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.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
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
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
Friday, March 4, 2011
Digital Writing Teaching Circle Meeting Minutes--Meeting #3
DIGITAL WRITING TEACHING CIRCLE--MEETING #3
FRIDAY, MARCH 4--4-5 PM
On WebEx
Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Bob Bledsoe, Laura Funke, Dianne Gregory, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Brandy Opse-Weber, Sue Taylor
Absent: None
1. Announcements
a. Brian reminded everyone to contribute to the "technology table" on the wiki.
b. Brian then mentioned that all individual goals/objectives and reflection papers were received. He will be providing comments on these papers and returning them within a week. He may ask some people to refine/revise their goals and objectives a bit.
2. Dianne presented three different websites:
a. Zoho--www.zoho.com. Zoho performs many of the functions of GoogleDocs, including writing and collaboration. It also provides a wiki and an alternative to PowerPoint presentations. So it contains many different rhetorical functions for students in one centralized place, much as GoogleDocs does. Dianne argued that, in some ways, Zoho is easier for student use. It even allows video conferencing.
b. Dropbox--www.dropbox.com. It provides a centralized place for saving documents and allows for asynchronous writing collaboration. It could be particularly useful for students using iPhones and iPads.
c. Google Groups--groups.google.com. Offers an alternative to D2L discussion. It's private--people are invited to join specific groups in Google via e-mail. It allows for online discussion on specific topics, just as the Discussion Boards in D2L do; one advantage of Google Groups is that people receive e-mails when someone posts to the "Group."
3. Bob completed his presentation on mashups. He showed us how he puts together a presentation using Windows Movie Maker. This presentation included images from Google images, audio (song), and transitions. He also showed us how to create opening and closing credits for the presentation. Students can create mashups as a kind of visual rhetoric assignment in composition classrooms.
4. Closing remarks
a. Next meeting will be IN WEBEX, FRIDAY, MARCH 18, FROM 4-5 PM. BRIAN WILL SEND EVERYONE THE WEBX MEETING LINK AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE ONLINE MEETING.
b. Laurie and Laura will share digital writing/new media techniques and explain why they would work well for the English classroom. Part of the meeting may be in AdobeConnect. Details on this later.
c. Sue Taylor reminded everyone that an English UFT position is now available at Saint Paul College.
5. HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:--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.
Meeting ended at about 5:06 pm. A recording of the meeting was done and is on the MnSCU WebEx site.
Brian
FRIDAY, MARCH 4--4-5 PM
On WebEx
Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Bob Bledsoe, Laura Funke, Dianne Gregory, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Brandy Opse-Weber, Sue Taylor
Absent: None
1. Announcements
a. Brian reminded everyone to contribute to the "technology table" on the wiki.
b. Brian then mentioned that all individual goals/objectives and reflection papers were received. He will be providing comments on these papers and returning them within a week. He may ask some people to refine/revise their goals and objectives a bit.
2. Dianne presented three different websites:
a. Zoho--www.zoho.com. Zoho performs many of the functions of GoogleDocs, including writing and collaboration. It also provides a wiki and an alternative to PowerPoint presentations. So it contains many different rhetorical functions for students in one centralized place, much as GoogleDocs does. Dianne argued that, in some ways, Zoho is easier for student use. It even allows video conferencing.
b. Dropbox--www.dropbox.com. It provides a centralized place for saving documents and allows for asynchronous writing collaboration. It could be particularly useful for students using iPhones and iPads.
c. Google Groups--groups.google.com. Offers an alternative to D2L discussion. It's private--people are invited to join specific groups in Google via e-mail. It allows for online discussion on specific topics, just as the Discussion Boards in D2L do; one advantage of Google Groups is that people receive e-mails when someone posts to the "Group."
3. Bob completed his presentation on mashups. He showed us how he puts together a presentation using Windows Movie Maker. This presentation included images from Google images, audio (song), and transitions. He also showed us how to create opening and closing credits for the presentation. Students can create mashups as a kind of visual rhetoric assignment in composition classrooms.
4. Closing remarks
a. Next meeting will be IN WEBEX, FRIDAY, MARCH 18, FROM 4-5 PM. BRIAN WILL SEND EVERYONE THE WEBX MEETING LINK AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE ONLINE MEETING.
b. Laurie and Laura will share digital writing/new media techniques and explain why they would work well for the English classroom. Part of the meeting may be in AdobeConnect. Details on this later.
c. Sue Taylor reminded everyone that an English UFT position is now available at Saint Paul College.
5. HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:--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.
Meeting ended at about 5:06 pm. A recording of the meeting was done and is on the MnSCU WebEx site.
Brian
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Minutes from Digital Writing Teaching Circle #2.
DIGITAL WRITING TEACHING CIRCLE--MEETING #2
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18--5-6 PM
On WebEx
Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Bob Bledsoe, Laura Funke, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Brandy Opse-Weber, Sue Taylor
Absent: Dianne Gregory
5. HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:--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.--Hold individual meeting #1 with Brian if you have not yet done so.--Work on individual goal/objectives (these need to be handed in to me by 2/28).--Reflection paper #1 is due 2/28--work on it.
Meeting ended at about 6:07 pm. A recording of the meeting was done and is on the MnSCU WebEx site.
Brian
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18--5-6 PM
On WebEx
Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Bob Bledsoe, Laura Funke, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Brandy Opse-Weber, Sue Taylor
Absent: Dianne Gregory
1. Brian reminded everyone about the wiki: that it's located at http://digitalwritingtc.pbworks.com, that all TC members have been invited to edit it as they wish, and that everyone should contribute to the "technology table."
2. Brandy presented her voice recognition software, called Dragon. It costs about $500; the basic version is $100. It may be used in the classroom for several reasons: for D2L, to give students feedback on their writing, and for use of Outlook.3. Bob began a presentation on mashups, but he had video problems and was not able to finish his presentation. Brian presented in his place--he talked about using Diigo as a research tool for students (www.diigo.com). It is an online bookmarking and research site that provides RSS feeds daily to his e-mail on specific subjects. Diigo also tags website so that you can do searching in your online library by subject.
4. Next meeting will be IN WEBEX, FRIDAY, MARCH 4, FROM 4-5 PM. BRIAN WILL SEND EVERYONE THE WEBX MEETING LINK AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE ONLINE MEETING. Bob (and Dianne--added later) will share digital writing/new media techniques and explain why they would work well for the English classroom. 5. HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:--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.--Hold individual meeting #1 with Brian if you have not yet done so.--Work on individual goal/objectives (these need to be handed in to me by 2/28).--Reflection paper #1 is due 2/28--work on it.
Meeting ended at about 6:07 pm. A recording of the meeting was done and is on the MnSCU WebEx site.
Brian
Summary of Teaching Circle work so far
I haven't been doing much writing on this blog lately. My major excuse is that I've been busy with my teaching circle. So I think it's only natural that I blog a bit here about what I've been doing with the teaching circle. Yes, I've been copying meeting minutes here, but what are my impressions after the first two meetings? Well here they are:
Digital Writing TC: My Impressions after Meetings 1 and 2.
For our first meeting, we met at a restaurant in downtown St. Paul. Everyone seemed to like getting to know each other. I did have one person who quit the group because she didn't want to meet face to face, but this was fine--I was over-enrolled in the group anyway. Officially, as of this writing, I have nine colleagues in the group: four from Century College (including me), three from Inver Hills CC, one from St. Paul College, one from Normandale CC, and one from MNSU-Mankato. During the first meeting, we set our group goal and decided that we'd do presentations of technologies that we've found and talk about how they might be helpful to our English students. In between the first and second meetings, we talked via e-mail about the objectives that we'd need to achieve that group goal. And we decided on four, in particular. A few days before the second meeting, we had a "practice" WebEx meeting to see how the technology worked--it seemed to work pretty well. The actual meeting, unfortunately, was a bit more troublesome. Even though one colleague was able to complete her presentation on voice recognition software, one person who was supposed to present did not "show up," and the third presenter had computer problems. So I had to fill in and give an impromptu presentation on Diigo--they seemed to appreciate this. Our next meeting will be Friday, March 4, at 4 p.m.
I have also created a wiki for this group (http://digitalwritingtc.pbworks.com/) where we can share our information, esp. our technology info on the "technology table" that I created. I do wish more people were contributing to the wiki, but hopefully this will change over time.
I've also been having individual meetings with the TC members; so far, I've completed 5/9. Mostly, they want to talk about their individual goals/objectives for the circle. I've heard very few complaints or concerns thus far.
(An added bonus--I met with Lynda today, and she introduced me to a cool new link--http://join.me, which allows for collaboration/screen sharing. Thanks Lynda!!)
Digital Writing TC: My Impressions after Meetings 1 and 2.
For our first meeting, we met at a restaurant in downtown St. Paul. Everyone seemed to like getting to know each other. I did have one person who quit the group because she didn't want to meet face to face, but this was fine--I was over-enrolled in the group anyway. Officially, as of this writing, I have nine colleagues in the group: four from Century College (including me), three from Inver Hills CC, one from St. Paul College, one from Normandale CC, and one from MNSU-Mankato. During the first meeting, we set our group goal and decided that we'd do presentations of technologies that we've found and talk about how they might be helpful to our English students. In between the first and second meetings, we talked via e-mail about the objectives that we'd need to achieve that group goal. And we decided on four, in particular. A few days before the second meeting, we had a "practice" WebEx meeting to see how the technology worked--it seemed to work pretty well. The actual meeting, unfortunately, was a bit more troublesome. Even though one colleague was able to complete her presentation on voice recognition software, one person who was supposed to present did not "show up," and the third presenter had computer problems. So I had to fill in and give an impromptu presentation on Diigo--they seemed to appreciate this. Our next meeting will be Friday, March 4, at 4 p.m.
I have also created a wiki for this group (http://digitalwritingtc.pbworks.com/) where we can share our information, esp. our technology info on the "technology table" that I created. I do wish more people were contributing to the wiki, but hopefully this will change over time.
I've also been having individual meetings with the TC members; so far, I've completed 5/9. Mostly, they want to talk about their individual goals/objectives for the circle. I've heard very few complaints or concerns thus far.
(An added bonus--I met with Lynda today, and she introduced me to a cool new link--http://join.me, which allows for collaboration/screen sharing. Thanks Lynda!!)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
minutes for first teaching circle meeting--what did we do?
DIGITAL WRITING TEACHING CIRCLE--MEETING #1
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5--1:30-3:30 PM
at Great Waters Brewing Company in Saint Paul
Present: Brian Lewis (facilitator), Steve Anderson, Jacque Arnold, Bob Bledsoe, Laura Funke, Dianne Gregory, Stephanie Laurey, Laurie Lykken, Brandy Opse-Weber, Sue Taylor
Absent: Wanda Synstelien
1. First we ate--heartily.
2. After lunch, we all introduced ourselves. We explained where we were from, what we taught, and what we wanted to learn from the teaching circle.
3. Brian went over the contracts with everyone present. Everyone present handed in their signed contracts. We tentatively agreed to have our final FTF meeting on Friday 5/13 at Century College from 3:30-5:30 (to share information).
4. Everyone signed up for an individual meeting with Brian. The purpose of the individual meeting is primarily to help participants refine their individual goals and objectives and to ask questions.
Individual meetings set up so far:
Steve, 2/10, 2 pm, (but where?)
Laura, 2/15, 11 am (Skype or phone)
Brandy, 2/15, 3:45 pm, phone
Stephanie, 2/17, 9 am, phone
Sue, 2/18, (what time?), Facebook
Bob, 2/22, 2pm, Facebook
Laurie, 2/24, 1pm, Facebook
Jacque, 2/25, 10 am, D2L chat
Dianne, 2/25, 1 pm, D2L, Sykpe, AIM, FB, or Adobe Connect
5. We went over what "SMART" goals were and talked about some examples of SMART and not-so-SMART goals.
6. We decied that our group goal would be as follows:
To explore, share, and synthesize knowledge about new media teaching strategies for English classrooms in both online and non-online environments. (Changed slightly from our original discussion for the sake of clarity; in retrospect, "individual" seems a bit vague to me...)
7. Next meeting will be IN WEBX, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, FROM 5-6 PM. BRIAN WILL SEND EVERYONE THE WEBX MEETING LINK AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE ONLINE MEETING. Brandy, Bob, and Dianne will share digital writing/new media techniques and explain why they would work well for the English classroom.
8. HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE BEFORE NEXT MEETING:
--By 2/18, use "Reply All" on e-mail to answer this question: What objectives do we need to accomplish to achieve our group goal? (Everyone in the group should be able to read your response.)
--Find at least ONE new media teaching technique that you think might be worth sharing with the group.
--Hold individual meeting (if you signed up for one before next group meeting)
--Work on individual goal/objectives (these need to be handed in to me by 2/28).
Meeting ended PROMPTLY at 3:30 pm.
Brian
Friday, February 4, 2011
prior to my first tc meeting.
Well, tomorrow afternoon is my first teaching circle meeting. Since I last wrote here, I've had to change the location--it will be at the Great Waters Brewing Company in downtown St. Paul. Currently, I have ten (possibly eleven?) members--if these numbers keep up, two of them will have to audit. But we'll see.
Right now, I have a set agenda for tomorrow's meeting--a lot of paperwork--but the main focus will be on both group and individual goals and objectives for the circle. Tomorrow we have to do a lot of thinking about what the main purpose of this circle is. And this is not always easy.
I will have more to report after tomorrow, once our group has made some concrete decisions.
Right now, I have a set agenda for tomorrow's meeting--a lot of paperwork--but the main focus will be on both group and individual goals and objectives for the circle. Tomorrow we have to do a lot of thinking about what the main purpose of this circle is. And this is not always easy.
I will have more to report after tomorrow, once our group has made some concrete decisions.
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