SPRING 2009_2 :: Engaging Students with Emerging Technologies

[Brandy]

Why (or why not) do we need to engage our students with emerging
technologies?
Comments and insight about the video clip?

[Mark DuBois]

I make the assumption the video in question is the one located at
http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o&hl=en&fs=1

Having spent the last decade trying to eat my own cooking (use the
technologies that I am teaching to students), I believe it is
imperative to use emerging technologies to help students. First and
foremost, not everyone learns in the same manner. Therefore, some will
actually prefer a lecture (few), some will prefer hands on activities
(many), others will prefer more reading/ commenting (some) and so
forth. That being said, emerging technologies typically do engage the
student more than older technologies.

As an example, I will cite the work of a colleague (Phil Ice - not yet
published). He made a comparison of students making comments on
other's work using various technologies. For example, one can use a MS-
Word document and ask students to review and comment (using track
changes and so forth). He then compared using emerging technologies
(such as Acrobat.com) and asking students to perform the same task
(review and comment). I believe students were 8 times more likely to
comment using the emerging technology. The number of comments was also
significantly higher.

Unfortunately, those who are older may not be able to readily grasp
these technologies. Yep, that would be us - the faculty. For example,
if one is under 25 and uses Acrobat.com and is asked to create a
shared document, they will create one document and share it with
others. If one is over 25 (as most of us are), we would typically each
create a single document and then try to share it (instead of
initially relying on one shared document). I am not quite certain I am
explaining this properly, but using these new technologies requires a
significant change in thinking.

Therefore, my short answer is - yes, we need to use these
technologies. However, we need to understand these technologies before
using them (and understand that we may need to change the way we think
about many issues before deploying such technologies). Ok, that is my
2 cents for this afternoon.

[Laura]

I just watched the video and I thought it was sad and scary at the
same time. I think our students have been trying to get our attention
for years about this and some of us listen whiles other dont. As long
as we integrate technology correctly into our classes, I think our
students will really use it. For example, if we can podcast certain
aspects of our classes and let the student download the podcast from
itunes, they would get more out of the class.
I think Im going to show this video to my classes and see what their
reaction is to it. Ill be interested to hear their comments.

[bthat]

If you don't mind, share their comments with us. I think it'll be
interesting to see what they think about it.
I talk to students now that have never had an email address. They have
a facebook account and if you want to send them a message or you ask
for their email address; they tell you to look them up in facebook. I
think while we need to help them open their minds and see that there
are more tools then facebook, we should embrace the technology and not
only introduce them to new technology, but show them ways to use it
for professional development, time managment and more.

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