Before I start addressing the readings for this week, I must note the importance of reminding me that technology is ever-changing and that the readings are tools that present guidelines on how to use digital media within a course. Technology is a discipline that changes rapidly and just as I use it in the business world; it is up to me to take the initiative to seek out what technology is at my disposal.
Sara Horton’s Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites provides an interesting argument – course websites facilitate face-to-face teaching. She uses the five chapters to provide steps in developing a course web site. I like that she teaches with example; providing interviews with experienced website creators, as well as summaries and references. Even though some of the technology has since advanced since Horton wrote this book she offers valued direction on the creation, implementation, and assessment of a course website; as well as highlighting the importance of re-tooling the website based on the various assessments of the website.I enjoyed reading the article “Rewiring the History and Social Studies Classroom: Needs, Frameworks, Dangers, and Proposals” by Randy Bass and Roy Rosenzweig. The article presents the principles of “where computers, networks, digital media are and aren’t useful” and by doing so brings the focus to overarching guidelines rather than the technology at hand. They approach technology as something that should be integrated and focus on when and how to incorporate it.
Horton and the Bass/Rosenzweig article offer guidelines on implementing digital media in the classroom of the digital age and the other articles I chose to read offer guidance on how this integration should take place – from what content to include, keeping learning active, as well as the overall design of websites.
Each article still made me think about the time necessary to ensure that not only is the information provided through digital media apt, making sure students use technology correctly, but also time to create and design digital media tools for the classroom. For example, Ringrose’s article shows, through the two case studies, how much time it takes for the teacher to implement technology as well as the time spent by students in creating projects with technology As I look over my notes – something as simple as putting a syllabus up online takes additional time than the traditional paper version. What happens when the links provided to weekly readings go down? How much time should the professor put into to making sure all the links are functioning? How much additional time is expected of the student to seek out the posted articles from other sites if the links are down?
Digital media is an exciting addition to the learning process. It opens doors to primary sources otherwise unavailable in traditional outlets. Yet until we are able to remedy the barrier that still exists with funding and technology, how can we expect using technology in a classroom the standard? The barrier has shrunk, but there still is a divide in preparation. Just as some students come to the university with college prep, others still come with basic learning tools because they simply came from and under-resourced school – and this just applies to the knowledge not even a technological school set. Moreover, I bring it back to the issue of time – How much time does the college professor need to spend bringing his/her students on to a level playing field in terms of technology, not just the ability to learn in a collegiate setting? Wouldn’t it be great to offer a general education class that enables students to use digital media effectively – providing them with the tools to assess good sites from bad, using archives for research, etc.?
I realize that I am using this week’s blog as more of a sounding board rather than a concise analysis of the readings. I find that this week’s readings had me asking many questions. There are so many issues to consider with integrating technology – from content, skill set, and design. It is almost as if a new profession could be created of which the sole purpose would be using effectively digital media in the digital age classroom. From individual course websites, to combing through a vast number of sites to weed the good from the bad, to teaching students how to use digital media as a learning tool incorporating technology is still so new and as the readings provide, whether out of date or not, they assist us in our pursuit of using digital media in the classroom.
Gretchen:
I wonder how many teachers are willing to put the time and effort you noted into creating the digital portions of their class beyond the online syllabus. It seems like as time goes by most teachers will probably avail themselves of the resources that are handed to them by their departments wherein the secretary is perhaps tasked with putting the syllabi online or a TA scans content to be made available. I suspect and maybe I’m overly pessimistic that most teachers won’t take the time to teach web authoring skills or learn them themselves. This may all become a moot point if things develop to the point where adding content becomes similar in ease to cut and paste or students surpass the teachers. Until that point I don’t think there will be a huge shift in teaching strategies for the majority.
Comment by Kurt — October 3, 2006 @ 3:00 pm
Gretchen -
The question of time is probably the most serious inhibitor to the growth of using new media in course curriculums. It seems that as you have gleaned from the articles that teachers and some students will require training and real time applying their new skills to develop sufficient proficiency to before designing a web site or using new media. Teachers may even think that they now have two, or possibly three jobs, one to teach class, a second to learn how to be a professoinal educator using new media, and finally, a resercher if a professor. Has new media demanded another degree, or minor upon the teacher, one for new media skills? I wonder if the significant demand on time is an issue only for current educators and some students. Will the next generation of educators and student possess such computer skills that no proficiency training or time to retrain is required?
Gary
Comment by Gary — October 3, 2006 @ 5:39 pm
The issueof time seems to be popping up all over the blog this week. It seems that not only willthe technical skills require time spent, as many of you have noted, but requiring students to use new media to produce material, as mentioned in Coventry or Cohen/Rosenzweig, will require a greater effort on teachers as far as assessment goes as well. Perhaps this could be an unitended benefit of new media–smaller classes (and hopefully more professors :^))
Comment by Ken — October 3, 2006 @ 7:14 pm