Digital Writing Teaching Circle Meeting Minutes--Meeting #4

DIGITAL WRITING TEACHING CIRCLE--MEETING #4
FRIDAY, MARCH 18--4-5 PM
On WebEx

Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Laura Funke, Dianne Gregory, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Sue Taylor

Absent: Bob Bledsoe, Brandy Opse-Weber

1.  Announcements
     a.  Brian reminded everyone who has presented--or about to present--to contribute to the "technology table" on the wiki. 
     b.  Brian also mentioned that those who need to refine/revise their goals and objectives should do so by today (Friday).
2.  Laurie introduced us to Adobe Connect.  In WebEx, she showed us how to sign up/access it (at www.metnet.edu).  There we will request it and eventually get an e-mail confirmation of a username and password.  After this step, we all moved to an Adobe Connect room that Laurie set up:  https://umconnect.umn.edu/r14675675.  In this room, Laurie showed us the following:
     a.  How to see presentations
     b.  How to chat
     c.  How to use the whiteboard and write on presentations (student must have "Presenter" privileges)
     d.  How to talk (using the microphone)
     e.  How to "Raise your hand" to be called on 
3.   Laura showed us other features of Adobe Connect.  These included
     a.   How to use the polling feature (similar to using clickers in the classroom)
     b.   How to set up Discussion groups for students
4.  Laura then talked (in Adobe Connect) about how to use Wordle (http://www.wordle.net).  It allows students to create "word clouds" out of words that they write.  Wordle may serve several pedagogical purposes, including prewriting, introductions online, analysis of political speeches, study of common words in a literary piece, and even concrete poetry. 
5.  Closing remarks
     a.     Next meeting will be IN WEBEX, FRIDAY, APRIL 1, FROM 4-5 PM.   BRIAN WILL SEND EVERYONE THE WEBX MEETING LINK AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE ONLINE MEETING. 
     b.     Jacque and Stephanie will share digital writing/new media techniques and explain why they would work well for the English classroom.   
6.  HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:
     a.     Find at least ONE new media teaching technique that you think might be worth sharing with the group if you have not yet done so.
      b.     Your Individual Reflection #2 is due to Brian via e-mail on March 31.  (Please use the form provided for you.)
      c.     Please sign up for your Individual Meeting #2 on the wiki if you haven't done so already. 

Meeting ended at about 5:01 pm.  A recording of the meeting was done and is on the MnSCU WebEx site.

Brian