Category Archives: Teaching

Snowy branches outside my office window

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

Just a momentary distraction while pausing during my workday to make a cup of coffee. The snowy contrasts, including the slushy street, were striking enough to prompt a photo. Now back to my slideshow on elections and the Electoral College, … Continue reading →

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A haiku for October

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

As I was researching AI and art/text generation, doing prep for tomorrow’s Digital Society class, I came across a website purporting to use AI to create poetry. Skeptical but intrigued, I followed the prompts to enter a noun, an adjective, … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, poetry, Teaching | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Remembering the “typewriter era”

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

Students in my freshman-level technical communication course were intrigued by our discussion today of document design during the “typewriter era.” We were examining some memos from the early Microsoft Windows period, right about the time that people were beginning to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Digital society, History, Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, Teaching | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

LIttle Free Library – There’s a book!

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

Actually there are THREE books! The Little Free Library Book (2015) tells the official story of the Little Free Library movement and contains a forward by Todd Bol, the founder of Little Free Libraries, who built the first one in … Continue reading →

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Atrium staircase, late afternoon

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I am in the middle of grading midterms today. That involves lots of sitting, punctuated by the need to get up and stretch my legs more often than I usually think to remember. There is lots of late afternoon sunshine … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Higher education, Life, Milwaukee, Photography, Teaching | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What’s in a tagline? My blog’s identity: Version 4.0

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m developing a new course at MSOE called “SS 3700 Digital Society.” To say I’m excited is to understate my enthusiasm for this topic. As a political science major who took computer programming classes in the late 1970s using a … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning, Life, Popular culture, Science, Teaching, Technology, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Birth of a Nation: Lighting and (mostly “non”) camera movement, racism, and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination reenacted a mere 50 years after

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

NOTE: This post is under reconstruction because a) the YouTube account that I originally took my clips from has been shut down and b) WordPress doesn’t seem to be working correctly to allow me to play clips to and from … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Movies and film, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Fifty years ago today “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the most caring children’s television show ever, made its debut. You’ve probably seen this before, but it’s worth watching again: Fred Rogers testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in 1969 in support … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Life, Popular culture, Teaching, Television | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Unleashing the potential of VR (virtual reality)

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Virtual reality (VR) is going to shape itself into an art form that is quite different from contemporary cinema. We can’t really predict yet how things will turn out, although my bet is that movies as we know them are here … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Learning, Life, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Teaching, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Functionality in search of purpose

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Although I’ve noticed this item in the corner of a classroom I teach in this quarter, I never looked closely at it until today, when it was in a slightly different location. I almost didn’t recognize what it was. That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, History, Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, Teaching, Technology | Tagged , | 4 Comments