A little reflection...class is over, grades are done, and I’m thinking so much more positively about this class than I did after the first time I attempted a blended class, in Spring semester 2008. There are many reasons for this, including that it was graduate, students knew in advance about the delivery method, I designed assignments that were more realistic for a blended class, and it was a summer class. But the positive impact of Collaborate cannot be ignored.

Students seem to really like the class design, and this includes many who were skeptics. Some students shared reflections on Collaborate, online and blended learning in their journals:

•    The webinars were a great opportunity to come together with my peers in an open and non-intimidating forum.  I love technology and always enjoy learning new ways to use it myself and in my classroom.
•    Had this course been purely campus-based, there would’ve been several “classes” I would’ve been unable to attend. On more than one occasion I was traveling for work or had a meeting directly before our 4-6 pm class, and was still able to “attend” via the webinar.
•    I think that there is a big difference between online and blended learning. While this blended learning had online components, the face-to-face, video lectures, and webinars really made a difference in the quality of interactions that took place. I would really like to take more blended learning courses myself.
•    Traveling makes a big difference. It is much more convenient to take an distance education course, even if there are synchronous meeting times required. I found that having the set time scheduled every week for the course, whether we met in person, online, or not at all helped to structure the course work.
•    I had never utilized Blackboard Collaborate which was a really interesting medium to hold virtual classes. After this experience, I would definitely consider enrolling in another online class. It was a great term and worked very well with the summer season. It proved to be an enriching experience.
•    The webinars were easy to use and was a nice way to work in groups without having to coordinate everyone’s schedules to meet in person. This type of schedule works perfectly, especially for the summer when people tend to travel more.

For me, the biggest disappointment had nothing to do with Collaborate, or even the blended delivery method. Unfortunately, the quality of the papers was disillusioning, to say the least. Of course there are a few papers that were excellent, and many that were at least a very good effort, but there were too many that were mediocre "gift" B/low B/even C+ range. One was so off the mark that I had asked him to revise it (with offer of incomplete).

Except in that student's case, their use of research was OK (if missing something obvious occasionally). But the writing, with the exception of the As -- was cringe worthy. Some even bordered on illiterate, and I don't mean only the nondegrees (in fact, two of them submitted a quality papers). I had to read sentences several times, out loud if I still couldn't comprehend the point. It took hours to review a (10 page) paper. I had hoped to read fascinating, insightful, thought-provoking things and write "deep" comments in response -- instead much time was spent deciphering mangled logic and making corrections to grammar, spelling, sentence structure, word choice.

Luckily, I used 30% peer assessment, which offset the bad papers enough so that I didn't have to give any final grades that will result in student appeals! I only got pushback from one student about the paper evaluations. If I teach the class again I will assign a two page paper early in the semesters to catch the bad writers and will distribute a checklist of common mistakes as well.

I’m working on getting ready for my Fall classes now, and to say I need some inspiration for my on campus foundations classes would be an understatement. I created a new reader, so that’s one change that will help. Today I was thinking about how to use Collaborate. Would it be a mistake? Will students be pissed, because I’d be repeating the folly of Spring 2008? (The classes aren’t graduate, aren’t summer classes, and students don’t know in advance?)

My summer grades are done! Yay! Now I have to get ready for the Fall semester. Where did the summer go?

Aside from my forgetting to turn on audio recording until minute 4:45 (duh), I was pleasantly surprised by how well the capture worked with the widescreen video cam at the last FTF class. Admittedly, the audio is a little difficult to decipher at times, but overall it is OK. The best part was that the video was available by the next afternoon!! This was important because three students had to leave class before the presentations were over. One student had informed me of his need to leave early before he registered, and two students had to leave because the presentation of the third team to ran twice as long as they were allocated (and I hate yanking students off the stage, even though I had a fantasy of the Gong Show). I figured, it’s summer, I didn’t require much seat time all semester, no biggie. But apparently some folks have other commitments. Go figure! Anyway, it was not an issue because the video worked out, yay.

I was a bit worried before class that the slideshows would be a hassle, as I was having a hard time loading four different files or URLs without wasting a lot of time, but using a combination of box.net and application sharing, it worked like a charm. My feeling about the tool in general is that Collaborate is worthy of adoption by UA so that more faculty could utilize it in classes.

Took a break from grading the final papers in my grad class to get my fall online foundations class ready (it goes live two weeks before the semester begins). About the papers...well, let's just say I feel a Nileston News coming on, and leave it at that.

Great column, will be useful in Toleration.

Grades submitted yesterday for one summer class, the other ends 8/16.

I have not had a burning desire to write very much here. I think during the first half of the summer it was enough of a challenge to keep up with my work, even the much lighter workload of summer session. Now that my life has returned to something resembling normal (and Bob finished his vacation), I spent the first two days of this week power-working -- and got completely caught up! Yesterday I worked on my plants. The beans are coming, the cukes are in blossom, the flowers look OK overall. Sadly, the tomatoes are pathetic. My inattention, and the rainy spell in June have taken a toll. I hoped the intense heat & humidity would help, but it didn't. So I fussed with them yesterday, but I am not optimistic that this will be "a good year for tomatoes" (as Mimmie would say).

Weekend visitors in Samsonville, should be fun. Harry is doing well. It's already a harmonious group.

We saw Bob's favorite show, Les Mis, at Mac-Haydn Theatre Sunday night. It was great! Best performance I've seen (& of course way better than the movie). Show continues July 31-August 4. Highly recommended!

The transition period as a pet guardian is not my favorite. It almost goes without saying that the end of life care and eventual mourning are very difficult, but introduction of a new pet into the household has different challenges. Neither Teddy nor Rosie were especially trying. Teddy had to learn stairs and Rosie had (and still has) to be crated for meals, but that was it. Harry is afraid of many things. He seems to have never been exposed to music, television, various other noises, mirrors, stairs, walking on a leash. The stairs part is a significant issue in a three story house!

He wants to sniff Rosie and Teddy as much as possible. This isn't a problem with Rosie -- it took maybe two sniffing episodes and she let him know who was Head Dog. Teddy is a different story; he isn't a skittish cat who runs away, and he also doesn't hiss, swat or bite. He seems to believe he exists on a higher plane: "I'm Theo the Lion and my regal aura should suffice." Today as I am (attempting) to work, all three animals want to be with me, of course. Yesterday I worked in the living room on the laptop, but today I decided to use my desktop in the third floor office. Rosie and Teddy are in the bedroom next to the office. This is how they always spend the day while I am working. Harry has learned how to go upstairs at this point (but not down), so he is up here as well. It's not easy to focus when you have to say "No" and "Stop it" every five seconds! (And waves of "how I miss Sam" intrude.) Fortunately things have settled down at the moment, I just checked and all three are happily sleeping in the bedroom. One step at a time...

One Beagle +

 One Beagle =

Two Beagles!

Welcome to your forever home, Harry.

PS BNL @ Tanglewood was awesome!

Boo horseracing! Boycot Saratoga!

"When it rains it pours" has been this summer's mantra, although in literal terms we've gone from nonstop rain to nonstop heat & humidity. The cliche works for my life right now, though. Sam...my lifelong "best" friend's mother passed away on Sunday...my mother had surgery on Monday. (She's doing well.) I resumed my routine yesterday, after sleeping in (til 10) for the first time in weeks. I have some teaching-related tasks that I need to accomplish but it's all very do-able.

We had Sam cremated on Sunday at Breezy Nook Pet Crematory (highly recommended), I created a tribute album on FB, performed the sad task of putting away his "things." He lived life to the fullest, even though he only had eight years. But he is no longer suffering. It is hard to believe that two months ago he was his powerhouse self. He remained vital until about three weeks before he died. His death was peaceful, more so than any of my other pets, but the last couple days were tough. He passed away in the yard, with Bob and I sitting with him. I was petting him.

Bob has been encouraging me to look for the next dog. It doesn't take much pushing of course, as I know I won't wait long, but so far I have not made a major effort. I know it will be a male dog, and about 25 pounds. It is too difficult physically for either of us to get another large dog. I don't think it can be another senior, even though Rosie is a treasure. But Edna died in 1999, Ande in 2010, Sophie in 2012, and now Sam in 2013. Four pets in 3.5 years has tested both of our endurance, and Rosie is 9. So while we don't want a puppy, this dog must be "young enough."

We went to the Troy Pig Out on Saturday (it was HOT), took Rosie with us (she was a big hit), and General Joe's BBQ took second place in ribs and 11th place overall!

This weekend we will head to Samsonville. Seems like forever since we've been there. Tuesday: Barenaked Ladies at Tanglewood!! Can't wait.

Sam passed away today. RIP Sam-Sam. What a fine dog you were.

I think you can tell from this photo how ill he is, but you can also tell he is happy. He was riding in his wagon in this picture. Pretty cute, eh?

In other dog-related news, I plucked a tick off Rosie just now. Ugh!!

Added; in gardening news, there is a snake living in the composter.

My beautiful roses

Sam has always had four favorite things: 1) going for walks; 2) playing fetch with a toy; 3) barking at activity on the street; 4) gobbling down food in his bowl. We've always joked that he is "bipolar Sam;" he's an extremely sensitive dog with very high "ups" and very low "downs." He's either really, really happy, or really, really sad.

Cancer strips away so much, and it was breaking my heart that his favorite of those four, and the one he has still been able to enjoy, was being taken from him too. So I came up with a tentative solution...a wagon! We can pull him along on his regular route in the cemetery, taking him out occasionally so he can sniff around and mark his territory. But the rest of the route he can ride, and he won't get tired out.

I found the nifty wagon above at K-Mart, and risked $85 bucks (because sometimes my bright ideas don't work out so well). Well, this one did! He loves it. The first time, he was a perfect angel -- and experienced one of his high ups that lasted the whole night. We even saw another couple with two dogs, one riding in a stroller, and Sam got to bark at them. The second trip (yesterday), he tried to jump out twice (once successfully), but it was OK. This is making him happy again.

(First) Fourth of July tomato on July 2.

The foliage from the potato I planted died a couple days ago, so I decided to throw it into my compost and dig in the container to see whether there were any potatoes. I didn't expect to find any, and was surprised to discover one attached to the roots -- it was grape-size, and I thought "awww." Surprise turned to shock when I poked around in the dirt...

It seems I continued my non-posting. It's hotter than h-ll tonight, and as a result, my sleep expectations are low. And so, I write. Bob managed to put an A/C in the kitchen today, otherwise it would be more beastly than it is. It really isn't a good idea for him to do this, as it pushed his lifting restrictions and heaven knows he doesn't need any more problems that lead to yet another surgery.

He's been helping Sam too, also pushing the lifting restrictions -- although luckily Sam is still pretty agile. Sam has cancer, his prognosis isn't good, and the last three weeks have been a worry-filled blur punctuated by four vet visits. But tonight I am happy because I got Sam to eat.

I finished all my planting. We had too much rain and the nights were cold, not good for tomato plants and seed sprouting. Then we plunged into a heat wave, which is where we are now. My remaining gardening task is fencing and mulching, which I have to get done before the critters discover the seedlings.

Classes are going well. I have more to write on so many subjects but I will leave it for some other day, perhaps even tomorrow.

I've been remiss in writing here. I've been "summer busy," but I've had no absence of things to write about: I went to Animal Advocacy Day on June 4 (it was awesome), held the first webinar for my class on June 5 (met expectations), planted a ton of flowers & vegetables (still have more to go, as rain interrupted the plan), got my other class ready for access (although it doesn't start until June 24).

This horrifyingly sad incident took place, generating a flurry of heated dialogue on FB, raising some "thinky" questions in me about topics such as forgiveness and moral obligation. Writing about them here in my little corner (rather than in contentious FB) has been in my mind, but I doubt I will get to it. Not just due to being "summer busy," but because I am preoccupied. Sam is quite sick, I will very likely write more about that, but not right at this moment. Please have a good thought for him, though.

Yay.