So much for less grading translating to more writing. We’re beginning week 3 of the semester, and I still have yet to find a writing rhythm. As usual, my ideas for new papers and conference panel collaborations trump my current projects. The late-night mess at NBC broke during Week 1, and it’s been downhill for [...]
January 11th, 2010
New year, new goals
Many changes are in store for Pop Academy, but most will not be visible on this site. For starters, I’m not teaching any courses with required blogging components this semester. Due in part to a changing of the guard with the required lower and upper level theory courses, I don’t have an elective this time [...]
November 29th, 2009
Home Stretch
As the busiest semester of my life draws to a close on this final 90-minute stretch of highway returning from the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m relieved and panicked at the same time. On one hand, most of my academic duties for the semester are behind me. On the other, many tasks will present themselves in the [...]
October 15th, 2009
Plane musings
Midterms have come and gone, though the calendar is always lost on me since my course designs do not usually figure in a traditional midterm. Instead I use quizzes and essay reviews to assess my students’ grasp of theories and concepts, with a comprehensive “not quite midterm/not quite final exam” scheduled later in the term. [...]
September 20th, 2009
The Privilege of Pop Culture (?)
As I begin week 5 of the semester, the exhaustion of course/conference prep and grading has united with the germs crowding campus to offer me the first cold of the academic year. Despite my abuse of Kleenex and Sudafed, I’ve been able to find joy in the new TV season and my students’ use of [...]
September 6th, 2009
Pop Culture Boot Camp
I intended to do a post-Week 1 recap, but since I spent last weekend moving and this past week unpacking and settling in to the new place, a two-week recap it is. The Critical Theory and Study of Popular Culture course is going very well. However, the time-intensive nature of the course is hitting both [...]
August 20th, 2009
Getting Started
It’s just a few days before the semester begins. Faculty have returned officially to participate in CNU’s Getting Started Week. I pause from lectures, presentations, meetings and activities to get some writing done today. My goal is to complete a literature review for an essay that I started some time ago, 2007 I think. My [...]
August 4th, 2009
Welcome to Pop Academy
As an amateur blogger, professional academic and a pop culture/social media junkie, I decided to finally merge these identities online. I am an assistant professor of media studies in the Department of Communication Studies at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. I have used learning technologies such as blogs in the classroom, blogged about community life and pop culture, and cultivated a social network via Facebook and Twitter but never combined these interests into one site.
August 3rd, 2009
Twitter Updates for 2009-08-04
Thinking GroupTweet might best be reserved for small groups within @popacademy to work on their final projects rather than as whole class #
Hmm. Do I really need a GroupTweet account for @popacademy? Or will #hashtags and @ replies suffice? #
Just sent a request to CSCA planner about planning a major social media panel and Twitter [...]