Wrapping Up Another Semester

I JUST FINISHED MY ninth December in a third level classroom and this feels like the best one in my books. I know I failed to deliver a big chunk of hands-on material to my Project Management students but that shortfall is offset by some seriously engaging practical sessions with my first year students. On several occasions, those students produced highly-engaging audio podcasts of lectures. We used some of the techniques described in How to Do Everything With Podcasting, a book in the library by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. One of the frequent stars of our podcasts was Laura Hobson, a Brit just like the book's co-author. I've got more than a day's work ahead of me, grading papers and assessing project material. Through the magic of Typepad's cross-posting, I'll leave a few comments on my blog and they'll appear on Facebook where students will read between the lines.

Some complaints that I'll raise when the next semester starts:

1. Many Media Writing exam papers fail to cite evidence as part of the written essays submitted. That has to change before the end of the first year.

2. Although most people passed their final exam, there's a continuation of a long-time trend to underperform. Observing and reporting are core skills of active citizens but a significant portion of my third level students seem to be totally unaware of things moving and shifting in front of them.

3. Just like in nearly every other college campus in Ireland, I have to annotate too many spelling errors. Their presence points to a lack of attention to detail.

Enough complaining. Back to the assessments.

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