Wiki-Wiki-Wiki-Wiki

Please play the video while reading my blog...you know...to set the mood!

I'm getting a pretty late start on my new post. I am juggling so many obligations that my time management skills have really been tested. I will say staying busy makes time go by "faster" even though faster may be relative in a graduate students eye. 

If you are wondering about the video above it serves two purposes. 

#1: For some reason I think Dr. C likes this song.

#2: Our first tech talk involves video media (go team rumplestiltskin)

In class last week we discussed wikis and pinterest. I may be stepping over the line a bit, but I think pinterest is more of a girly social media. I am basing this on the fact that I know dozens of women, but no men who actually use it. However, I did some scouring and found an interesting pin that I wanted to share! 

I can't even explain how I came across this image, but it is golden! From an academic standpoint I can see the allure of using this social media to organize teaching ideas, etc, but in terms of application to my field and in my classrooms I am not sure I would enjoy incorporating it. However, our newest "project" in the future faculty meeting is course design of our dream course. I have decided to incorporate blogging into the class design, but still do not have all my ideas put together. 

The course is an introductory biochemistry/genetics course for non-science folk (bio-daddy-fat-sacks as they like to call it). I whole-heartedly believe that non-science major science courses are crap. Students are expected to memorize a wealth of basic biology concepts that they will never use in their lives. My course focuses on scientific problems in everyones life with the hope students will leave the class with the ability to make more informed decisions regarding these problems. Topics include: genomic medicine (the future of personalized medicine), nutrition, bio-fules, etc. I want to have students make a note when they are confronted with scientific decisions in everyday life and then blog about those experiences. 

If anyone has any ideas/comments I would love to hear them.

Sherry Fashion Forward Clouser symbolic image: Every time I hear wiki I think turntable.

My insomnia was worse than usual last night so I only got about an hour of sleep. I was skeptical that my participation would be up to par. It is surprising sometimes that we have the ability to draw energy and enthusiasm from within our depths when we have to.

When Jeremy R. (shout-out) and I arrived to class Sherry was looking radiant as always. It was nice to see that we had a diverse array of activities planed for the day. We were previously asked to fill out some information to generate our personal TPI, which we discussed in class today. I wasn't very surprised by my own results, however it was interesting that almost everyone in the class had similar perspectives despite disciplinary discrepancies.

The most memorable part of todays class was the carousel activity associated with Dr. Clouser's tech talk about blogs. I have never heard of this engagement technique and will definitely be incorporating it into my classes in the future. One of the more difficult aspects of the course is what to name our team. We need a big time name since we have big time ideas. 

Also...I can't believe the future faculty program participants were split up! YOU DOWN WITH FFP? YEAH YOU KNOW ME!

Symbolic picture of the week:

(Essential Biochemistry Pratt C., et al 2007)

Much as H2O (water) separates the amino acids of a protein, so to has Dr. Clouser separated the FFP.

The first class was a good day. I learned I am not the only one without warts, but more importantly the rumors are true...Sherry does have a great fashion sense. I look forward to interacting with everyone this semester!