Friday, May 17th (12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)

We began the Workshop with introductions, some questions from SU's Teaching and Learning with Technology Roundtable, and several presentations by the faculty about their use of computers in their courses and research. The goal of the presentations was to understand and share projects with the group, discuss how Teaching and Technology projects suggest answers to some of the TLTR questions (and/or suggest new questions).

Some common questions addressed by the presentations are: 1) How can technologies like web sites, presentation tools like Powerpoint, and Course Management Systems like WebCT support on-campus courses?; 2) How can these technologies make project learning more attractive and successful?; and 3) Can/Should the introduction of new media in undergraduate teaching change our goals, practices and expectations about teaching and learning? In addition, the group identified three areas of common concern:

• Technology and "Thinking": How can the use of technology in teaching promote data analysis, an awareness of assumptions and differing perspectives, and an improvement in the development of interpretive skills and judgements?
• "Usability": What are the design issues involved in the creation of educational content and what criteria should we use to evaluate the usefulness of a digital resource?
• Technology and the Social: (How) Can the use of new technologies contribute to genuine instances of "community", promote the quality and quantity of classroom interactions, and allow for more flexible creation of student "roles".

To stimulate further discussion of these questions, we'll look at several projects that illustrate answers to some or all of these questions

• The Geographer's Craft and the Virtual Department of Geography

• The Decameron Web and the The Victorian Web.

• Aspects of Perception, PY0027 and Color Theory, VA10, and Mass Media, PS111 (Educational Software Seminar Projects at Brown).

• Port of Entry, The Tirocchi Project, and The 360 Degrees Project.

For tomorrow's session, choose one or more of these sites and identify:

1. A pegagogical technique or goal that the project promotes or illustrates well; 2. The way the digital resources is at odds with some worthwhile pedagogical technique or goals; and 3. An aspect of the project that you would like to duplicate, emulate or otherwise mimic in your own work (i.e. a "how could I do this?" question).

Saturday, May 18th (9:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)

The primary theme of Saturday's session(s) will be the production, use and assessment of new technologies and new media in contemporary university teaching. In the morning session we'll review the homework assignment in small groups, and focus a bit on production techniques and tools. In the afternoon we'll step back from the technology and consider (how to figure out) what is worth doing and why. A final brainstorming session about alternate course structures/organization will complete the day.

References and Bibliography


MTI Summer Workshop for Education Faculty
SU's Teaching and Learning with Technology Roundtable Bibliography
The Social Life of Information, the web site for the book by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid

© 2002 Roger B. Blumberg