Pathway to Pedagogy

Tracy Mendham, MFA

Keene State College

CELT Presentation

March 28, 2008

A Technology-Infused Curriculum

• Social computing as means of

facilitating academic discourse and

developing writing skills

• My top three picks of social

computing for general use in

different courses

• How to use them and why

So many websites, so little…dignity

By Stabilo Boss, on Flickr

Qualities I miss from my undergraduate daysAcademic culture “in my day”

−Academic discourse−Testing ideas in face-to-face discussions to develop critical thinking−“Face time” where when argues for an idea in a seminar or other semi-formal group discussion encourages identifying oneself with some−Writing as a multi-stage process and a social process

Academic culture today

−“Dancing bear” syndrome−Grades primary motivation—college as a hurdle−Classroom discussion either performance to meet requirements or to win a contest−Writing alone and for the teacher in one draft

Tools to extend the learning environment

• Top Three Picks−Blogs−Instant messaging−Online social networks

Blogs

• Model continuous, ongoing discussions

• Links to other blogs and comments

allow conversation and awareness of

oneself as a member of a community

of scholars

• Build audience awareness—the reader

becomes a fact, not a theory

IM

• Instant Messaging ss the new

phone… deal with it

• Not as troublesome as you might

think

• It shows that you to be the caring,

available, teacher that you are, and

what long hours you work

Online Social Networks

• Most students already understand them

better than you do

• Discussion forums with assigned

questions encourage students to identify

with what they say and compose

thoughts before voicing them

• Helps you learn students names and

faces

What software needs to be for me • Free (for me and the students, if not for

the school)

• Something I can learn and teach without more than two formal training sessions

• Students and other users don’t have to download anything

• Cross-platform (Mac or PC)

• Advances specific course goals

Keeneweb Pilot Program

•Uses WordPress:−Two hours or more to learn−Powerful

•Allows multiple pages•Feeds are easy•No ads•Choice of lots of template designs•Supported by KSC instructional technology folks

•How:−Go to http://keeneweb.org and click “Sign me up!”

Simple as pie with a keene.edu or ksc.mailcruiser.com address

Sign in and pick a new username

If you want a huge project you can have students create individual blogs

Or start out smaller: Have one blog, post questions for students to comment on

Or have use it for a project or to present your work

Meebo

Free, sign on to multiple accounts on one web page

Meebo Me Widgets

(Meebo-me widget in action)

Ning Online Social Network

• Free (if you can tolerate Google ads in sidebar)

• Not Facebook or MySpace--Less distracting, new environment

Keene-Ning

Students can ask questions of a member (like my gracious speaker Laura Clawson)

And they have assigned discussions to take part in

My Advice

• Stop worrying and learn to love the Web

• Go to instructional technology brown-bag

luncheons and instruction sessions even for tools

you don’t know about or need yet

• Have meetings with instructional technology

liaisons and library liaisons (and listen to what

they say)

• Make teaching a learning experience for yourself

as well as your students

More Information

• Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us , a short video by cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch, and A Vision of Students Today

• Worker’s Playtime (Jenny Darrow’s blog)−http://keeneweb.org/workersplaytime/

• Mike Caulfield−http://mikecaulfield.com/

• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools−http://web20teach.blogspot.com/

You Know Where to Find Me

−http://academics.keene.edu/tmendham (academic website)

−http://keeneweb.org/tmendham (T Blog)−tmendham@keene.edu−mendhamt on Meebo (instant messenger)−http://keenening.ning.com (Keene-Ning online

social network)−http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/socialnetworking

(explore my bookmarks on social computing)−http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/cool (explore my

bookmarks of all things cool)