P e r s p e c t i v e

2009-03-12T06:44:00.001-07:00

P e r s p e c t i v e

per·spec·tive -pər-ˈspek-tiv - a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view; true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion.

Perspective is an interesting topic. It has so many possibilities. Think about it... the perspective of a 2-year-old, a 6-year-old, a high school student with a job, a high school student without a job, a college student, a young parent or an older parent... the list is never ending.

Think about two tenured faculty with similar teaching experience. Will they present the same, will they have the same stories to connect the content to real life, will they "approach" students the same way?

Okay, let's back up and think about the "perspective" of someone photographing a tree. If the person is sitting under the tree, they are surrounded by roots underneath and branches overhead. If they are viewing a tree from a 3rd or 4th story window, they may see no tree trunk, only the branches and leaves. If they are sitting close, the drawing will appear large with individual leaves and if they are far away, the tree will appear small with mounds of leaves. If it is winter, the tree may not have leaves... unless it is an evergreen. There are just too many possibilities... or perspectives to know what a tree will look like if you send someone out to photograph it.

Teaching people is no different. There are so many things people - students (and faculty) - bring to a learning situation. Their experiences, knowledge base and interests come from the individual, but also from their family, friends and the things they watch and read. The content is a factor that is stable, but where each student's perspective takes the class is the interesting part.
When an instructor assigns reading, each student will focus on something slightly if not entirely different from another. Bringing all those differing thoughts and opinions into the learning environment is where true learning happens. It can expand the knowledge and thinking skills of everyone involved. This can happen in a face-to-face (F2F) environment, a threaded discussion or a blog. How many times have you been listening or watching something, and thought "oh, I never thought of it like that". THAT is what should be happening to our students.

What perspective are you using today? Mine are from conducting a workshop a few days ago for CoB faculty, a class called "The Presidency", a new HPR course, and the new Edutopia magazine that discusses creativity and the learning process. My new colored markers help me think out loud and the handy-dandy notebook keeps all the perspectives in one place.

Blogs, wikis, and podcasts. Oh My!

2008-09-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided to use my new "alone" time in the car more constructively. (My child started kindergarten.) I found and downloaded a podcast about technology and faculty development. What I found was good "stuff" but as always it led me to more questions.... questions about the content, questions about the who, what, where, and how of the podcast, and of course, how can I start doing it and informing USM faculty about it.

The podcast was about technology in the classroom, but I walked away with information about using blogs and wikis to extend the classroom, make students more conscience of the quality of their work, the resources they have in classmates (classmates as colleagues), and getting students thinking beyond those classroom walls (traditional or virtual). As the presenters (http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastsupportingfacultya/46943) say, a wiki makes the content real... the students are no longer just writing for another teacher, but they are thinking, organizing, and writing for real people sitting out there reading. A blog - used as an ongoing notebook to keep thoughts can show the complete process a student goes through to create understanding.... and can be used by another student to complete or expand their process for understanding. What an amazing instructional tool. I wasn't sure how and why blogs and threaded discussions were different, but as usual, my partner in crime, Bonnie and I dug until we found out how and why and then what was best for instruction. We found that blogs are best for keeping up with individual thoughts, processes, information, while a threaded discussion is a conversation board for a class to discuss, argue, share, and support. Both are useful in a teaching and learning setting... it depends on the goal... what the student should walk away from the lesson with.

I have enjoyed taking my podcasts with me. I generally listen to them more than once sometimes forwarding through to the point(s) I miss.... what a great learning tool.

As always, I'm still searching...

Instructional Design, Thoughts & Ideas

P e r s p e c t i v e

Blogs, wikis, and podcasts. Oh My!