Moving the tassle from right to left The big moment had arrived when the graduates were asked to rise and move their tassles from the right to left signifying their graduating status.

After the platform party was on stage, my role was to guard one of the rear exit doors, keeping students from leaving before the ceremony was over. The ceremonies are fairly short now, as only our college was graduating. But more than five years ago, numerous colleges would hold their graduations together, and the ceremony […]

Our college’s graduation was this evening. My duty as a marshal was to sit on the stage before the ceremony started, which is where I was when I took this photo. A colleague and I then signaled the audience and students to rise when the platform party was to process.

The dramatic changes in the media industry. The impact of technology changes. The budget concerns. All of these are helping encourage our faculty — and faculty of communications programs across the country — to review and revise the curriculum.  Are our students learning the technology skills they need to be competitive in the media job […]

The 243 grades are entered and finalized — meaning that the grades have been sent to the UF grade administrator. Paige (my lecture assistant) and I went lab by lab and then student by student, entering and then checking each grade. With a big class like this, I’m always interested in seeing how many of […]

UF’s online grading system had some new features this semester. We were introduced to the updates with a 38-slide PowerPoint tutorial that was e-mailed to the faculty. With all that was involved in developing the new gradebook and the PowerPoint directions, the developers overlooked a basic — the order of the grades. Here’s the look […]

Nothing like a legislative issue of personal concern (the potential huge cuts to higher education) to help me become even more aware than usual in the Florida legislative process. I know how to find a legislator by district or zip code. I’ve seen how the House Web site has a built-in option for sending an […]

Grading and grading and more grading That’s the theme for teachers at the end of the semester — although that’s the theme throughout much of the semester, too. In addition to the last lab assignment, I’ve been grading the various makeup assignments. I think I’ve found them all — in paper form, on CD (for […]

Posted from my iPhone The high tech reporter’s notepad – One of the virtues of the reporter’s notepad is it’s size. You can hold it and write – even standing up. Blogging from the iPhone has that same ability…plus including photos and posting online. As I stand at Gate 15 in the Phoenix airport.

Linda Drake received the award @ the awards luncheon. With insights, humor and a few tears, Linda told of the rewards and challenges of teaching in her rural Kansas high school where the 140 students are really outnumbered by the cows in the county.