Library Gazette

Lauren Pressley and I led six workshops over three consecutive days this week on web 2.0 topics. These sessions came out of discussions with various members of the campus community who expressed an interest in learning more about everything from social networking applications to creating a podcast. The six workshops were:

1. An Introduction to Web 2.0
2. Social Networking Applications (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn)
3. Google for Collaboration,
4. Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasting at ZSR
5. Using Web 2.0 Content
6. Web 2.0 and Instructional Design

Each session was 90 minutes in length, offering an opportunity to expand beyond the standard lecture format and include more active learning exercises in each session. In the Social Networking Applications workshop I led, the class was given basic instruction on the various applications, then broken into groups that explored a particular application. After exploring that application for 45 minutes the groups gave presentations to the class on that particular social networking application. This gave everyone the chance to explore the application of their choice while still learning about the other applications from the group presentations. The participants were nervous about this format at first, but adjusted quickly as the group began exploring the various applications. Lauren tried a similar model for her session on “Blogs, Wikis and Podcasting at ZSR”, allowing the participants to “play” in our sandbox environment after learning a bit about these tools. For the workshop on “Using Web 2.0 Content” we explored RSS feeds, iGoogle and the actual equipment (camcorders, audio recorders) used to create this content.

All in all it was a successful series of workshop, attended by a variety of staff and faculty. I enjoyed incorporating content from the “Teaching Teaching” workshops Lauren and Roz led in the Spring. We hope to repeat this series of workshops in the Fall semester.

Yesterday I gave a talk on Blended Learning through the ITC. The formal description of the program was “Many students experience a disconnect between their experience in the classroom and their personal interactions on the web. One way to address this is the integration of tools that students already use with regularity. This presentation will explain how to do this with an introduction to blended learning, and it will cover how blended learning techniques can be used to strengthen the academic experience. Blended learning techniques can lead to a more engaged and communicative class and help prepare students for the changing work force.” The presentation was based on the following, though a bit toned down for our audience:

I attempted to introduce some generational trends, discuss a little bit of learning theory, and talk about some solutions that we can implement. I also tried to sell the library’s blog and wiki program, myself as someone who can help faculty figure out what makes the most sense for their class, and the library as a resource for technology training.

The content appeared to be newer for the group than I expected, but I did get a few requests for follow up meetings, so I’m excited about that!

A few people said they would like to come but weren’t able to make it. Giz and I are planning to offer the session again in late summer and in the fall if you’d like to try to make it!

On Wednesday, April 2^nd, the Teaching and Learning Center held a session in room 204 on Blogs and Wikis@ZSR. Eight faculty members attended this event where two other faculty members, Professor Christa Colyer of Chemistry and Professor Stephanie Pellet of Romance Languages, presented how they are using Wikis and Blogs from ZSR in their classes this semester.In this one hour session, Professor Colyer showed the blog her first-year seminar has created. Each student posts on recent developments in science that are in the news, then students comment on each other’s posts. In the past Professor Colyer has students keep hand-written journals that they turned in monthly for her review. Doing this journaling in a blog has resulted in longer entries from the students and allowed the students to see each other’s posts and comment, something not possible in a hand-written journal. Kevin and I had met with this class back in January to get them started blogging, but it only required a few minutes and they were off and running!

After Professor Colyer showed her class blog, Professor Pellet showed the wiki her class has created for French 345-Langage et Societe. In this class students work in groups and create content that can be used not only by the class, but by anyone. Additionally, Professor Pellet is exploring options for using this same wiki in future classes, having students update and refine the content. Lauren had met with this class early in the semester to get them started using the wiki and that was all it took to get them successfully using it in class.

The faculty who attended the session asked numerous questions and had an excellent discussion of pedagogical issues regarding using blogs and wikis in the classroom. All in all it was a well-received program and we hope to repeat it this summer and next fall!