FRED GARDAPHE'S LECTURE

Post your comments, impressions, opinions about Fred Gardaphe's lecture/conversation.

In a second, separate paragraph, write the TEXT of a question you would ask in the final, connecting Gardaphe's lecture and essay with the course materials. Please, don't start with: "I would ask....." Just write the actual question itself.

FINAL EXAM: your suggestions

Do you have suggestions for the final exam?

FORMAT:

1. short questions on the content of books, texts and films;
2. critical essays on the books;
3. compare/contrast questions on the films.

I welcome (for credit) your ideas for topics for the short essays and compare/contrast section. Please post as often as you wish.

I will select the topics/questions from your suggestions and I will post them ahead of time so that you can prepare at home. In class you will NOT be able to use your notes.

I will add comments to your future assignments with suggestions on how you can turn your observations and insights into viable topics for the final.

Gardaphe' on IT AM Lit -- Comments

What are you reactions to Fred Gardaphe's essay now that you have read two of the novels he mentions?

Post a brief comment AND A GOOD QUESTION for him. As I announced he will visit our class next Wed.

Gardaphe's Essay

"L'emigrante": first reactions and film critique

Please click "Comments" below.

IF you are the first student to post, you will:

1) Indicate ONE theme that captured your attention in "L'emigrante." (A couple of sentences mentioning the theme and why you find it interesting.)

2) Critique of the movie (a paragraph will suffice.)

=====================

Starting with the second person to post::

1) Comment the critique of the student who posted immediately before you (a couple of sentences.)

2) Indicate a theme that captured your attention.

3) Critique of the movie (a paragraph.)

Please use the bullet format 1) 2) 3)

FIRST REACTIONS TO "THE ITALIAN"

Post here your first impressions/reactions to "The Italian".

Read the previous postings and include references to them in your comments.

SON OF ITALY - your grade

The first person to leave a posting will give a grade (A - F) to the book with a well thought-out explanation 0f the rationale. You don't need to be long-winded. Quality beats quantity.

Each subsequent person, will (1) comment on the previous comment, (2) give a grade with an explanation.

Repeat your grade (without + or -) in the survey

STANDARDS: the best work from FEB 4

            The fundamental obstacle preventing the effective integration of new technologies in education lies in the genesis of our current educational system. In that this system was devised to harness the powers of typographical media, it is inherently incompatible with the so-called “new media.” That being said, it may be possible to utilize the strengths of the infotech revolution if we accept that education must adapt to the emerging technologies and not the other way around.

            This process of adaptation should not, however, be confused with a wholesale re-imagining. Though “the concepts of ‘ownership and participation’… along with ‘horizontal,’ non-hierarchical communication” are in many ways antithetical to the principals now valued in education, the primacy of face-to-face interactions should not be abandoned in favor of digitally mediated ones.

            One way to achieve this balance between traditional community and technology would be to increase interaction in the classroom using computers. Ideally this would mean one computer for every student wirelessly connected to a digital blackboard at the front of the class. This would not only allow the professor’s lecture notes to be saved directly to the student’s hard drives, but also allow those students to contribute directly t the lesson simply by sending information to the board. With this system implemented each computer would contain at the end of a class the work of the entire classroom community thereby turning a vertical learning system into a horizontal one.