We’ve been talking about the social construction of knowledge lately and how group work can facilitate independent thinking and encourage students to become aware of differing viewpoints. Along these lines, I think using technology in and out of the classroom can help students communicate their ideas and share with each other. Allowing students to blog their ideas, for example, will allow them to think about the subject matter they’re learning while having to keep an audience (their peers) in mind. Accordingly, by reading that others are saying, students will be able to see the material in a new way and be able to add to the ongoing conversation. However, why does the incorporation of technology in the classroom still seem to be such a big debate? Selfe is right when she says that educators need to pay attention to technology; it is certainly here to stay and is probably going to become an even bigger part of the classroom in the future. Here at Tech, we are fortunate enough to have ample opportunities to use technology in our classrooms.
Also, I would argue that technological literacy isn’t as much of a problem in today’s classroom. Computers permeate almost every part of our everyday lives. Students access the Internet from their cell phones and text all the time. Also, with the rise of social media like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., students are used to communicating online and using technology. How can we incorporate these mediums into the classroom to enhance learning and promote more student engagement?
Another thing I’ve been wrestling with is putting a lot of these teaching approaches into practice. I’ve never taught before, and my fear is that I will get into the classroom and think things will go smoothly but then realize my students aren’t engaged or don’t cooperate. We’ve done a lot of group activities in class, and they seem to work well, but then I remind myself that we are graduate students; we don’t need as much instruction, and we usually stay on task. Getting students engaged and participating in my class is my goal, but I’m not sure how that will actually play out in reality. I guess that’s where experience comes in.
I also thought it was interesting when Dr. Rickly brought up the idea of FYC not being required. If all students were able to see the value of a writing class and enrolled simply because they wanted to, I wonder how it would affect the dynamic of the classroom.
Chelsea, thoughtful comments. I think you will find that gen-ed courses (general education freshmen and sophomores) will not have the sort of commitment that upper division courses do, and so the pedagogical problem is much greater. But students are interested in one thing, always: other students. Starting with that premise, the teacher needs to slip content into a generally interactive environment, and that isn’t easy to do. But generally students will read each other’s writing and work critically with other students better than simply being on the receiving end of a teacher’s efforts. As Seymour Papert once said, you can’t teach writing by advice. Once students become interested in their readers, they will naturally put more care into the product. Most of them.
I really like your mullings over technology in the classroom. I too am not sure why it’s such a big issue; technology is in every other part of our lives, so to not have it in the classroom seems like a bigger deal to me than trying to incorporate it as often as possible. A lack of technology in schools might render academia prehistoric, when it needs to be seen as anything but!