Handout for my Teaching Outside the "Box" invited presentation for the professional development event "going beyond google" at Monroe Community College by the division of science, health, and business on January 21, 2010.
http://prezi.com/cjmoerciiegp/
Step out of the CMS box with me for a presentation on how freely available web2.0 tools such as twitter are used in my online course and could be used to enhance instruction in general. Tools will be demonstrated, uses will be discussed, and examples shown.
Online social networking, social computing, folksonomy/ social/ collaborative tagging, data mashups, ubiquitous broadband, wireless, hand-held and mobile computing, mobile broadband, and the cultural shift from passive consumers of content to engaged user-generators of content, have brought about a grassroots revolution: we have experienced a global democratization of access to tools, information, experts, content, professional development, and education as evinced by the open courseware and open source software initiatives that have changed how education is delivered, conducted, and defined.
It is important for those of us in the field of online education, as responsible netizens and educators in this moment, to participate, to evaluate, to document, and to expose our students to and engage them in this process. Effective online pedagogical/andragogical practices require that we use the online medium to achieve specific learning objectives and leverage the options and limitations of the online teaching and learning environment to make teaching and learning better, faster, safer, easier, and cheaper. It is not about immigrants vs. natives; it is about enhancing instruction with appropriate technologies that promote student engagement, interaction, and learning.
I incorporated these various web2.0 tools into the course for various reasons, but primarily to open the course boundaries beyond the CMS box to provide students with authentic social learning experiences. I also wanted student access to content they created and contributed to the class to persist beyond the end of the term. I will share with participants the lessons learned as I experimented with ways to enhance online instruction. Student survey results and comments will be presented.