I’m just getting started on my aera paper and presentation, which I’m sure I should have been working since forever ago but hey, I’ve been busy. Yeah. So I’m working on some stuff off my dissertation taking from activity theory — the gist is this: when we use new technologies, we actually contribute to re-designing them. As in, the developers of the cell phone had no idea that text messaging would take on the power it has, or that profiles on Instant Messenger would be used in ways not unlike personal ads. In the case of my dissertation, this online multimedia environment was designed to crititque the Autobiography of Malcolm X but instead the students used it as a space to get to know Malcom better, so to speak — exploring ancillary materials like the complete FBI file, his speeches and television appearances, including the infamous broadcast of “The Hate that Hate Produced.” Instead of “reading” the site like a concordance, they wandered in it like a multimedia moviehouse and exhibition hall. I just have to explain why that’s important, and how these re-designs should be taken into account by teachers and researchers.

Sure.

I finally got a full draft of that chapter on college literacy practices in to my editor, a cause for celebration worth going in to Outback Steakhouse (Chris’ idea and a trip to Seacaucus I fully enjoyed). We also stopped by a Barnes and Noble late enough that night to find out that it must be the hottest under 18 pickup spot around. I have not heard that much giggling since I taught in a middle school. But other than that, painting a mirror I found on the side of the road I wanted to re-do for Chris’ living room, and watching more cable, it’s been a quiet weekend. And dammit, I’m tired of quiet, of babying my head, of living like there’s an alien in my skull along with my grey matter and I’m afraid to wake it up.

In class last night, we were looking into and talking about the literacy and language affordances of different technologies — and one group was working with iPods. This, of course, led directly into talking about educational uses of podcasts and podcasting, so I demonstrated the link on iTunes (you’ve gotta download it, but a lot of this stuff is free and totally worth it) and showed some of the ones I subscribe to: Democracy Now, the Ricky Gervais Show. I have to admit, though, I’ve only listened to a couple of them so this morning, on a writing break, I let myself *really* play on the podcasts directory and discovered back episodes of Democracy Now as well as the Onion’s Daily News Report (!) and many others  — academic (great examples of schools creating podcasts on different topics and posting them) and non (ummm, French Maid TV? What the hell?).

Totally worth checking out, at any rate. Download iTunes and click on podcasts. It’s that simple, folks.

Currently, telephone and cable companies are in negotiations with the federal government to increase private control of the internet. Meaning that companies including Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast are talking with the FCC about the possibility of privatizing internet delivery and control, something that very well may have implications in terms of shaping content — including the creation of public wireless or wi-fi networks. Do we even understand what handing over control of the internet to private companies would do to the democratic potential we have had and under-explored these past 10+ years?

Check out these sites for more information and get informed — we all need to know more about this:

commoncause.org 

Common Dreams News Center 

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility — their response 

One thing that kept coming up this week was this idea of good and bad homes and environments that kids are exposed to outside of school. As in, “The kids in my class are from bad homes and therefore …” or “These kids are from good homes and….” Well, it’s hard to tell exactly the good from the bad except in the most egregious cases (New Jersey child welfare and NYC is having problems with the egregious ones too). Nearly all kids come from homes where their parents love them, where there is print (in this day and age, a child would have to live under a rock not to be exposed to print — which is on clothing and computers and even school buses), and where they have lots of experiences. It’s just that thosse experiences might be different from the ones the teachers had themselves growing up. Trust me, I know, and I made lots of stupid assumptions teaching in a city classroom — mistakes that my Mexican-American and Vietnamese students, among others, delighted in setting right.

Good and bad are loaded terms. One of the responsibilities we *all* have (yes, me too) is to step outside the terms and thoughts we take for granted. The tricky part is in doing that — how do we do it? How do we keep remembering to do it?

Migraines this weekend have kept me mostly prone, mostly dazed. We did get the new kitchen table and chairs stained (now that I think of it, the fumes from that were probably not a good idea) but other than that, I have been asleep. Some work on the chapter, some work on conference proposals, and plenty of mass media time (read: cable. I heart cable — especially CSI, my current addiction, along with nearly anything on HGTV). And, can I say, I give a rat’s ass about the Olympics, even though I am from a mountainous part of the world? Maybe it’s jealousy, as I am on a strict “nothing that could trigger a migraine” diet, so to speak, so skiing and snowshoeing are out, although we had stellar snow last week.

I am cleared for surgery, probably in another week, and while I ain’t looking forward to the pain (say, doc, how about some plastic surgery while you’re in there? or maybe by way of my thighs?), it really can’t be worse than this. Today I dreamt I cracked my head open, peeled back the flap, and massaged my gooey brain tissue. It felt heavenly — but I woke up to find the cat asleep on my cranium. Not quite the same thing.

It’s been a long, tough week but good. The chapter is beginning to (finally) come together, albeit slowly. The holiday was good, and although I had another migraine, classes went well enough — I’m still pulling things together and figuring it out as I go along, but I know that’s just part of it, especially in the first year. I have to remember to shut up more and let my students talk — their stories and thoughts are essential. I’m learning so much — and I need to think more, about how to integrate technology, get them all talking, and reflect on the things that work and don’t.

But right now, Spenser is coming over for some laptime as we watch yet another episode of Law and Order. Mmmm. Nothing like a purring cat to soothe the soul.

This is not my favorite holiday, but this year I’m excited. Maybe because I am going to celebrate it. Maybe because I’ve come so far from a year ago — in a job I really love, living in a good place, seeing a good man. And Valentine’s Day in New Jersey is a funny thing. So far, I’ve seen a boy (18 maybe?) walking across campus with a heart-shaped balloon and an enormous box of chocolates. All the radio stations are playing love songs, which means Def Leppard and Bon Jovi except on Hot 97 where I am learning new lingo all the time. The Starbucks where I stop for my daily jolt is having a singles board game night tonight, thereby confirming local suspicion that it is part coffee shop, part pickup joint, and I keep seeing florists’ vans delivering flowers to happy people. Hallmark may have made this holiday up but as Chris said last night, the idea behind it makes sense — just to tell someone you love them.

Wow. I *have* come a long way. Thanks and blessings all.

And in case you worry I’ve lost my cynical touch, here’s the guide for the Valentine’s Day episode of the best show on TV right now. Trust me.

Panel Explores Standard Tests for Colleges - New York Times

I know, this is getting blogged all over — so I thought I would throw my $.02 in there as well. Honestly — are you kidding me? First of all, have we not learned anything from this era of high-stakes testing? There are so many ways to assess students that standardized tests are and should only be one choice. Second, since when is a college education a “product” that needs to be measured by an outside agency? This business approach to education, particularly higher education, ignores its primary focus — on educating the mind, singular, of each student. I know that gets at the larger debate, what is the university for, but I would argue that the “outcomes” are not something that can or should be standardized — we teach adults whose paths and interests are wildly divergent.  This is not something that can be easily categorized and quantified, and not something the federal government has any business in, anyhow.

Aren’t we at war? Don’t we have other things to work on — like the related information that came to light that students who qualify for tutoring under NCLB aren’t getting it? Note also that the head of the commission named to “study” this idea — another choice of vocabulary I would like to quibble with — is a business executive. Excellent.

So I am searching Google Scholar and two different online dbases, digging around (it almost feels like literally) in work on technology and higher education and literacy. It would seem like those terms would come together nicely, but in this part of the research world, they don’t — too many assume a) college kids can read b) reading at this level is a singular thing, related directly to the ability to succeed academically and c) if there’s technology involved, the only tech worth studying is that introduced by the college faculty themselves. Then you have the folks at EDUCause and the Pew Internet Project researching the uses of technology by students outside of school, but not from a literacy or new literacies perspective. And here I am, grabbing at disparate threads and trying to weave them together. The thing is, I’m just not sure what the overall weave shows quite yet — other than we assume we know what college-age students should be doing, for their own success, and we (as college faculty and researchers) hold the reins.

Do we? I still think there’s whole pieces to this puzzle that we’re missing.