![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Thursday!
1. Have some pen reviews!
JetPens Purple Pen Sampler
Scroll down to Products Included in This Bundle for info on each pen included.
This is a really good way to try a variety of brands, tip sizes, and kinds of pen.
The clear winners for me are the two Pentel Energel pens; I prefer a .7 tip size, and these write very smoothly with highly pigmented and saturated ink.
Next in line is the Platinum Preppy. It writes smoothly, and the ink is a lovely purpley-pink.
I also really like all the markers (Marvy Le Pen, Stabilo 68,Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, Zebra Mildliner).
The rest of the pens are finer tipped than I would normally use. The more I use them, the more I'm coming around on them. The Pilot Juice .5 and Zebra Sarasa .5 are the most comfortable for me to use. I like the Uni-ball Signo .38 in lavender black much more than I thought I would. Even though it's a fine point, it's not difficult to write with, and that ink color is gorgeous. In a .7, I'd have a hard time choosing another pen to write with. The Pilot Frixion Ball Slim is a mystery to me. I'm not sure why anyone would choose to write with a pen whose ink could disappear accidentally with heat. (Incidentally, I'm conducting a test with this pen; I scribbled some things on a piece of cheap notebook paper and stuck it in my glove box to see if/when the ink would disappear; it's been in there a week, and we've had temps in the mid-80s; the ink has not yet been affected; I'll edit this review if it does disappear).
I don't like the Uni Jetstream .5 or the Uni-ball Signo .28. The .28 tip feels like trying to write with a tiny knife. I write too large and with too much pressure for that to be a viable option. I just don't like the Jetstream; I really prefer the smoothness of gel.
2.
Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research by Linda B. Nilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is excellent, one of the best teaching online books I've read. I've been teaching online for over a decade, and I've been really disappointed that most of the books I've read about teaching online are very elementary--great for beginning online teachers but not a lot to offer the intermediate or expert teacher.
This book fits the bill. It makes explicit the research that forms the foundation of its suggestions for teaching in a way that most books on teaching don't (and so serves as a really excellent lit review of scholarship of teaching and learning which helps someone who wants to do that kind of writing know what to read/research next). It also has some ideas that were new to me that I'm looking forward to experimenting with/implementing.
Highly recommend this one. I don't think it's for someone who's never taught online before; I'd tell a brand new online instructor to read Small Teaching Online first and then read this book next.
View all my reviews
JetPens Purple Pen Sampler
Scroll down to Products Included in This Bundle for info on each pen included.
This is a really good way to try a variety of brands, tip sizes, and kinds of pen.
The clear winners for me are the two Pentel Energel pens; I prefer a .7 tip size, and these write very smoothly with highly pigmented and saturated ink.
Next in line is the Platinum Preppy. It writes smoothly, and the ink is a lovely purpley-pink.
I also really like all the markers (Marvy Le Pen, Stabilo 68,Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, Zebra Mildliner).
The rest of the pens are finer tipped than I would normally use. The more I use them, the more I'm coming around on them. The Pilot Juice .5 and Zebra Sarasa .5 are the most comfortable for me to use. I like the Uni-ball Signo .38 in lavender black much more than I thought I would. Even though it's a fine point, it's not difficult to write with, and that ink color is gorgeous. In a .7, I'd have a hard time choosing another pen to write with. The Pilot Frixion Ball Slim is a mystery to me. I'm not sure why anyone would choose to write with a pen whose ink could disappear accidentally with heat. (Incidentally, I'm conducting a test with this pen; I scribbled some things on a piece of cheap notebook paper and stuck it in my glove box to see if/when the ink would disappear; it's been in there a week, and we've had temps in the mid-80s; the ink has not yet been affected; I'll edit this review if it does disappear).
I don't like the Uni Jetstream .5 or the Uni-ball Signo .28. The .28 tip feels like trying to write with a tiny knife. I write too large and with too much pressure for that to be a viable option. I just don't like the Jetstream; I really prefer the smoothness of gel.
2.
Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research by Linda B. NilsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is excellent, one of the best teaching online books I've read. I've been teaching online for over a decade, and I've been really disappointed that most of the books I've read about teaching online are very elementary--great for beginning online teachers but not a lot to offer the intermediate or expert teacher.
This book fits the bill. It makes explicit the research that forms the foundation of its suggestions for teaching in a way that most books on teaching don't (and so serves as a really excellent lit review of scholarship of teaching and learning which helps someone who wants to do that kind of writing know what to read/research next). It also has some ideas that were new to me that I'm looking forward to experimenting with/implementing.
Highly recommend this one. I don't think it's for someone who's never taught online before; I'd tell a brand new online instructor to read Small Teaching Online first and then read this book next.
View all my reviews