tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294499213897153104.post3555294297619518678..comments2024-03-27T09:00:32.195-05:00Comments on The Signal Watch: Signal Watch Reads: Rin Tin Tin - The Life and the Legend, Susan Orlean (2011 - audiobook)The Leaguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04836241071795980225noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294499213897153104.post-16285404950287217302015-08-13T13:43:07.597-05:002015-08-13T13:43:07.597-05:00Yeah, we should chat about your experience when it...Yeah, we should chat about your experience when it's underway! I used to deliver online education for a living, and the MOOC format is a little antithetical to how I think of educational delivery. .The Leaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04836241071795980225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294499213897153104.post-21585150362715246992015-08-13T13:07:06.175-05:002015-08-13T13:07:06.175-05:00How odd! I actually started a MOOC today! Everythi...How odd! I actually started a MOOC today! Everything I've read says you get out of it what you're willing to put in (not so different from a traditional course), so we'll see. If it's crap, I'll just drop it. <br /><br />And thanks for the encouragement. Does a gal good.pickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01906861942472773405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294499213897153104.post-6747953364862530492015-08-12T10:50:26.228-05:002015-08-12T10:50:26.228-05:00I would certainly not discourage you from teaching...I would certainly not discourage you from teaching a course on comics just because you weren't a sad case in middle school who turned to Batman for excitement. Not that I know anything about that. You don't need to (and I hope you would not bother with) the sort of actuarial/ accounting/ trivia hoarding of comics nerddom. Teaching critical analysis of any media is a worthy pursuit, and while history is important, it's also highly attainable. It's barfed all over the internet and there are a few bibles of comics history you can knock out in a couple of weeks. But teaching how to read comics critically as juxtaposition of art and word (see: Scott McCloud) and movements in comics could each be a semester course. <br /><br />I'm not sure if it's still available, but Christine Blanch did a good job of exploring the same by using gender studies as her focus for a MOOC a few years back. My issues were never with Blanch, but the way MOOCs function. If the course is still up (I think at Coursera), you could do worse than to check it out and get some ideas.<br /><br />If I have an issue with Orlean as tourist, it's the emphasis on the "look at me! I'm part of this!" aspect that both works and grates as the book goes along that doesn't really resolve itself. If you want to be part of the narrative, you need your own narrative curve, and she has to force it to occur. And you never get past the idea that while she's warmed to the freaks and misfits, the lack of coverage she gives them except to mention "oh, this one weirdo collector and I hung out", told me things I'm not sure she understood she was conveying.The Leaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04836241071795980225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294499213897153104.post-65131899697185174242015-08-12T10:15:09.291-05:002015-08-12T10:15:09.291-05:00This is a fascinating review because I love what y...This is a fascinating review because I love what you say about Orlean being a tourist of sorts. It's why every time I think I'd like to teach a comics course, I think of you and immediately say, "Nah." I didn't come to comics early, but I'm fascinated by them. It's not the same.<br /><br />And I think Orlean's telling would bother me for the same reason. Plus, I like my nonfiction a bit cleaner than that, without the personal side so much. I didn't mind it at all in James Bradley's FLYBOYS because his pop was one of the dudes raising the flag at Iwo Jima. But here I think I'd mind it, especially as I'm not a gal for memoirs.pickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01906861942472773405noreply@blogger.com