Through this course, Multimedia for Online Teaching, I have been introduced to many new tools for online education and also tools which have a place in a more traditional classroom. I think it is hard to escape the use of internet tools and technology in education no matter where the class is taking place. I have always been interested in visual literacy and the visual arts and how they intersect with writing, so this course really helped me understand how I might integrate visual technologies into a writing workshop without taking away from the main task of teaching students to become better writers and thinkers.
As I said in one of my discussion board posts: there are two things to think about while learning these tools & methods: 1) the skills/tools I will implement to communicate with/instruct students, and 2) the skills/tools I will want students to have/use in order to work with each other—these may not be the same things or be used the same ways. Of the tools, which incorporate visual elements, the most useful for me as an instructor will be Google slides, Brainshark to narrate those slides, and some of the web 2.0 tools we experimented with in Module 7. These work well with what my goals for a writing workshop will be: illustrating the processes of writing and revision, presenting assignments for their writing, and introducing technologies to help them collaborate with each other on their writing. For students, I think tools like Power Point, Prezi, and Google Slides are already second nature, my own kids have been putting together PP presentations since grade school and use Prezi and Google docs & slides in the high school; but, tools like Brainshark enhance and add possibilities to the static nature of these presentations. Web 2.0 tools will be useful to engage students and to help them think through issues of media and content/writing and context.
In terms of other technologies, not just visual, learning to use Audacity to make podcasts was also important and more fun than I expected. Making podcasts is a good way to introduce certain kinds of material, ideas, and concepts into an online class because it humanizes and personalizes the information and helps fill the often silent space between student and computer. I do think there is something to the personalization principle, so many of the technologies we have learned are created to minimize the distance or gaps between all of us when we connect online—when we teach away from our students. We want students to feel part of a community of learners. For a writing workshop, it is essential to create a community of writers from the get-go, so tools and technologies which help me do that are the ones I focus my attention on first: blogs, discussion boards, Google docs, etc. I know there are more for me to learn, including the use of online groups, face time, and video applications. Learning those and thinking about which will be most useful given what my goals are, will be the next steps.
As I said in one of my discussion board posts: there are two things to think about while learning these tools & methods: 1) the skills/tools I will implement to communicate with/instruct students, and 2) the skills/tools I will want students to have/use in order to work with each other—these may not be the same things or be used the same ways. Of the tools, which incorporate visual elements, the most useful for me as an instructor will be Google slides, Brainshark to narrate those slides, and some of the web 2.0 tools we experimented with in Module 7. These work well with what my goals for a writing workshop will be: illustrating the processes of writing and revision, presenting assignments for their writing, and introducing technologies to help them collaborate with each other on their writing. For students, I think tools like Power Point, Prezi, and Google Slides are already second nature, my own kids have been putting together PP presentations since grade school and use Prezi and Google docs & slides in the high school; but, tools like Brainshark enhance and add possibilities to the static nature of these presentations. Web 2.0 tools will be useful to engage students and to help them think through issues of media and content/writing and context.
In terms of other technologies, not just visual, learning to use Audacity to make podcasts was also important and more fun than I expected. Making podcasts is a good way to introduce certain kinds of material, ideas, and concepts into an online class because it humanizes and personalizes the information and helps fill the often silent space between student and computer. I do think there is something to the personalization principle, so many of the technologies we have learned are created to minimize the distance or gaps between all of us when we connect online—when we teach away from our students. We want students to feel part of a community of learners. For a writing workshop, it is essential to create a community of writers from the get-go, so tools and technologies which help me do that are the ones I focus my attention on first: blogs, discussion boards, Google docs, etc. I know there are more for me to learn, including the use of online groups, face time, and video applications. Learning those and thinking about which will be most useful given what my goals are, will be the next steps.