Pedagogy

Today’s meditation: ... read more »

Recently, my friend Annie Petersen took advantage of one of Twitter’s best functions for academics: crowdsourcing syllabus recommendations. Annie was looking for readings that provide a good introduction to semiotics, but are not impenetrable to novice students. ... read more »

On this day of the Graduation of my students, I want to say thanks to Les Mills, who interviewed me for my place at Newport Uni  (now University of College Wales Newport) in 1993, and accepted me onto the Film & Photography degree. ... read more »

In Roland Barthes’ famous book about photography, Camera Lucida, the French theorist writes, “Ultimately, photography is subversive, not when it frightens, repels, or even stigmatizes, but when it is pensive, when it thinks.“ ... read more »

I had the opportunity to visit the University of Southern California’s Game Innovation Lab (GIL) last August. Directed by Tracy Fullerton, GIL is a significant component of the now vibrant indie game development scene. GIL is largely responsible for proving that academic game development can gestate innovative and relevant design that escapes the ivory tower and affects the actual consumer driven industry. This impact is evident in the groundbreaking work of GIL students. ... read more »

Education Beyond Edu-games ... read more »

Earlier this week MIT Press published a ‘video book’ called ‘Learning from YouTube’ by Media Studies Professor Alexandra Juhasz.  The book is not of the physical kind, nor is it a downloadable file for your Kindle or iPad.  It is a website-book which has been peer reviewed and given an ISBN number, which exists in, amongst and around YouTube, with the site being the subject matter, field of research and platform for dissemination. ... read more »

I went to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for a conference at the Miner’s Institute, and saw this sculpture on top of a bookcase.  I was immediately drawn to it before I knew what it was about and started taking photos using my phone.  I then read the description. ... read more »

ABSTRACT

BEYOND PROJECT: An Ethnographic Study in Community Media
by Shawn Naphtali Sobers ... read more »

This semester, I am adjuncting an online-only science fiction class at a nearby university that caters to full-time workers, bringing my number of simultaneously held paid jobs to three. Because I am primarily a freelancer, I think of things in freelance terms: maximizing money earned, minimizing time and effort. It all comes down to the hourly rate you command. When I taught before, I agonized about every decision: what books, what organizational scheme. This time? Not so much.

Here’s a rundown of how I approached adjuncting. ... read more »