“Many of Todd McCann’s students suffer from a chronic disease.

Call it CRS: Can’t Remember Squat.

Now they have no excuse.

Mr. McCann, an English instructor at Bay College, in Michigan, is deploying students’ own favorite technology to burn away the memory fog. He blasts his classes text-message reminders using Broadtexter, a free software program used by bands to create mobile fan clubs. Rather than texting tour dates, he keeps the phones in students’ pockets buzzing with regular reminders like ‘Paper 4 is due tomorrow.’”

Read more at The Chronicle

I, too, was on the fence with this but it is another tool that some students will find beneficial, especially, if they are prone to forgetting things. In today’s hectic life of multitasking, having this option could save you from a lot of stress.

…except that now you’ll know the deadline is tomorrow.

“The history of publishing is swimming with pirates—far more than Adrian Johns expected when he started hunting through the archives for them. And he thinks their stories may hold keys to understanding the latest battles over digital publishing—and the future of the book.”

Read more at The Chronicle

This article comes from The Chronicle and is about teaching online courses.

It talks about the negative perceptions associated with teaching (100%) online, strategies for organizing and designing courses, and some best practices. I found the article interesting but also still have the impression of online courses as being of a traditional classroom size of roughly 24-30 students. For larger, near 100-student classes, the same strategies can still be applied. We just have to remember to split them into smaller, more manageable parts. I think this is physically done well in Vietnam with class monitors/leaders for each “unit”, but this same setup could also be used online- i.e. course website assistants and forum moderators.

I’m still not convinced of 100% online courses- I prefer the hybrid version I experienced in Vietnam- but this may be due to lack of experience on my part. Or, like the article says, I just may not be suited to teach online-only courses.

It’s an interesting read. ‘Would love to hear your thoughts.