class-technology-proposals

Classroom Technology Proposals

OVERVIEW: I'd like to get feedback from each of you concerning our discussion this morning (Wednesday, February 15) about what technology we should adopt for our class this semester and how we should implement it. To that end, please write and then post a paragraph in which you give your thoughts on the proposals we discussed, giving a sense of which one(s) most appealed to you (and why) and what concerns or ideas you might have about how that idea could be implemented.

WHAT TO DO: To make it as easy as possible, simply open up this page for editing (the "edit" button to the upper right of this page, post your text below the line below, then "save" your changes. All of the this should work through D2L right now anyway, but if you have any problems or want to link directly to this page on the wiki the url is http://engl3220.wikispaces.com/class-technology-proposals.

toc Elise Kokonas - Blogging

I think that blogging would be the best choice given that it can be used in such a variety of ways. It could be used for both shorter posts (like direct links to articles with minimal user generated text) or for longer posts that would warrant some replies from the class. I think Tumblr provides an easy to use and visually appealing platform for our posts. I also like that Tumblr would allow us to reblog posts by the thousands of other Tumblr users. While a class Twitter would be quick and might encourage us to post more frequently, I think a blog would better suit the needs of our class.

Sarah Gallas: I believe that the best use of technology in our class based on the presentations would be to use a blog. It has the flexibility to be used in ways that every group claimed would be beneficial, such as posting quick links, longer responses, and having organized class information in one place. I also think that it is practical, easy to use, and wouldn't be too time consuming to concern our course workload. I've used a blog for a class before and I found it very useful, interesting, and felt that it was worth my time.

Ashley Schaffer - Blogging

After our class discussion last Wednesday, I believe the most feasible option to introduce is a blog. Blogging and Twitter were similar in their nature, but I believe blogging would prove more beneficial. First, it is more content oriented than Twitter; one isn't limited to the amount of information they are posting at any given time, and you can make it a creative resource as well. Secondly, those who are not already on Twitter may be opposed to joining. I know, personally, that a different class of mine uses Twitter, and I won't make one solely for class purposes. Since I'm already on Facebook, I have no desire to make a Twitter and leave my footprint somewhere else o n the web.

=TWITTER=

Anonymous
[Jerving's note: The following paragraph was left anonymously - that's fine, if you prefer. But you can also sign your notes if you'd like.]

After listening to each group's idea of a technology that would implement our class, I found that the blog and Twitter ideas were most realistic and appealing. However, after going the pro and cons for each, I found that Twitter will implement the classroom interaction better. For one, I think that Twitter is a great use of of technology that would be useful for communicating with the class quickly, directly, and on-the-go. The best aspect that Twitter offers (in terms of using it as a class tool) is that my classmates and I would be able to share links, articles, and other web addresses via a cell phone. On the other hand, I have used blogs before in other English classes, and I think that they are a great way to share ideas (in the same way that Twitter does) through the internet. The only downside is that blogs (such as Word Press) lack the immediacy that Twitter has. Indeed, blogs allow students to express their ideas in more than 140 characters, but I think that students may feel "forced" to write instead of wanting to. All in all, I think both ideas a a great and realistic way to communicate between the students and the professor, but Twitter will work more efficiently.

Henry Russo
After a little bit of thought I think that the best idea to implement would be a **class twitter**. I think that using twitter would be convenient because posts would be short, but also could provide vast insight after class descusions. Also since I have only recently made a twitter account for myself I can say that it is very easy to learn how to use twitter. Lastly, I think that if we as a class are all connected on twitter then we will have an easier and less formal way of communicating with eachother than using emails which has a certain set of "rules" that at times are unnecessary. In general I thought all the ideas in class were interesting but I think the twitter page will be most beneficial.

=BLOGGING=

Carly Marwitz
For this semester the most feasible options would either be the **Tumbler blog posts** or the communcation with Twitter. Though smart desks or an advanced D2L page would be nice they don't seem to be realistic options. Both Tumbler and Twitter are free applications that everyone can have access to and would be nice supplementary technolgies. Truth be told I have never had a tumbler account or blogged but it seems to me that it is something we could easily do through our wiki page that we already had to sign up for, on the discussion board. I rarely use my existing twitter account because it seems to be a slight hassle with the new measures that they have put in so I don't know if we as a class should try using twitter. Due to the fact that twitter is supposed to be about the ease of use I think the Tumbler idea or some version of this blogging idea would be best. If we do use Tumbler or wiki discussion boards I feel we can accomplish all that we could have through Twitter without being limited to 140 characters or dealing with privacy settings,etc.

Therefore Tumbler blog posts should be an idea we consider to implement. Although I don't necessarily like the idea of obligatory blog postings I know that we need them in order for this idea to become valueable to the class experience. I don't know if Tumbler would be a success persay but it might be an additional resource that we can try and incorporate.

Rev. Toby Baker, Jr., PhD
The Twitter and blog posting suggestions are clearly the two favorites. But when asking yourself, which technology should be implemented to the classroom, it's important to consider you're competing for your reader's attention. In this case the blogpost would suffice.

Tumbler is the happy medium between 140 characters and an essay. The former seeks to condense an elaborate message into a more succinct form, which could cause somebody 2 use textn type words, which compromise grammar rules n order to fit their msg into 1 post. So unprofessional.

Blogging also has organization benefits. It’s easy to connect the message/question to its responses, unlike Twitter. This benefit also helps with navigation; when one wants to see how others responded to a question.

The only negative about the blog post is… umm... let’s see… let me think.


 * Sarah Kikkert**

I think a class **blog** would be the most effective innovative technology we could incorporate into our regular classroom sessions. While the specific assignments and expectations could be flexible, I see one posting per week being reasonable, as long as there is some link of relevancy to our class discussions. I think it would be fairly simple to create such a blog and find interesting pictures, articles, links, discussions or other blogs that are interesting to us. Perhaps one of the requirements be that we choose one upload per week to discuss in class itself, to keep the information fresh and not completely disconnected from the classroom.