The recent semester was a quiet one as I stuck more to my established system. The Interacts continue to be a favorite part of the course, balanced by the more demanding article summaries. The Pre-Lecture slides got better with more content, including more embedded video clips and gifs. The coffee… Read more“Spring 2018 Semester Wrap-Up”
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Tuning Up for Next Semester
My winter break project this year was replacing graphics in my lectures that I didn’t like. Each semester, I wince a little at certain points when an illustration from the Internet is the best available, but still flawed in some way. Some of these illustrations have typos in them. Others are low… Read more“Tuning Up for Next Semester”
Group Notes: A Failed Experiment
The end-of-semester is a good time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work in the most recent semester. One initiative that fell completely flat was an attempt to have students take notes as a group. A little before the start of the semester, I heard about a tweet series… Read more“Group Notes: A Failed Experiment”
Let the Games Begin!
The ‘Games’ part of my blog’s title gets very little attention, but a new game came out this year that is of great anthropological interest. I’m surprised that it has not gotten much attention at all in the hip anthropologist community. I mention it now as a possible start for a… Read more“Let the Games Begin!”
Cultural Anthropology Week 13: Not According to Plan
Week 13 brings the last lecture with new material and more time to work on the poster. Well, that was the plan. Several complications got in the way. Unlucky 13! First, as the semester winded down, I was worried about the surprise Dean class inspection I was told about. While… Read more“Cultural Anthropology Week 13: Not According to Plan”
Beer(less) Pong Study Session: Rules and Guidelines
Update: read this post, then continue to the 2017 update here. I’ve been reading and rereading a lot of the pedagogy of college teaching recently. I started by digging out my copy of Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do (2004), combined with a lot of web reading centered… Read more“Beer(less) Pong Study Session: Rules and Guidelines”
I Dragged a PDF into Sente. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next
While Endnote is the most commonly-used bibliographic software, I use Sente, a Mac program by Third Street Software that really got my attention back in my M.A. days. I am not an expert in comparing the latest versions of Sente versus Endnote, but from my use of Sente at home… Read more“I Dragged a PDF into Sente. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next”
I Investigated the Mac Dictionary. What I Found Blew My Mind
As I was writing the previous post about multiple language spellchecking in Mac OS X, I wondered what if there was a similar option for the built-in dictionary. In case you didn’t know, you can right-click a selectable word, choose the first menu item (“Look Up”) and it will show… Read more“I Investigated the Mac Dictionary. What I Found Blew My Mind”
How to Walk on Snow and Ice
Like driving, walking on snow or ice presents a few challenges not seen in normal movement. My advice can be condensed into a few rules. Prefer no ice or snow to ice or snow. Yeah. Prefer to walk on snow instead of ice.Snow provides far more traction because it is… Read more“How to Walk on Snow and Ice”
How to Drive in Snow
Since the snow is coming down relentlessly in Columbia, I thought it would be good to give some advice on winter driving for grad students who find themselves in new climates. Being from San Diego myself, it took some learning to get comfortable with winter driving. To begin, when you… Read more“How to Drive in Snow”