Roundtable: Three Experiences with New Technologies

Let's start with a fact: the days of overhead transparencies and slide presentations are over.

If this is the first time you've heard this news, you may stop reading now. If you still wrestle with peeling one transparency from another in the middle of a lecture, this roundtable is not going to be of much help to you. Better to cut your losses now and move on down the road.

But if you have ever done any of the following: tell a colleague over coffee that powerpoint is so yesterday, e-mailed the person sitting next to you, held office hours by instant messenger, know what an "ear bud" is, downloaded music illegally, burned CDs and/or DVDs for your classes, wrote your own blog, put up a profile of myspace.com, or streamed RSS feeds of your lectures, then this roundtable is for you!

The question of the day is this: what kinds of technology should we be using in our classes and on what basis should we choose? The options these days seem endless--from wikis to podcasts. Which ones are right for us?

Kevin Barry, Associate Director of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Notre Dame, starts us off with a commentary that describes the approach he suggested to faculty across the country. I participated in one of Kevin's seminars a few years ago. I came in expecting to hear an encomium to the great god of technology. But that's not what Kevin delivered. Instead, he presented a set of ideas that put a stress on learning objectives. Everything else about a class--from readings, to testing instruments to technology, should be put in the service of these objectives. You might say that Kevin counsels us to teach to the test! I learned so much that day that I've asked Kevin to share his ideas with the rest of you.

Our roundtable includes reflections by three division members on their use of a new technology in recent classes. Mauro Porto incorporated an on-line discussion forum into a comparative political communication course. John Gastil uses wikis in a class on deliberation. And Tim Groeling has asked his students to produce their own poltical ads in a campaign communication class. These are all great ideas.

Thee essays speak for themselves, but three points are worth mentioning here. First,using technology in a class is very time intensive. So if you plan to use a wiki, a blog, or a discussion board, plan early.

Second, it is a good idea to get on-going feedback from students. Both Mauro and Tim surveyed their students, either during or just after course completion. This kind of input is crucial for making sure that the technology is helping you accomplish your goals.

Finally, students love these experiments, perhaps mostly because it shows that a professor is interested and engaged in their learning process. Though using technology is hard work, it can have a big payoff.

Enjoy the articles.

Mauro Porto, "Extending the Classroom: Reflections on the use of discussion boards in political communication undergraduate classes."

Tim Groeling, "I am, IMovie: Video editing in a poli. comm. class."

John Gastil, "Getin' Wiki With It."