Fall semester began at UF on Monday with a large measure of excitement and high hopes and at least a pinch of anxiety and confusion.

Even though I’ve taught Writing for Mass Communication (MMC 2100) for years, every semester I review the syllabus from the previous semester and consider how to make the course more effective. I’m fortunate to teach with a group of teaching assistants and adjunct faculty who offer suggestions, bring their skill sets to the course, and help me make changes to the course.

Last year, we added blogging to the lab assignments. The previous year, we added digital photography and photo editing, writing and preparing copy for the Web, and uploading stories and photos to a content management system. This semester, we’re going to include several reverse publishing activities — immediately writing a headline and blurb for the Web and then writing the more complete story.

I’m certainly reminded of the number of students who I will be working with when I get the syllabus copied to take to the first lecture to distribute. I know that by the end of class, a student will go along with each copy of the syllabus.