Friday Fragments, Sept. 18th
Quite a hodge-podge this morning: dyslexia, Latinx usage, college re-opening round-up, coffee fungus (oh no!) & a short video on how to email your instructor.
What I’m reading…
This morning I enjoyed a new long read from the Guardian, The Battle over Dyslexia. Sirin Kale shares debate over identification and treatment of dyslexia, in the UK context, which is a delicate balance of educational need and economic realities.
The New Yorker opinion piece by Graciela Mochkofsky, Who Are You Calling Latinx? is a good reminder that language changes unevenly, sometimes quickly and sometimes more slowly. She explains:
If you give members of this community the freedom to choose how to identify themselves, the more than fifteen years of polling that Pew has conducted show that most prefer other collective names: Mexicans (or Mexican-Americans, or Chicanos), Puerto Ricans (or Boricuas), Cubans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Colombians, or any of our many nationalities of descent.
The Atlantic story by Maryn McKenna, Coffee Rust Is Going to Ruin Your Morning, details the impacts of a treatment-resistant fungus on coffee growers, and the world-wide network of farmers and scientists working together to introduce more fungus-resistant varieties to farmers.
Image: Much-needed morning coffee, in my favorite mug.
Short video on “How to Email Your Instructor” (4 mins) prepared by Justin Parmenter. For those of you using Canvas, he also shared his lesson to the commons, accessible here.
This List of Colleges’ Reopening Models, collected and updated by The Chronicle, is an interesting look at where institutions stand across the country.
I hope you’re enjoying some lovely fall-like weather where you are, and sending my very best wishes to colleagues on the West Coast who are trying to teach through extra-challenging conditions right now.
Upcoming (virtual!) events:
Online Writing Instruction Community’s second virtual symposium: Removing Barriers to Learning:Access, Design and Application. Tuesday, September 8 & Thursday, September 10, 3:00-4:30 EST (both days; register separately)
Proposals for the Virginia Tech Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy are due October 4th. I’ve attended this conference for several years now, and always find it a valuable event.
IUPUI’s Assessment Institute (free!) on October 25-28, 2020
The Human Element in Online Learning, sponsored by the Chronicle of Higher Eudcation, on Sep 21, 2:00 PM