April 4

April 4, 2008
The first presentation I attended was about assessing writing centers, teaching information literacy in the writing center, and designing a writing program that covers about three years. I was introduced to Zotero, a FireFox extension that enables users to save sources. Stanford University has actually created their own browser toolbar that students can install. It lets them access the university catalog and databases (it is called FastJack). I think it's cool that the university has developed its own browser add-in that lets students always have access to materials.

One of the presenters discussed bigthink.com, which is trying to be the academic YouTube.

One of the best presentations I have been to was the one about using "This I Believe" radio essays to teach composition. The outreach director of "This I Believe" was at this presentation, and she talked about how the show was started. I guess the producer at NPR was also thinking about reviving "This I Believe" and approved the proposal soon after he received it. I also met Cole Bennett, who with a colleague developed a curriculum that is on the "This I Believe" website. Their curriculum is very popular and might be sold through iTunes. Bennett discussed the advantages of teaching students to compose radio essays, emphasizing that they teach students to establish ethos and make their private identities public by finding ways to appeal to an audience. Bennett said that they are going to be collaborating more with the communication department in the future.