Wednesday, July 12, 2006

this is an audio post - click to play

Student Creation

Mike made a most understandable comment indicating his eagerness to start focusing on teaching methodology (in his case, regarding Math). That makes lots of sense to me...ultimately, that concern speaks to the heart of why you're all here. It happened that I was reading feeds off of a couple of teacher blogs that I like, and saw something, coincidentally, about math. It's something called mathcasts, and it's a collection of "whiteboard videos" that walk the viewer through math concepts or problem solving. It's very cool:
(see http://www.mathcasts.org/) and it utilizes the technology of a wiki (which has, as a key strength, the capacity to collect and modify a set of commenly-accessible resources--more on Friday). In short, kids create simple movies, viewable on screen, that illustrate how to tackle math problems, or that describe concepts. They use both simple video and audio. Have a look...

I mention all of this because I am reminded that one of the exciting *potentials* about some of these tech tools (mathcasts being a fine example) is that they place students in the roles of teachers and producers of educational content. We have talked (and will CONTINUE to talk) about some of the worries about the use of computers creating passive students who must be entertained. These are IMPORTANT concerns. At the same time, mathcasts is one reminder that there is also the potential here to turn learning into something dynamic, something that has the potential to impact others, and that can give students a real-world purpose to do things, along with opportunities to get some validation for what they're capable of.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

To chat or not to chat?

Both Liz and I appreciate people's willingness to try new things AND the healthy skepticism expressed on Friday about using chat during class. Lots of good questions were raised, and I know that the fact that we get transcripts of the conversations *will* change the nature of the conversation. In this instance, we're trying something out that has a clear benefit for the instructors (us now, you guys *very* shortly) but that closes out one possible utility for students. It's easy to see where one benefit of having chat, from the perspective of a student, would be to be able to have an ongoing conversation about what's happening in class (or what isn't) that would surely have a different nature if we didn't have access to a transcript of what was said. I guess we'll have to see if it has any value for any of us...I remain a skeptic, to be honest.
The thing that I'm curious about is the possibility that some people who might not be able to get into the conversation, or who have lots to say but don't want to dominate, can get their ideas "out there" while they're fresh. All of this is also based, in part, on an assumption that we make, generationally, about most of you. This being that all of you 20-somethings are better able to multi-task than people of my generation.
As we welcome and share your skepticism, we'll make the use of the tool into a subject unto itself. Let's see where it leads us...