On top of every other stressor 2020 has thrown together into a massive anxiety salad, we now have to defend a yet another population that, in the United States, has literally no say in the policies that affect their life in the country that they live and study in. If you are an educator, whichContinue reading “Protect International Students. Fight the #StudentBan.”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Value of Non-Gamers Playing Games
For Mothers Day, we gave my mom Minecraft and taught her how to play it with us on my brother’s realm. My mother probably plays video games more hours than my brother (a game designer) and myself (a games researcher) combined, but they’re all casual games like search-and-find or connect-three that most people don’t evenContinue reading “The Value of Non-Gamers Playing Games”
Postmortem: The Other Godawful Semester (not too bad actually)
Fall semester was a personal horror show of overwork and cascading minor disasters. It left me exhausted, shaken, and hesitant to volunteer around the department, not so much because I felt taken advantage of (I was confident my colleagues would have done all the same things for me), but because I just needed a break.Continue reading “Postmortem: The Other Godawful Semester (not too bad actually)”
Stairs in Stair Quest Ranked
Stair Quest is a parody game that pays homage to all those memorable climbs in old Sierra games. It’s by No More For Today and if you haven’t played it, I really do recommend that you do. If you have any memory of Sierra games, you probably also have memory of at least one staircaseContinue reading “Stairs in Stair Quest Ranked”
Does the Presence of Superheroes Encourage Petty Crime?
I’ve got another item from my Facebook archives today (this one’s from February 21, 2014): So I’ve been wondering what the effect of superhero presences would be on crime rate in a given area. Generally, superheroes deal with a few select high profile crimes–those committed by supervillains. Because of narrative selection, we tend to seeContinue reading “Does the Presence of Superheroes Encourage Petty Crime?”
Something’s Up in Muncie: A Writing Prompt
Thursday last week was like one of those episodes in a sitcom where there’s multiple plots going on, and the most interesting plot is put in the background, so that the main characters only sometimes see glimpses of what’s happening. That’s me. I’m the main character. And I have no idea what was happening inContinue reading “Something’s Up in Muncie: A Writing Prompt”
How I Let My Students Use Tech In The Classroom
Once again, a curmudgeonly recommendation to remove “technology” (read: cell phones and laptops) from the classroom is making the rounds in higher education circles. And once again, we see people rightly criticizing “no technology” policies as ableist. Consider, for instance, this tweet below (which also includes a link to the current offending piece on banningContinue reading “How I Let My Students Use Tech In The Classroom”
Teaching Against Deficiency
There’s been a lot of talk about “ungrading” and, of course, most of us are probably aware by now of the growing body of research that shows how standardized testing is not a useful measurement of student learning and may actually be doing harm to students. I don’t have anything really conclusive to say aboutContinue reading “Teaching Against Deficiency”
What Is Genre Chauvinism?
I’m sure there’s a better term for this, and I really ought to know it given my dissertation work, but lately in my head the term that’s been sticking for the way that certain genres (which, not coincidentally, are often those associated with youth or women) are unfairly considered unimportant or even toxic is genreContinue reading “What Is Genre Chauvinism?”
This One’s For You, Prolific Writers: NaNoWriMo 2019 Report #2
I see you, prolific writer. I see you there, hiding your word count, speaking your word war totals in hushed tones, because you don’t want to make other writers who go more slowly feel bad. I see you dismissing your achievements, in part because you’re tired of the gaping looks people give you when youContinue reading “This One’s For You, Prolific Writers: NaNoWriMo 2019 Report #2”
Dr. Cox's Desk 