Week 3 Reflections

At the conclusion of the second session of ENG 298 Critical Analysis of Video Games last Thursday, a student approached me with a "burning question," which is a feature in the campus newspaper. The actual question was a variation of "How's the semester so far?" Without much hesitation, I replied, "Better than expected." All three courses and most all students are performing above and beyond my initial expectations. This was about the extent of my response and I found it difficult to elaborate when prompted by the student for further words. So, allow me to do that in this space instead.

Having overhauled
ENG 252 Advanced Composition and created two brand new courses in 298 and ENG 513 Digital Rhetorics & Identities, I had more than a few associated anxieties. I worried over taking so many risks in so many courses in one semester, focusing on everyday writing in 252, surveying a variety of issues within the medium of video games and looking at digital and online representations of identity, all while also using blogs and Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word and incorporating Twitter in some capacity. Some of these risks I considered taking in my first year at UM-Flint, but I grew gun-shy as Fall 2008 approached. I instead taught that semester and Winter 2009 from a position of pure comfort, presenting few challenges to myself and to students. I fear we both suffered for this in some ways, but whatever successes we had better prepared me for developing 298 and 513 as well as revising 252.

None of these current offerings are perfect, of course, but as Week 4 looms (or is already here) my curiosity and interest in students' ideas, reactions and thoughts remain high. Whole-class discussions are vibrant with unique perspectives often injected with humor; blog posts and subsequent comments are evidence of sustained engagement. In other words, students are in the process of usurping the traditional role held by course instructors like me. With the success of every class session, I become more unnecessary, even obsolete.

When this realization first arrived, panic soon followed. It was if I saw the end of higher education in that moment, of the system in which I've had some measure of success. The panic didn't last, though, soon replaced by that curiosity and interest in the ideas and thoughts of others. More important than maintaining the current system of education in this country is the fostering of such curiosity and interest and the connection of various and sundry ideas toward productive ends. Because of this, I grow more uncertain if academia's persistent existence is the best method of sustaining such things. These observations have been made before, and in ways more astute than this, but I don't think that makes them any less important.

So, how's the semester so far? Well enough for me to question the future of what I'm doing.