Thanks for visiting my blog. I am curious how you knew so quickly that I had entered this world?! I already feel inadequate because I don’t know how to make “my blog” into a link to my blog!! I see a LOT of questions for Andy (my IT guy) in his future!!

My freshman seminar is called “Back to the Future: How Scientists of the Past Influence Our Lives Today”. I am teaching it along with Jay McGhee, a visiting professor here in the Biology Department. Interestingly, this comment speaks to your post on Academic Honesty. I suppose one of the few advantages to being a new teacher is that I’m less afraid that my colleagues will think I am lame. It somewhat “OK” to be out the not really sure of what I am doing. Jay is also new, so we spend some time discussing the fact that we have no clue how this FSEM is going to turn out. We are excited, however, about plunging in. I am very interested in your set of common tools for FSEM. I learned a lot from attending the FSEM workshop at the end of last term. I am in favor of some sort of proposal that the FSEM should not fit into the ATC requirements, but instead have its own set of requirements that all FSEM courses would have in common. Your tools fit very well into that idea even if they must be modified to fit a particular discipline. I looked at your wiki and would be happy to add to or comment on material there if you provide the login. Andy also told me that he was working on a meeting for FSEM teachers regarding the use of blogs and other technology for the course. I am planning to participate in that as well.

“Engaging Ideas” is a book by John Bean. It is a guide to integrating writing, critical thinking and active learnng into your classroom. It has been enlightening for me. This past year it was all that I could do to put together something to say each day for my courses. I am excited about do more that just lecture in the coming year. This book has been both motivating and full of ideas I can use.

Back to bloggin for a second. The other thing I didn’t know was how to subscribe to your blog. I don’t see where I get your RSS feed to add you to the feeds I receive?

Thanks again for your comments. The web is a great place to be.

In any event, I’ll probably be writing about this in my blog as I have time to develop it further. However, I hope you’ll work towards opening lines of communication between econ and computer science and math departments for more cross-disciplinary STUDENT research. It would be immensely rewarding for both sides, I think.

I’ll be taking a look at your paper, soon.

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