Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Trim the technology fat and stop flying around

In his article, "Reduce the Technology, Rescue Your Job," in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Michael J. Bugeja argues that since budget cuts are forcing institutions to cut back, administrators are right to look first to dubious attempts to teach using technology. He targets particularly Second Life, Twitter, and classroom clicker devices.

Is this article speaking to my situation? At the very least it is saying that it's time to trim the fat and not waste resources on forays into would-be educational technology adventures that don't deliver bang for buck. But I worry that he is reflexively proposing that innovation is not a value because it is by nature experimental and may not pan out. It is a conservative, "let's go slow," perspective in a swiftly ever-changing time. Like it or not, we are being either buoyed or churned forward on a tide--teachers, students, and administrators together.

I am going back to teaching full time, but I will always be looking for new ways to engage student learning within environments that are real to their lives and the workplace into which they are headed. I agree with Bugeja, though, that I'd like to do that using open source and cloud technology that is cheaper and freely accessible. I'm with you, Ms. Frantz.

Oh, and this new survey from Educause in my email today: "Can We Sustain Funding for IT? Tell Us! Complete ECAR's Survey by Dec. 1."


 Skim the article and the comments, too.

Bugeja, Michael J.. "Reduce the Technology, Rescue Your Job - Run Your Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education."Home - The Chronicle of Higher Education. N.p., 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. http://chronicle.com/article/Reduce-the-Technology-Rescue/49078/.

Monday, November 09, 2009

I've been on LMS auto-pilot

Am I going to make different choices now that I'm going back to teaching full time? I'm carrying on with my current course, and will probably request an Angel course for my second writing class. But I think I will experiment with other tools for my new reading course. I'll let you know how that works out.

Meanwhile, I am making changes to my current course--away from the training that I have given a zillion (ok, dozens) of times in Angel orientations. I had my course set up into weekly modules, which I've finally noticed are too discrete as units for my instruction. It feels like we have only dipped into the week before we are done with it. This is probably because I teach 2 days a week, with only one of those (i.e. 50%) online supported. Of course, students access the online activities all week--at least that's the idea.

I will base my modules next quarter on Assignments vs. Weeks, modeled on what I saw another instructor doing with her class (Thanks for the ideas, Wendy!). These mods will be two weeks long, which will give students more time to discuss the integrated reading on the forum and me more time to respond. It will feel "roomier," also, for inclusion of related grammar points, examples and models, individualized rubrics (if I can get more limber at writing rubrics), and so on.

I've been using weekly folders for a few years now. I'm excited about reorganizing my course.

tumblr. Really?

I revisited Tumblr after seeing Paul Constant (TheStranger.com) use it to post videos and have them appear on Facebook, but dang if it wouldn't work for me. And this after I went back, having joined a couple of years ago and finding it no added value to what I was already doing.


Search Tumblr help, "Error uploading audio file," and see what that gets ya. That's what I did after not succeeding at posting an mp3 file. They got back to me initially on my ticket, but no follow up. Now I just feel unloved. That's my story.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Do you banish Wikipedia from your classroom? Altogether--even as a secondary source? Here's an idea for a new approach: have your students contribute a Wikipedia article as a course assignment.

This isn't my idea, but I like it. I read about on Clioweb, "Three Roles for Teaching Using Technology": http://clioweb.org/2009/02/07/three-roles-for-teachers-using-technology/ (See Jeremy's example under the second role, "Instructor as Tech Support."

Have students gain information literacy and research and writing skills in one fell swoop, and pick up a little netiquette and collaboration savvy along the way.

Source:
Boggs, Jeremy . "ClioWeb Blog Archive » Three Roles for Teachers using Technology."ClioWeb . 12 Aug. 2009 http://clioweb.org/2009/02/07/three-roles-for-teachers-using-technology/.

And thanks, Elizabeth Koh (http://twitter.com/elizabethkoh), for passing this along on Twitter.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Practice is all there is to it

That old "Practice makes Perfect" adage we know is true, though we wish it weren't. (Ever had to practice scales on a musical instrument?) Here at this link, in an excerpt from the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland (which I plan to read--will put it on my library queue), is the concept in a nutshell: http://kottke.org/09/02/art-and-fear (go have a look for yourself).

See? Sez it.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Just take a look at Facebook if you don't believe it

"Me, me, me! America’s ‘Narcissism Epidemic’": a book review at TODAY Books, MSNBC, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30312181//

The article's sub-title, "Authors say long-term consequences are destructive to society,"  makes you think, "Ok, out-of-touch old people with good-ol'-days syndrome predict societal changes as evil." Video image shows a woman with Anita Bryant hair. But here's an excerpt:
When observing cultural change — especially changes in the negative direction — one runs the risk of mistaking one's aging for a true shift in culture. Change is difficult to take when you're older, and it's easy to conclude that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. We have tried to avoid this bias by finding as much hard data and considering as many perspectives as we could. Many cultural changes were eminently quantifiable: the fivefold increase in plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures in just ten years, the growth of celebrity gossip magazines, Americans spending more than they earn and racking up huge amounts of debt, the growing size of houses, the increasing popularity of giving children unique names, polling data on the importance of being rich and famous, and the growing number of people who cheat. We also journeyed outside the research data by gathering stories and opinions through our online survey at www.narcissismepidemic.com (we have changed respondents' names and, in some cases, identifying information). Since this is a book about culture, we explore media events, pop culture happenings, and Internet phenomena. We also talked to our students to get perspectives from the younger generation. We were somewhat shocked to find that many graduate students — most in their mid-twenties — think things have gotten worse in their lifetimes. Undergraduates are more accepting of the current culture but often report feeling tremendous pressure to self-promote and keep up in a materialistic world.
Interesting article about society that is increasingly stressful on so many levels. I'm thinking we need a little Dr. Timothy Leary philosophy pretty soon--the "drop out" part. Or maybe not. Maybe that's where it all started. (damn hippies!)

Source:
"Me, me, me! America’s ‘Narcissism Epidemic’." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 22 May 2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30312181//

More (if you can take it!):
"Can you spot the Facebook narcissist? Study: The self-obsessed use Facebook the same way they do relationships" at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26904719/

"Can you spot the Facebook narcissist? - LiveScience- msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. 26 Sep. 2008. 22 May 2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26904719/

Citation generator: Bibme at http://bibme.org/ 

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Seattle's New Bartering

Got no cash? Get goods and services anyway using Seattle-based bartering site Dibspace.com. Clever idea. Read all about it in Seattle's one and only remaining (for now) traditional print newspaper, The Seattle Times. Here, ironically, is the link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009029111_dibspace13m0.html.


Source:
Ramirez, Marc. "Local News No cash? Barter for services with "dibits" Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times Seattle Times Newspaper. 15 Apr. 2009 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Citation generated by http://bibme.com/.

Friday, April 03, 2009

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Technology In Higher

Picked this up on Twitter from Intellagirl.