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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 Flickr
Qualities I miss from my undergraduate daysAcademic 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 http://keeneweb.org and click “Sign me up!”
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 Today
• Worker’s Playtime (Jenny Darrow’s blog)−http://keeneweb.org/workersplaytime/
• Mike Caulfield−http://mikecaulfield.com/
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools−http://web20teach.blogspot.com/
You Know Where to Find Me
−http://academics.keene.edu/tmendham (academic website)
−http://keeneweb.org/tmendham (T Blog)−tmendham@keene.edu−mendhamt on Meebo (instant messenger)−http://keenening.ning.com (Keene-Ning online
social network)−http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/socialnetworking
(explore my bookmarks on social computing)−http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/cool (explore my
bookmarks of all things cool)
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