the Fireside Poets, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Modernism, and Postmodernism. In order to access the links and the presentations, see the following link: http://class.huffenglish.com/?p=120. While this may be a simple use of powerpoint, it still is a wonderful use of some simple technology. These powerpoint presentations are available on-line, so students can access them before, during, and after, studying the given topics. Worth considering....