Todd Conaway

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Here is the Thing.

Todd Conaway on November 9, 2020November 9, 2020

Here is the thing. You are writing about your teaching and as you write, you are learning. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, but writing is thinking. As my Prescott College mentor Jim Stuckey often says, you are “wrinking.” Writing and thinking. That is good reflection. Good writing. Good thinking. As you might imagine, we did a lot of journaling at Prescott College and when it was working well it was like writing a poem or song. One that looked […]

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A Day at the Improv

Todd Conaway on November 4, 2020

The current of the class is driven by the sway and swerve of student questions and interests that are smashed upon the rocks of my authoritative guesses at what they need to know related to the course content and in “real life.” In my head, now, as I write, I am picturing a snowball fight and I am vastly outnumbered, laughing, and focused on the goal. The class looks and feels kinda like that. via GIPHY Since I have never […]

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My Favorite Modality

Todd Conaway on October 26, 2020October 26, 2020

My favorite modality involves having my feet in a cool creek after a long hike. My favorite modality is the one where everyone is excited to share their ideas and expressions of learning. My favorite modality is when everyone closes their eyes at the same time. My favorite modality is the one where you can’t decide to use green or blue. My favorite modality is when I can’t make it up the hill and briefly get angry at myself and […]

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Todd Learns to Copy Stuff

Todd Conaway on October 19, 2020

As a former poet, I only copied the words of amazing people that were somehow scrambled up in my head. I mean really, what else can a poor poet do? And I learned something recently about copying a Google document, or in the case below, a Google Drawing. If you make the document public and editable, and then copy the link, at the end of the url you can replace “edit” with “copy” and if someone clicks on the link […]

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A Revived Podcast Post I Liked

Todd Conaway on October 15, 2020October 15, 2020

This post originally appeared on uwbdli.com, a site that no longer exists. This morning, a colleague from Arizona asked for some suggestions for podcasts. A few people answered the call. Lovely friends and colleagues, I need suggestions of academic and/or pedagogical podcasts you all like/listen to. — Shelley Rodrigo (@rrodrigo) August 7, 2019 Below are links to some of the suggestions or the embedded content. Two Profs in a Pod with Beth Eyres and Tenisha Baca (here is the website […]

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Remember the Bat Phone

Todd Conaway on October 9, 2020October 9, 2020

Anyone who knows me in my work spaces knows of my phone fetish. It ain’t like I have lots of them, or even that I have nice ones, or do strange things with them, but I do make myself available on them for faculty/students who need help. I’ve been doing that for some time and I think that the faculty/students are always appreciative that I am there, so they can reach out and, ah, touch me…. Um, well, like I […]

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2018ENG101syllabus_v.2_revised 10132020.docx

Todd Conaway on October 6, 2020October 6, 2020

There is a reason that Timothy goes by Tim and Isabella goes by Isa. Well, I suppose there is a reason anyway. Easier to roll off the tongue? Less effort? Sounds crisper? A more enjoyable experience? Nicknames sometimes sound fuzzier, or warmer? I guess the end result is that we know Tim when we see him. We know Isa when we hear her name. And that is good. And if we know a Tim when we see him, why is […]

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That Kind of Faculty Handbook

Todd Conaway on December 26, 2019

No, not that kind. Not one of the one of the policy laden, awash in lawyerese filled jargon that you skim through like a privacy notice made so small you cannot actually read it. No, not that kind. Not one of the handbooks that is printed and has all kinds of phone numbers and links in it. You know, the full 37 character URLs that someone imagined you might take the time to type into your browsers address bar. No, […]

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Putting Play Back into PD

Todd Conaway on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019

I am off the the Online Learning Consortium Innovate Conference in Denver later this month. My presentation for the event is about adding a bit more “play” into the process of faculty development. Over the years, I have attended enough presentations about the hows and whys of academic technology and teaching pedagogy to know that even the best session, with tons of “audience” participations, get a bit dry. So, my amazing colleagues and I have created some good strategies, and […]

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This Badge of Wrangler of Writing

Todd Conaway on November 28, 2018November 28, 2018

I cast my 9x9x25 vote for Terry Greene and pin upon him this badge of Wrangler of Writing. Perhaps it can go by his other notable badges. Particularly, the True Friend badge from the infamous Talky Tina. He used his true friendship techniques to wrangle a group of us together to share some ideas. He managed to do so humanly and digitally, and led us there by his own example as a sharing open author. Terry has wrangled writing before. […]

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