I have to let this blog go

I want to welcome all the new students. This blog has been the home for the English language class of the subject RED (code 5662). The format was simple (and sometimes even Internet Explorer rendered it properly) and you needed no silly authorization to download anything. However, the UPV in its infinite wisdom has decided to curtail the use of external tools, like this blog, in favor of their locally cooked version of Sakai they have named PoliformaT.

It seems that faculty not using this tool will be considered as doing no work on cyberspace. There is some money involved, don't get me wrong, we have a job to do and some money to make. By putting the carrot on the use of PoliformaT they are insuring all of us will end up using that platform whether it fits our (or your) needs or not.

For our English group it has been a constant cause of trouble the fact that students join us a bit later than the beginning of the term. Because of the involved paperwork, they use to come to the class sooner than they have got a username and password. Under the university instituted systems (so called microwebs and now PoliformaT) they have no access to course syllabus or slides. To address this problem I have been using for two years this blog (the fact blogger interface was cooler and simpler than the local alternatives did help too).

So from here I want to apology in advance for the possible trouble you are facing with this new move at the UPV. While technically I cannot claim this is censorship I would say they are giving as the same choice that Ford Motor Company gave to T-model customers: "You can choose any color you like as long as it is black".