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Teaching with Technology Session Descriptions
Course Design with Technology in Mind: Enhancing Learning and Experimentation
9:00am-9:55am
Location: Seegers Union 111/112
Our students are so-called "digital natives": they are used to using a vast array of technologies alien to many faculty. Knowing something about this digital world can help us better to connect with students and create assignments that help them to demonstrate the skills we are trying to teach them in our courses. At the same time, we should also think about what makes teaching satisfying and fun for us. The first part of this session discusses the benefits to students of using assignments and activities that include technology. The rest of the session discusses ways that technology can help professors save time and address specific learning goals. While many technologies can simply be "add-ons" to enhance a particular lesson, in many cases, thinking about what course goal we want a particular technology to achieve will make our use of the technology most effective. Ultimately technology can be used to foster the kind of experimentation that makes teaching fun, and so we will also offer strategies and resources available for professors to learn new tools. (Facilitated by Lisa Perfetti and Jen Jarson.)
Communicating Creatively
10:00am-11:00am (Breakout One, Option One)
Location: Seegers Union 111/112
Communication and conversation are central to meaningful learning experiences, giving students a chance to explore and negotiate with each other. Technology that creates flexible learning spaces enables students to extend the conversation outside the physical classroom, as well as creatively consider and interact with material. Participants in this session will consider how relevant technology tools can help facilitate communication in and out of class, enabling students to connect with course content, faculty, and fellow students. John Sullivan will discuss the pros/cons of blogging projects he has implemented, as well as how to develop some interesting and effective assignments using blogging. Diane Follet will discuss her implementation of the social networking tool Ning to facilitate the building of community, thereby fostering a level of engagement with the material and with the other students that supports thoughtful discussion in the classroom. Participants may also want to share their own experiences or questions regarding how to help students connect and communicate with their classmates in creative ways using, for example, Facebook, Twitter, or virtual worlds like Second Life.
Engaging Students Visually
10:00am-11:00am (Breakout One, Option Two)
Location: Shankweiler 234s
Many of our students are "visual learners." Incorporating visual materials into assignments and classroom activities can enhance learning, but some ways of incorporating visual materials are more effective than others. Laura Edelman and Kathy Harring will provide an overview of the research on cognitive processing and apply these findings to the use of PowerPoint technology in the classroom. They will outline specific "dos" and "don'ts" for creating educationally effective slides that engage students and support their learning. Mike Huber will talk about how he uses "SMART boards," which take a visual picture of classroom discussions, helping students to grasp abstract concepts as well as to interact with visual information in a way that serves to build on previous learning. Participants might want to also share their own experiences or questions about YouTube, MDID and other easily-accessible sources of visual images to save time and facilitate interaction in class.
Engineering Collaboration
11:15am-12:15pm (Breakout Two, Option One)
Location: Seegers Union 111/112
Collaborative experiences in the classroom can be very rewarding for students, both to enhance learning and develop classroom community. Yet, collaboration-with or without technology-can be difficult to effectively facilitate. Session participants will consider the following questions: Why choose collaboration as a strategy? What collaborative tools are available and how can they be used? As Sharon Albert and Lora Taub explore their use of collaboration tools like wikis, Google Docs, and more, participants will focus on the opportunities and challenges these tools afford, as well as on techniques used to facilitate constructive collaboration.
Facilitating Dynamic Discussions
11:15am-12:15pm (Breakout Two, Option Two)
Location: Shankweiler 234s
Facilitating a dynamic discussion rests on two main principles: asking good questions and creating an environment that makes students want to participate. In this session we discuss several technologies that can make the best of these two principles. Chris Borick and Brett Fadem will share their uses of classroom response systems ("clickers"), which enable all students to simultaneously report a response to a question posed. Chris Kovats-Bernat will discuss his experience using online discussion boards (through Blackboard or Moodle) as a means of facilitating out-of-classroom dialogue concerning course material, enhancing in-class participation, and encouraging student investment in course content.
