Conversation with Lynda and TC Update, Mtgs. 3 and 4

Today I had a productive TC meeting with Lynda.  One of the things we talked about that really stuck with me, though, was about my own classes.  I've been debating changing my handouts to some extent to make things a bit easier for the students.  I don't think this is a bad idea.  Oftentimes I feel that I need to apply the "less is more" principle to my teaching, and I suppose this is true with my online handouts as well.  I just need to remember to refer students to handouts that are already well-written.  As Lynda put it, "You don't need to be a technical writer."  This is sound advice.  I need to spend some time thinking about my larger objectives: am I using the new technologies just because they're new and fun, or am I using them for sound pedagogical purposes?  To what extent are the new technologies making students better writers?  If I can't articulate why, Lynda suggested, maybe I shouldn't use them. Lynda also recommended an interesting link that I will another look at--http://vyew.com.  Looks pretty fascinating, like Adobe Connect!

Digital Writing TC: My Impressions after Meetings 3 and 4. 

Meeting 3 focused a lot on Dianne and Bob.  Dianne introduced Zoho, Dropbox and Google Groups to the TC, and Bob spent quite a bit of time showing us how to use Windows MovieMaker.  Soon after this meeting, I returned their goals/objectives and Reflection 1s to them.  I tried to provide copious comments.  Some of them needed to revise their goals/objectives, and I asked them to do so.  Those who needed to revise took awhile to do so, but (with some prompting) they were able to do the revisions they needed.

Meeting 4 focused on Laurie and Laura--most of the meeting was spent on the different features of Adobe Connect, and Laura also gave a brief presentation on Wordle.  Our next meeting will be April 1--and they need to hand in their Reflection 2s the day before.  Some of them (about 4) have already done so, as of this writing.  I also asked them to sign up for Individual Meeting #2 on the wiki, but only about half have done so thus far.  I am also thinking about providing a book for them by the final meeting--it will cost about $300 for the nine of them.

I do wish, overall, that more of them would make greater use of the wiki, particularly the technology table.  It is getting a bit crowded, though.  Lynda suggested that we try to categorize it in some way, prior to the final meeting.  This is likely a good idea.