My Teaching
As a teacher in the department, I am responsible for most of our courses on Old and Middle English, the History of the Book, and the grammar and history of the English language. I also share responsibility for our first year introductory course, English 1900, and a second year poetry class, English 2100.
I often direct senior undergraduate essays or M.A. or M.Sc. courses and theses in my areas of research interest. I am always willing to consider taking on good new students. If you are interested in pursuing a senior level or graduate programme with me, please arrange an appointment to discuss your plans.
These pages describe the courses I teach. On this page you can find syllabi for courses I have taught since Fall 2006. You also can find information on courses I taught from 1992-2004 and from 2004-2006 by following the appropriate link.
Students should also be aware of my Academic Policies. They also may find some of my tutorials useful.
If you are in any doubt about anything discussed in these pages, please get in touch with me.
Spreadsheet formulas for converting letter grades to percentages and percentages to letter grades
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 1, 2013. 13:44 (MDT)
English 3450a: What I did/did not know about Anglo-Saxon England (Revised assignement)
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 14, 2013. 10:02 (MST)
English 3401a: Medieval Literature (Spring 2013)
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday January 23, 2013. 10:47 (MST)
English 3450a: Old English (Spring 2013)
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 14, 2013. 10:08 (MST)
Class notes
Instructions for the note taking assignment in my classes.
(read more..)Last modified: Saturday September 8, 2012. 12:56 (MDT)
English 4400n (Digital Humanities, Fall 2012): Assessment
Information about the assessment in this course.
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday September 6, 2012. 14:07 (MDT)
About blogs
Describes my normal procedures for assigning and assessing blogs.
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday September 6, 2012. 13:35 (MDT)
English 1900j (Fall 2012): Blogs
In this course you are expected to maintain a blog. Postings will be required from you most weeks. And every so often you are asked to review and/or comment on your blog postings and those of your class mates.
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday September 4, 2012. 17:33 (MDT)
The unessay
The essay is a wonderful and flexible tool for engaging with a topic intellectually. It is a very free format that can be turned to discuss any topic—works of literature, of course, but also autobiography, science, entertainment, history, and government, politics, and so on. There is often something provisional about the essay (its name comes from French essai, meaning an attempt), and almost always something personal.
Unfortunately, a teaching approach that emphases the use of templates and standardised formats have turned the essay for most students into the academic equivalent on compulsory figures.
The unessay addresses this problem by asking you to throw out all the rules and concentrate on the effective communication of your ideas and interests.
Unfortunately, however, as the Wikipedia notes,
In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams.
One result of this is that the essay form, which should be extremely free and flexible, is instead often presented as a static and rule-bound monster that students must master in order not to lose marks (for a vigorous defence of the flexible essay, see software developer Paul Graham’s blog). Far from an opportunity to explore intellectual passions and interests in a personal style, the essay is transformed into a formulaic method for discussing set topics in five paragraphs: the compulsory figures of academia.
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday September 4, 2012. 16:53 (MDT)
English 4400n: Digital Humanities (Fall 2012)
English 4400n: Digital Humanities is a senior seminar on the digital revolution and the effect it is having on the way we communicate, research, and teach. Most of the course will be concerned with the mechanisms and effects of what we might describe as the second Internet revolution—the growth of cloud-based, often socially-network-oriented, services, applications, and repositories that are radically changing economic, social, and research culture and practices.
By the end of the course, students should have
- A grounded historical knowledge of the history of personal and networked computing as it applies to the humanities.
- Hands on experience with basic technological practices in the field
- Extensive experience reviewing existing Digital Humanities projects
- An understanding of what the Digital Humanities is and where it may and may not be helpful in the pursuit of their other research interests.
Last modified: Thursday January 3, 2013. 12:57 (MST)
Draft Once per Week Class Schedule in Textile Markup
(read more..)Last modified: Monday August 27, 2012. 17:46 (MDT)
Draft Tuesday-Thursday Fall Semester Class Schedule in Textile Markup
(read more..)Last modified: Monday August 27, 2012. 17:39 (MDT)
English 1900j: Introduction to English Language and Literature (Fall 2012)
English 1900 is the introductory course in our department. It is a prerequisite for all higher level courses.
The purpose of English 1900 is to introduce students to the study of literature and to provide opportunity to practice analytical reading, thinking, and writing about texts.
This section of English 1900 will focus particularly on discovery: uncovering our (often unrealised) critical responses to texts and developing these into compelling and interesting arguments.
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday January 3, 2013. 12:54 (MST)
How to "clone" a test in Moodle 2.0
Here’s how to clone a test in Moodle 2.0 (i.e. make an exact copy so that both appear in the course; this is useful for making practice tests or copying a basic test format so that it can be reused later in the course)
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:27 (MDT)
Organising Quizzes in Moodle 2.0
Moodle 2.0 allows designers to divide questions into pages. But while this introduces great flexibility, it can be quite a cumbersome system to use at first. Here’s a method for making it more efficient.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:28 (MDT)
Differences between Moodle and Blackboard/WebCT short answer questions
There is an important difference between Moodle and Blackboard (WebCT) short answer questions that instructors should be aware of, namely that Moodle short answer questions allow only one answer field.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:29 (MDT)
Multiple Choice Questions in Moodle
Here are some tips for the composition of Multiple Choice Questions in Moodle.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:32 (MDT)
How to build a randomised essay/translation question in Moodle 2.0
In my courses I often use a question of the following format:
- Common introduction
- Two or more sample passages or questions requiring an essay response
- A common form field for the answer to the student’s choice from #2.
The point of this format is to provide the student with a choice of topics. If students all write their essays or translations at the same time, you can build your choice of topics by hand and write them into a single question. The challenge comes if you want to be able to allow your students to write the test asynchronously, as is common with Learning Management Software. In such cases you want to be able to draw your essay topics or translation passages randomly from a test bank.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:34 (MDT)
How to setup a signup sheet in Moodle
You can create a signup sheet for Moodle using the “Choice” activity.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 19:35 (MDT)
English 3450a: Old English (Spring 2011)
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday June 12, 2012. 15:09 (MDT)
English 3901a: History of English (Spring 2011)
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday May 23, 2012. 13:24 (MDT)
English 3601a: Chaucer (Fall 2010)
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday January 12, 2011. 08:10 (MST)
English 1900C: Introduction to English Language and Literature (Fall 2010)
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday January 12, 2011. 08:10 (MST)
English 2810a: Second Essay
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday March 25, 2010. 12:58 (MDT)
English 3401: Second Essay
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday March 25, 2010. 10:26 (MDT)
How to signup for Turnitin
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 18, 2010. 12:12 (MST)
How to signup for Moodle
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 18, 2010. 12:12 (MST)
English 2810a: Descriptive and Prescriptive Language
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 18, 2010. 12:18 (MST)
English 3401: What I did/did not know about Middle English life, art, and culture
(read more..)Last modified: Saturday January 9, 2010. 11:10 (MST)
English 2810a: English Grammar (Spring 2010)
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday June 22, 2010. 11:06 (MDT)
English 3401a: Medieval Literature (Spring 2010)
This is the syllabus for the Fall 2010 section of English 3401a Medieval literature. This syllabus is updated throughout the semester: the online version should be considered the canonical reference for readings and due dates.
(read more..)Last modified: Wednesday January 23, 2013. 10:44 (MST)
English 2400: Essay 3
(read more..)Last modified: Monday November 30, 2009. 09:31 (MST)
English 2400: Essay 2
(read more..)Last modified: Monday October 26, 2009. 07:17 (MDT)
English 2400: Essay 1
(read more..)Last modified: Sunday September 6, 2009. 14:45 (MDT)
English 2400a: British Survey I (Fall 2009)
(read more..)Last modified: Friday January 1, 2010. 12:59 (MST)
Blog Assignment
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday September 1, 2009. 16:56 (MDT)
English 3450a: Old English (Fall 2009)
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday December 3, 2009. 13:52 (MST)
English 3601a: Chaucer (Essay 2 Topics)
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday April 7, 2009. 10:02 (MDT)
English 3601a: Chaucer (Essay Topics)
(read more..)Last modified: Thursday February 5, 2009. 15:01 (MST)
English 4400b: Cyberscholarship and Culture
(read more..)Last modified: Tuesday June 2, 2009. 08:39 (MDT)
