XML, Tracking Grades, and Blogging in Your Tenure File: the ProfHacker Week in Review

In Sonnets to Orpheus, Rilke asks “Does it really exist, Time the Destroyer?”  At this point in the semester, I suspect most people in academe would nod their heads feverishly (and not just from H1N1).  As the weeks slip past, every class session becomes a pitched battle between what you want to cover and what you in fact can get done.

ProfHacker can’t stave off the destroyer–but we can offer up a variety of different resources for making it through the semester:

• George looked at free online image editing tools and asked about ways to set up cheap, networked storage for massive files; Billie reviewed grade keeping programs; and Ethan has us up to “editing” in his series on podcasting your lectures.
• Julie eased us into the world of XML
• I posted a roundup of sites your undergrads should know, suggested a way to teach them about citation practices, and asked about juggling multiple e-mail accounts; while Jeff explains the difference 24 hours can make in a student’s response to a grade.
• Nels had suggestions for discussing blogging in tenure materials or job applications; I reminisced about mentoring for the first time
• In regular weekly posts, Billie posted an excellent recipe for vegetarian chili, and I had some suggestions for weekend reading, only *one* of which involved a multitouch autopsy!

This week also saw the appearance of this site in the Chronicle’s “Wired Campus” blog.  It’s churlish to complain about publicity, but I did want to mention that I’m pretty sure I didn’t say “here’s an application that might make your soul-killing research easier”; rather, what I remember saying is “here’s an application that might make some soul-killing research task easier,” which is a bit different.  Um, not that I’m defensive about it, or anything.

Image by flickr user law_keven / CC licensed

This week