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...
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About Me
- Jeff Stanzler
- This will be my fifth time teaching Ed 504 with Liz, and before this stint I spent five years as part of the MAC faculty team while I was a doctoral student. From 1999-2003, I taught Educational Foundations, did field supervision, evaluated portfolios, and coordinated job search activities. I found MAC to be a challenging, but a very rewarding place, and I am glad to be involved again with MAC in an instructional capacity. My "day job" is as director of the Interactive Communications & Simulations (ICS) group, which for more than twenty years has been designing and facilitating computer-mediated curricular activities for a worldwide network of students. Our projects utilize simulation, vicarious travel and creative writing to bring peers into ongoing intellectual relationships, relationships which are supported by teams of university student "mentors."
2 comments:
Jeff,
I know a lot of us (including myself) have been making critical comments on our blogs about the Friday on-line chats. I want to express to you that we are in no way trying to belittle the hard work that you and Liz invest into creating these opportunities for us!
I know that I was trying to share ideas about how I would maybe improve the conversation. However, I am not aware of a lot of the logistics involved in setting something up like this for 55 students. Us MACers can be overly critical sometimes....
I know that I learned a lot from talking to Mary Jane, and she is a great and approachable contact person. So, thanks - teachers don't hear that enough.
Courtney, we asked for your honest feedback and you were honoring our request...neither of us took it as belittling what we did.
Having said that, I appreciate the spirit of your comments and I thank you. Jeff
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