A Vision of Students Today

If you have not yet seen this video "A Vision of Students Today," you must! Mike Wesch, an anthropologist at Kansas State University, created it in his introductory cultural anthropology class. It is a great example of a SUNTA-style course design. One compelling project, collection of data from nearby "field, " discovery of patterns, some of which are commonplace and others of which are surprizing, and the assembling of a report that communicates these finding to others, all withy the instructor tutoring the method, rather than supplying the information.
Mike produced a video last year that was a major meme (a link that gets repeated in multiple blog posts) called "Information R/evolution" that you might have seen. He's doing wonderful, cutting edge work and he deserves more recognition and support from SUNTA members.

The Washington AAA Workshop

Even though the deadline for pre-registration is past, you can still register in Washington for the SUNTA-sponsored teaching workshop. Last year ten colleagues from all over the country participated. From the emails I received after the conference, it was evident that they found the experience valuable. The workshop provides a forum to discuss successes and concerns that SUNTA members experience and to work together to develop stronger classroom presences for our approach to anthropology. The workshop is particularly valuable for colleagues in their first five years of teaching, including graduate teaching assistants teaching their own courses, but colleagues with all lengths of teaching experience are welcome. Some of the topics we consider include how to develop a SUNTA inspired introductory course, how to teach without a textbook and still satisfy the knowledge-base exposure departments want, and how to effectively build and assess out of class exercises into classes.
I lead the workshop but take no remuneration for doing so. All proceeds from the workshop go to the SUNTA account. My interests in doing so lie in strengthening what I believe to be a valuable approach to teaching our discipline by encouraging students to learn about culture "where we are and with the people we live among."
Unless the workshop is supported by the membership this year, it will not be offered in the future. If you think this is the sort of discussion that is valuable and appropriate for us to offer during the annual meetings, then please set aside Friday afternoon from 2 to 5 PM, register for the workshop when to pick up your materials, and bring your experiences. I look forward to meeting you.