Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Technology Class Overhaul

I am so excited about technology. . . And maybe that is not a good thing. I am getting to teach my first graduate level technology class this summer and in my zeal to share my love of technology I think I may have overdone it! I decided to use wikis as an electronic portfolio format, so I created my own wiki as an example. But in my haste, I created a wiki, a course calendar, and assignment sheets that don't match each other! ARGHHH! I hate it when that happens and I REALLY hate it when I do it.

So here is my dilemma, how to share my love of technology with my students, meet the state department of education standards for the course, and make reasonable assignments all at the same time? My students suggested that I make a check list for each class of what I expected them to accomplish so they would know if they are on the right track. This sounded like a good idea so I will try it. I also realized that I had them take learning style inventories last week and then completely ignored those results. Most of my students are visual learners with kinesthetic being the second most common mode of learning. Yet I am using basically an auditory approach to teaching technology. So I will change the way I present my material and find some tutorials to share with my students.

Last but not least, how do show them how to communicate and collaborate with tools of technology even if I don't grade them on it? I want to instill in my graduate students a love of technology and a willingness to explore and play with new tools.

No comments: