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 FlickrFlickr

Qualities I miss from my undergraduate days Academic 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 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 TodayWeb 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us A Vision of Students Today Worker’s Playtime (Jenny Darrow’s blog) − Mike Caulfield − Web 2.0 Teaching Tools −

You Know Where to Find Me − (academic website) − (T Blog) −mendhamt on Meebo (instant messenger) − (Keene-Ning online social network) − (explore my bookmarks on social computing) − (explore my bookmarks of all things cool)