experiment

So far I've been very excited about this experiment. It seems to be a great way for people like me who are planning to teach interpersonal in the future to get some exposure to students' ideas.

After having jumped around excitedly over a student's ACTUAL RESPONSE to my first post I found myself struggling while writing a response to hers. I tried to phrase whatever I had to say in a voice that avoided the invocation of authority. Let's face it, undergrads view us as authorities on the subject of comm studies, at least until we screw up real bad. But until then, how do you maintain an interaction that saves them the constant reminder that you have been in the field longer and hence are more familiar with 'lingo,' long words, and fancy-sounding names? How do I get Jamie to participate in a discussion about human interaction with me?

What I did was I tried to finish my second post with a note of uncertainty... Because I am uncertain, for Pete's sake! But would she ever believe that?

You know, one thing I learned from teaching online is that not every comment needs a response. :-) You're in a tight spot though, because you've got such a limited window of entry. It's likely that Jamie won't even go back and read your comment, unless (until!) she gets a nudge to do so. I won't do it right away, as I've got a few other tasks in the works for them over the next week or so; I'll have to figure out a way to work it in (and I've already been cooking on that since you brought up Goffman in the first place, smile!).