Dynamic Subspace

Category: City Tech

  • Online Class Production Studio at Home

    For my online, asynchronous Science Fiction (ENG 2420) class at City Tech this semester, I am recording my weekly lectures at my desk at home. I think the setup that I created for the second week’s lecture shown above will work out well for my recordings.

    I have a 1080p Logitech webcam with stereo mics on the left of my monitor. I have a 2 x 3 ft. foam board propped up on the right side. Originally, this was to cut down on the sound from the living room air conditioner. But, tonight, I setup a temperature controlled LED light to reflect light off the foam board onto me. This produced a much better picture than with the overhead pot lights and even provided nice illumination with the overhead lights turned off as shown.

    I used OBS Studio to record my lecture, and I edited the footage with Shotcut. Then, I uploaded the edited MP4 to YouTube.

  • 10 Year Anniversary at City Tech

    New Entrance to the Namm Building at City Tech on Jay Street, Brooklyn.

    It’s hard for me to believe that it’s only been 10 years since I started teaching at City Tech in Brooklyn. My gray hair seems like a testament to it being far longer.

    I’ve been able to accomplish a lot of things since landing in Brooklyn as evidenced by my CV and Teaching Portfolio. I’ve had the joy of teaching great students, and I’ve enjoyed the collegiality and comradery of excellent coworkers.

    Some of the greatest hits of things that I’ve done–some alongside the best colleagues and others by myself–include:

    There’s a lot left to do. What can I accomplish in the next 10 years?

  • Busy Preparing My Fall 2024 Science Fiction Class

    An anthropomorphic tuxedo cat wearing a leather jacket is working at a computer terminal. Image created with Stable Diffusion.

    Fall 2024 classes begin on Wednesday, August 28. Originally, I was hoping to teach City Tech’s ENG2420, Science Fiction course in person this semester, but the in-person section had too few students to run. Thankfully, after the administration switched the class to being online, asynchronous and sending a message blast to prospective students, the new online class quickly filled up. Since City Tech recently switched to a new learning management system (LMS) called Brightspace, I’m going to experiment teaching the class on it instead of using our open learning system, OpenLab. However, I will still create my video lectures as YouTube videos, so they will be public facing for anyone interested in following along or using them in their own classes. Also, this will be my first time teaching the class using my open educational resource (OER) Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook. Here’s to a positive and productive semester!

  • Where to Search for Open Educational Resources (OER)

    a ulysses butterfly folded origami style out of paper, resting on a book, in a wooded area. Image created with Stable Diffusion.

    The next academic year is just around the corner, so I wanted to give a shout out for the open educational resource (OER) that I published earlier this year, Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook (YASFT), an over 60,000 word textbook on the history of SF literature that includes a syllabus, video lectures, and more.

    And, if you’re an educator needing open and free teaching materials and textbooks, here are some useful resources where you can find OERs:

  • First Anniversary of My Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Pedagogy Bibliography and Resource List

    Artificial intelligence in a giant room of computers. Image generated with Stable Diffusion.

    Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Pedagogy Bibliography and Resource List.

    I first launched it on 13 April 2023 when I was directing the Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) Program at City Tech before going on my current research sabbatical.

    The motivation for the resource was two fold: I wanted to learn all that I could about generative AI for my professional work as a teacher and scholar, and I needed to understand the changes taking place due to these new technologies for the benefit of my students who had already expressed concern and wonder about it.

    I launched it with more than 150 MLA-formatted citations of books, collections, and articles related to AI and generative AI with an emphasis on teaching but also including useful background and area specific sources.

    Now, it has over 550 citations! It also includes a growing list of online resources with direct links!

    I’ll keep adding to it periodically, and if you have some sources that I haven’t included but should, drop me a line (my email address is in the sidebar to the right).