"How can we as faculty members and faculty leaders motivate and revitalize ourselves and others across a variety of budgets?" Helpful advice for faculty planning a self-retreat and/or a retreat for larger groups.

Anyone have suggestions for good introductory readings (for 1st year students) on AI and LLMs? I'm particularly interested in readings explaining how an LLM works and/or how using the term "artificial intelligence" for LLMs is a misnomer.

OOOOOOOooooooo!!!!!

Everyone always proposes this as the answer without understanding that an oral exam requires very different skills than a closely argued research-driven essay. If you want to argue those skills don’t matter, then fine, argue that, but don’t pretend that oral argumentation is identical.

“The increasing interest in oral exams transcends disciplines and class sizes. Although some educators say the technique is better suited to smaller courses, professors at Canada’s University of Western Ontario have conducted oral exams for an undergraduate business class of 600.“

This article would be great for teaching in intro classes.

“Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. teens say they are on TikTok and YouTube almost constantly. At the same time, 64% of teens say they use chatbots, including about 3 in 10 who do so daily”

Oh, I’m dreading this. People’s monthly payments are going to go up so much. My budget is going to be wrecked.

That’s me!

This looks so so pretty. And weird. I can't wait.

lol. I accidentally posted the same article twice, sorry. But, in my defense, I’m pretty sure they changed the headline and added in new information. 🤦‍♀️

Can I just revise the end of my chapter to say: “So, as this chapter clearly predicted, the HBO brand was never going to functionally transition into a major streaming platform. Now, instead of making me revise this again, please just give me tenure??” 😭😭😬😬🙏🙏

Wow. This has so many implications. (Also… I think this is means my book chapter on HBO Go -> HBO Max -> MAX -> HBO Max is officially cursed. 😭)

“Everything about it puts me on alert: Something is wrong here; this text is not what it says it is. It’s one of them. Entirely ordinary words, like “tapestry”… make me suddenly tense. I’m driven to the point of fury by any sentence following the pattern “It’s not X, it’s Y…” ⬆️⬆️⬆️ THIS!!!

This “trap” is often what admin wants. They put the onus onto individual instructors, tell them it’s their responsibility to meet the student/handle the situation, and they refuse to offer clear guidance/support. Then admin is insulated from blowback & the instructor bears the burden.

This is a terrible story--both because of the trap that was set (either in advance or ret-conned to seize a moment) for this graduate student but also because the student's department failed her. The 1st problem is easy to see, but I want to explain the 2nd one. 1/x

Dumb question for acas. (Sorry, I’m clueless.) I have a manuscript that needs a proofread & proper citations. Can I pay an editor to help w/both? I don’t need them to fix typos, but I need another set of eyes & would love help entering the citations from Zotero. Is this a thing? Is it expensive?

On a completely different note, I am also very excited about this:

HBO Max is trying an m/m hockey romance based on the Rachel Reid books, which is fascinating to me on about 50 different levels. Does this mean USA media companies are testing m/m? Will this be like the original L Word & try to serve/attract multiple audiences simultaneously? So many questions!!

Okay, this is for my fan historians, does anyone know anything about the origin story for the first IDICon logo/program cover (shown at left). Because, I can not unsee this. Given the origins of IDICon and this politics of the Lissitzky poster (right), this has to be intentional, right?!

Breaking News: Cornell University reached an agreement with the Trump administration that would restore hundreds of millions in funding to the university. It's expected to pay a $30 million fine to the government and to invest $30 million in agriculture and farming programs.

Intuit, parent company of TurboTax, donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Always follow the money.

New book ⬇️⬇️⬇️ The Routledge Handbook of Fan Video and Digital Authorship Edited By Louisa Ellen Stein, Samantha Close #FanStudies www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

Is anyone writing on the connection between“enshitification” (Doctorow) and AI sloppification? I feel like someone needs to be doing this.

“‘Discovery,’ as the second-season episode was called, is largely forgotten for its important place in the record of queer representation on TV.”

“‘KPop Demon Hunters’… is now the most-watched film in the streaming company’s history, with 325 million views. It was also the first Netflix movie to top the box office chart, when it was released for a weekend in August.”

What's behind the cultural phenomenon of "KPop Demon Hunters"? 🎤✨🎶 #ASUHumanities professors @areum.bsky.social (ASU School of International Letters and Cultures) and @katiedidnt.bsky.social (ASU English) explain. ow.ly/Negp50XcKkv

Many thanks to ASU News for inviting me to share my thoughts! Also in great company with @katiedidnt.bsky.social! 🌵🌴 Scholars, fans can explore the rise of 'KPop Demon Hunters' during Humanities Week news.asu.edu/20251015-art...

Join me on my campaign to convince fan scholars to stop using the word fandom. Or tell me why I’m wrong. 😅

Since this took off a bit, may I introduce you to Chapter 1: Media Literacy, AI Literacy? www.routledge.com/Teaching-AI-...

🚨🚨LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR OUR #FSNNA2025 #FanStudies CONFERENCE!!!🚨🚨 Registration closes TOMORROW (Oct 21) at 11:59pm ET‼️ You can find the registration & conference info on our REVAMPED WEBSITE at fsn-northamerica.org#Conference

Happy National “Can Teaching Exist Without Canvas?” Day to all who are participating in this unplanned teaching experiment. 🤦‍♀️

Can we make this required reading in college writing classes?

I am in CT for a very brief amount of time and attempting to drink as much Foxon Park birch beer soda as possible before I leave.

Great playlist on The Amplifier this week. (To be fair, this opinion may be generationally specific. But I am definitely being HAILED here.) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...

I am a zombie who has just spent hours and hours of her life reconfiguring assignments and reprogramming deadlines on Canvas. And I'm still not done. Tech bros, stop telling me to AI generate syllabi and start designing an AI tool to build Canvas shells from my syllabi.

One of my favorite lines from reader debates on sex and romance in 1999: "a veritable sex bath of perversions.” Honestly, why did we settle on a tasteful term like erotic romance when we could have gone with a "sex bath of perversions!"

Apparently “660,000-word serialized novel” is secret NY Times code for “Harry Potter Fanfiction now?” 🙄 (It feels like this article like it is skipping over A LOT of significant details for fear of lawsuits from wealthy people.)

fire's currently working on this case with student newspapers suing Rubio. this is really important, imo. thehill.com/regulation/c...

Dealing with law enforcement can be stressful, so it’s important to know your rights before you’re face-to-face with ICE agents. While there’s never any guarantee that law enforcement officers will follow the law, here’s what they can and can’t legally do to you and what you can legally demand. ⬇️

I know lots of you have strong opinions on this topic, so I hope this will be of interest: "You are being asked to participate in a survey of romance authors and readers that is being conducted by Prof. Bridget Kies in the Film Studies and Production program at Oakland University."

CFP for Convention cultures workshop in February and Toronto now up! Deadline Sept. 8. roccetlab.ca/convention-c...

This article may be of interest to our readers!

Thread explaining how warped coverage that constantly promotes bad news (e.g. about crime rates) and ignores good news about the same topics, creates a distorted perception of reality — dynamics that make it difficult for a democratic country to identify, diagnose, and address actual problems.

CfP 🚨 The Journal of Popular Romance Studies is now accepting paper submissions for its Special Issue "Romancing the Posthuman", focusing on romance, critical love studies and posthumanism: 📆 Deadline: 31 October 2025 📄 Send 300-word abstracts ➕ More information: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...

“These moral dilemmas and compromises aren’t accidental; they’re often embedded in the institutional structures of higher education itself… These pressures become structural conditions that not only invite moral injury but almost inevitably enforce it.“

I'm writing about romance while traveling and without access to my bookshelves. So, super basic question for my romance peeps: Harlequin was reprinting M&B after '58. Bought M&B in '71. But... the reprints went both ways, yes? The NA/Harlequin titles were being reprinted as M&B in the UK too, y?

"Bogus upsides" is officially my new favorite phrase. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/s...

Academics turning to fundraising platforms to fund their research projects.