Final Class

Our final class will be on Thursday, May 17 from 2:30 to 5:00.  This is a required class.  We will see a film, still to be determined.

Suggest a film

We will only see one film in this class, on the day that others are taking a final exam (Tuesday, May 15, from 2:30 to 5 p.m.).  Do you have a choice for a film that we might want to see that day.  It should deal in a serious way with murder, mayhem and/or madness, should be less than 2 1/2 hours in length, and should be available in VHS or, preferably, DVD.

What do I mean when I write that the film should deal with mx3 “in a serious way?”  Basically, that the film has a point of view regarding human nature that helps us to understand, or at least experience, the point of view of one or more of the characters.  For more information, please check out the course syllabus on the class Moodle site, which goes into more detail about the goals and values of the course.

The film you choose can be violent, but it should not simply be violent for its own sake.  To get information on virtually any feature film every made, go to www.imdb.com.  To read film reviews, go to www.mrqe.com.

Please post by noon on Thursday, April 26.

Your entry for this blog posting should be three to five paragraphs in length.

Gen Ed Survey: Win a 30 gig iPod or a Nano!

The Office of Undergraduate Studies asks you to fill out a survey on this class, one of the Spring 2007 Self and Society Directions (SSDI) courses.  Please read the following directions and then go to the URL printed below:

Course information: ENDI1300.H1

Course name: Murder, Mayhem, Madness (Hon.)

Professor Arthur Fried

 This is an important survey that helps us learn what students think about Gen Ed courses and how to improve them.  Each student who replies to the survey will be entered into a drawing for a 30 gig iPod or an iPod Nano.

Here’s the link: http://www.plymouth.edu/webapp/survey/fillsurvey.php?sid=109

Questions?  Post them here, or email me at artfried@gmail.com

Blogging a poem

Hello, and welcome to the mx3blog.

Our first class assignment will be a group discussion of Robert Browning’s 19th century poem, “My Last Duchess.” I am not going to say much about this poem because I want to see what the entire class, working as a group, can pull out of it. Instead, here are some ground rules:

1) Each member of the class must make one — and only one — statement or comment that will help us to better understand the poem. Once a student has responded to the poem, he or she should not respond again until every other member of the class has responded as well.

2) Your comment or statement must be significantly different than anyone else’s. In other words, you have to do more than rephrase someone else’s response. You may, however, reply to or even dispute a classmate’s response.

3) This project will be graded by participation; so long as you make an acceptable contribution, you will receive a grade of Pass. However, to encourage more than just passable efforts, I will give extra credit to the five best entries. (I’ll let you know who you are.)

4) You may definitely use any research tools or information you discover, so long as you attribute it.

5) I’ve started off with a comment of my own regarding the word “Ferrara” in the subtitle, so you can see how I expect it to be done. But this is the first time that I have tried a wiki of this sort, so if you have any questions, recommendations, complaints, etc., email me at artfried@gmail.com and let me know.

6) For how to information, check out the mx3blog home page.