I think that as I write for this blog I'll devote each post to a very specific idea, hopefully keeping my thoughts a little more cohesive. Now that I've finished my first year of college the thing that is most clear to me is that the time I spend online for school is very one-sided, that is, there is almost no interactivity. If I have to login to my Portal (Poly's online network) than it is typically just to check for email from a professor, see if test grades or posted or start planning a schedule for the upcoming quarter.
I wouldn't consider Poly's system bad, everything I have ever needed to do online has worked quite well, however, I would definitely consider it under used. Friends of mine in the College of Engineering are participating in online discussion groups about projects, taking online quizzes that provide instant feedback and submitting assignments digitally. Many of these professors have a highly technical background and can manage the content and information necessary to make this happen. Over in the College of Liberal Arts the situation is quite different, I rarely find more than grades.
To sum things up, instances such as this call for software intended for educators not to necessarily substitute classroom content but to facilitate online communication with students. Some professors, though highly skilled in a particular field, may not have extensive computer skills or may have too heavy a workload to manage physical and virtual classrooms. Mass market online communities like Facebook and MySpace posses some of the necessary qualities: they are very easy to use, allow a wealth of media to be easily shared among a group of people and allow easy communication between large groups. If a product could be produced that takes some of these qualities but tailors them to education, distributing Word documents and Keynote/Powerpoint slides, Flash tutorials, etc., then studying for an exam of collaborating with other students could change radically and lead to increased productivity for both students and professors.
6/30/07
6/20/07
A student's view
Hello, all -
As a new contributor to MITE and NROC I'm excited to start posting with views on education and the Internet from the view of a college student. To start, I am attending California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, a school known mostly for it's programs in engineering and architecture although the list of majors is quite extensive.
To provide an underlying theme to my future posts, my main hope is to see my personal use of the Internet expand beyond just social networking and emailing my family back at home. As a graphic design student I am fascinated by the prospects of Web 2.0. As I look at sites like Digg and Facebook and seeing how much interesting and exciting content can be created and how such a strong sense of community can be fostered by intuitive, functional software, I'm eager for the same technology to spread to more "practical" aspects of everyday life, particularly as a student, education. With the software that is available and the strides that have been made by current designers and programmers, there is no reason that a majority of my web usage shouldn't be dedicated to expanding my education.
Hence, I find myself working on projects and writing in this blog for MITE, hoping to contribute in someway to this goal of taking the web off the sidelines and putting it at the forefront as a functional tool.
As a new contributor to MITE and NROC I'm excited to start posting with views on education and the Internet from the view of a college student. To start, I am attending California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, a school known mostly for it's programs in engineering and architecture although the list of majors is quite extensive.
To provide an underlying theme to my future posts, my main hope is to see my personal use of the Internet expand beyond just social networking and emailing my family back at home. As a graphic design student I am fascinated by the prospects of Web 2.0. As I look at sites like Digg and Facebook and seeing how much interesting and exciting content can be created and how such a strong sense of community can be fostered by intuitive, functional software, I'm eager for the same technology to spread to more "practical" aspects of everyday life, particularly as a student, education. With the software that is available and the strides that have been made by current designers and programmers, there is no reason that a majority of my web usage shouldn't be dedicated to expanding my education.
Hence, I find myself working on projects and writing in this blog for MITE, hoping to contribute in someway to this goal of taking the web off the sidelines and putting it at the forefront as a functional tool.
6/8/07
Teaching with Web 2.0 technologies
Hello from the TTIX conference in beautiful Orem, Utah. The snow-capped mountains ringing the valley a sparkling with new snow, in June!
I'm attending a conference sponsored by Utah Valley State College called the "Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange Conference." It's a great regional conference model, hosted by the distance learning team at UVSC and free to participants. UVSC invited proposals about using technology in teaching and gathered peers from around the region and afar.
Not surprising, the most common themes at the conference were collaboration and using Web 2.0 tools. Blogging, Wikis, Google Tools, Podcasting, Second Life and more. The sessions included presentations and hands-on workshops. I did a presentation and a workshop on social authoring. All the sessions where recorded for others to view in the future.
If you live anywhere in the Utah area, or just want an excuse to visit, watch for the conference next summer. One gentleman traveled from Ankara Turkey to present and share ideas, but most participants came from Utah and neighboring states.
Watch for our NROC webinars on Web 2.0 tools and on social authoring, or catch one of my upcoming presentations at the League's College Summit, Distel2, ALN or CIT.
- Ruth
I'm attending a conference sponsored by Utah Valley State College called the "Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange Conference." It's a great regional conference model, hosted by the distance learning team at UVSC and free to participants. UVSC invited proposals about using technology in teaching and gathered peers from around the region and afar.
Not surprising, the most common themes at the conference were collaboration and using Web 2.0 tools. Blogging, Wikis, Google Tools, Podcasting, Second Life and more. The sessions included presentations and hands-on workshops. I did a presentation and a workshop on social authoring. All the sessions where recorded for others to view in the future.
If you live anywhere in the Utah area, or just want an excuse to visit, watch for the conference next summer. One gentleman traveled from Ankara Turkey to present and share ideas, but most participants came from Utah and neighboring states.
Watch for our NROC webinars on Web 2.0 tools and on social authoring, or catch one of my upcoming presentations at the League's College Summit, Distel2, ALN or CIT.
- Ruth
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