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Course Materials on the Web

Below you will find links to seven classes for which I have most of the course materials available on the web. These are really simple pages that are low on visual appeal and high on functionality. Some are not complete at this date. That doesn't mean that I plan to keep it that way, because there's always room for improvement, and web pages are always in a state of continuing evolution.

Just because they are simple, however, does not mean that they don't fit into a larger pedagogical plan. For the lower-division classes, the notes for most class meetings are posted a day or two before the class meets. The students who are motivated enough to download them before class are rewarded with a definitive outline to use in taking notes (note-taking is still a necessity -- outlines are not sufficient in and of themselves). That way, the students establish a routine contact with my webpages and it is easier to communicate with them and distribute other documents, such as assignments. After distributing the syllabus (which, of course, is required by the university), I rarely hand them another piece of paper -- everything is downloaded. Additionally, the lower-division students become accustomed to accessing online information for class purposes, which is good, because I really step it up in upper-division classes.

Lecture and other course information for classes such as TEL 355 and TEL 590 may be posted weeks before the assigned dates, or even in entirety at the beginning of the semester. These materials include my own notes in RTF format, PDF files, PowerPoint Presentations, and in the case of TEL 432, audio files. I encourage my upper-division students to print all the material and use it to take further notes in class. I try to take more of a seminar approach to these classes (the students are responsible for the much of the presentational time), and I believe that it is beneficial for them to know in some detail what I'm going to talk about so they can be ready to make meaningful contributions. Presumably, as upper-division students taking an elective course in which they are vitally interested, they will take the opportunity to ruminate for a while on the content before they come to class. This approach gives them more time to digest the material and formulate whatever questions and comments that come to mind . Then, they can arrive with their questions prepared and/or accounts of their own experiences ready to be shared for the benefit of all the students (and me, for that matter).