Weekly blog from Ocober 6th

What was the most significant thing you learned in class this week?
The main point that was sent home to me this week was that while technology and the web offer promise of efficiencies and productiveness there is a steep set up curve. I have now been in classes for four school days and it has all been about getting used to new systems. It isn't that all my time is spent on the systems themselves, there has been some content absorbed, but a certain lack of fluency in navigating the systems has made my class and home work a little more hectic.

It is not just that I am an technology immigrant. It turns out that I'm the only student in Physics taking notes on a laptop, and there was student grumbling about the class not being listed as a distance learning class (it isn't). Lots of the younger (native) students were having trouble making sense of the class interface and the separate homework interface. I already am becoming more fluent and my self consciousness of being an immigrant has made me hustle to stay ahead.

Robin's goal of a paperless class is great but not having that several paper syllabus that gets handed out the first day took a little adjustment.I think I am finally getting a grip on all the online components of the Technology class.


What questions do you have and what do you want to learn more about?

I really would like to start to understand how we can critically evaluate technologies and teaching methods. This is what I would like to delve into in this degree. I think that first I have to settle on what we are trying to accomplish in education and when I have a clear sense of that I want to learn how best to address accomplishing this. If Twitter is a great teaching tool I really first need to articulate what teaching is before I can address whether Twitter is an effective tool.

What applications do you see to classroom practice based on what you learned?

With my limited sense of education and pedagogy the single strand that seemed to unite this last week was a germinating sense of community. In every case of the technology curve it was clear there were others on my path and all signs point toward these technologies showing me a little more about the people and subjects in the classes than I would traditionally see. This is no critical evaluation but I sense that this new expanded view can help the classroom.