spring semester, 2013

so this has been the first week of quite probably my last semester at this place called Tech. the ramifications of all that timing have not sunk in. they probably won't for a while. so it goes. here is a bit about the classes I'll be in:

Usability Studies with Dr. Brian Still
I've been assured by some of my colleagues that I will love this class. we'll be learning lots of fiddly technologies and systems for studying users and the ways they use things. I hope I'll be able to think up some awesome project to work on. maybe more Pinterest craziness?

Field Methods with Dr. Rebecca Rickly
another research-y class, this one. Dr. Rickly will have us choose one area of interest to work within, and we'll get to really delve into what methods of research are best for that area and why. Pinterest keeps coming to mind here, too. the site could potentially combine a few things that I find really interesting and somewhat important: digital publishing, digital copyright issues, the technology/craftsmanship dichotomy, and a bit of feminism.

Intercultural Communication with Dr. Rich Rice
the main textbook for this class is beautiful. it's just theoretical enough to keep my inner theorist absolutely delighted, yet practical enough to keep her from drowning in abstraction. I think. Dr. Rice is going to have us visit the ELS center of Lubbock, where we'll get to observe and contribute to ESL classes. that should be really fun. we are also collaborating online with students in India and China. I've recycled this other blog, again, for this class. in this class and Field Methods, we'll be talking about research and ethnography and it all seems lovely and overlapping.

lastly, I suppose, there's the second half of our first-year writing course, Advanced College Rhetoric, which I hope won't kill me. I'll teach Monday mornings, which thanks to dear Martin Luther King, Jr. and his holiday, gives me an extra week to prepare. nice.