» Reform Intro to Gender Studies

Reform

Dear Students,

The thing you learn about relationships of all varieties from being in them <and from teaching Marriage & Family>, is that you cannot go back. We have now completed 5 weeks of our course on gender–some of them memorable, others left wanting. And while we can do nothing to restore the lackluster ones, we can reform our structure for our time ahead. We cannot go back, but we can change as we move forward.

I fear that, in spite of my utopian view of education, I have let you down. In MLK, Jr. fashion, I dreamed a dream where we had nothing but a box of sand (like, say, an iPad) and we built castles (like, say, digital stories). I was reluctant to provide too much structure for our course because I did not want to limit the ways that you might demonstrate your learning creatively. But something is not working. Deep learning is not occurring. A sociological understanding of gender is not yet illuminating our path forward. Maybe the sand is not wet enough for the castles. Who knows.

The point is that, though it pains me to make alterations at week 6, if you’re going to come away from this class with a broadened perspective on gender that is sociologically informed and enduring, we must make some changes. I must provide more structure. First, though, here’s what will remain the same:

Post weekly for MM & FF (.5% for each MM or FF or 8% total)
Create a set of 10 summary points from the chapter each week that will be turned in at class (1% per week or 8% total)

Here is what will change:

By popular demand, I’ll lecture a bit at each of our class meetings;
You will be responsible for only 2 more digital stories this semester–one of which can be completed for your chapter of choice (5%), the other of which is your final (9%);
You will complete one activity outside of class each week and write a corresponding blog post on that activity (5% each or 40% total)

*If you’ve added up these percentages, you should notice that they total 70%. The other 30% of your grade is based on your work up to now, i.e. the first third of our course.

Your digital stories will now need to be created individually. If you have have preferred working in groups, consider creating a series of stories in which one person is responsible for the bulk of the work–such as developing the narrative–and the other member(s) act(s) in a supporting capacity. If working in a pair, you would then switch roles for the creation of the other person’s digital story–i.e. for the next DS you are in the supporting role and your partner now takes the lead. The development and execution of your digital stories will take on greater weight. You will need to meet and correspond with me during the development of your digital narrative and its execution. I urge you to spend some time getting familiar with the additional storytelling tools posted under week 6/7 of the weeks tab. As before, your DS should be accompanied by a blog post that explains what you are illustrating.

I hope that these changes will help us build those sand castles. I have faith in change.

Your Co-Learner-as-Instructor,

Ashley

Revised Plan: