Wimba Classroom is taking off at Calvin!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
CIT’s Teaching & Learning Team is pleased to report we’ve had thirty-eight faculty and staff members trained on how to use the Wimba Classroom set of tools. Many of these same faculty members have decided to move forward with this set of tools, which include web-based videoconferencing, audio-conferencing, an interactive whiteboard, chatting features, application sharing and more.
Here are a couple of faculty who are currently integrating Wimba Classroom for various applications:
- Steve Wykstra (Philosophy) is using Wimba Classroom to record his lectures in real-time. Students who were missing—or even students who were in class—can access archived recordings of his classes to review and reflect upon what was covered.
- Susan Felch is using Wimba Classroom to interacting with thirty-eight different Lilly Graduate Fellows from various colleges and universities throughout the nation.
- Shirley Roels, Yvonne Ferwerda, and Steve Kline have hosted several webinars (spread throughout various locations) for the Van Lunen Fellows.
Posted in: Academic Software: Faculty Highlights
Marj Terpstra: Christian perspectives on teaching
Thursday, January 15, 2009
In Marj Terpstra’s Fall EDU 202-203 class each student was required to write a paper exploring his/her Christian perspective on teaching. The main objective of the assignment was to enable students to synthesize their thoughts after a brief study of educational philosophies and curriculum. The final products, however, ended up being more than “just any ol’ perspective papers.” They were literally works of art!
The students wrote their Christian perspectives, peer-edited each others’ writings, and then polished their own writing. Each also chose a symbol, visual or song to help them meaningfully share their perspective with others, as well as to help encapsulate it for themselves. Then they read aloud and recorded their perspective (using GarageBand), requiring them not only to write their thoughts, but also to speak the words and hear their perspective in their own voice and confront whether they actually believed what they had written.
Posted in: Academic Software: Faculty Highlights
Brian Fuller: Wikis in Audio Production
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
by Brian Fuller
“Making films and television programs is an inherently collaborative enterprise. And—as in the sciences—discoveries in the discipline are often the product of trial and error. I wanted a means for students in my Multi-Camera Production class to store and edit their discoveries over the life of a 14-episode variety show as they rotated through various positions of responsibility. A camera operator might gain an insight during the Wednesday show that would benefit her successor on Friday—but where could her musings be posted, accessed, added to, corrected, and improved over time? The Wiki tool seemed a naturally cybernetic clearinghouse of experimental knowledge. Its value as a proving ground for ideas is multiplied by restricting the Wiki’s audience with KnightVision enrollment.”
“Because panicked activity often characterizes the days we record shows—and because some students are just quiet wallflowers when it comes to class discussion—Wiki entries revealed reflective engagement with the production process that might not otherwise have come to my attention. I began to use the Wiki as one factor in a class participation grade (since the tool does me the favor of identifying contributors by name).”
Posted in: Faculty Highlights
Doug Blomberg: On curriculum and technology
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
In his book, Wisdom and Curriculum: Christian Schooling After Postmodernity, Doug Blomberg talks about the integral role of “play” during the formation of knowledge and wisdom. He uses the World Wide Web as a metaphor for learning, stating that learning, like the internet, offers “connections [that] are not prescribed, there is no one sequence set..it puts control into the hands of learners themselves, to determine their own running—currere (learning process).”(p. 190)
He goes on to describe how “play” is important when learning new software. “Similarly, the best way to learn to use new software is to play around, to experiment with it in a disciplined context. Complete a few of the tutorial sessions, certainly, and then get on with the work one would normally be doing—a meaningful task, not a rote activity—and refer to the online help facility or the manual when problems arise. Learning as play is situated and shared with the tools one is using; understanding is in the hands as well as in the head…Even as I write, the words speak back to me and ask me questions, and the words I ponder pull me in different directions—which one will I follow?” (p. 190)
So when it comes to learning and/or implementing new software or technology, take Blomberg’s advice. Don’t wait until you have mastered it before you use it…Mastery comes with play!
Five strategies for learning new technology
(adapted from Doug Blomberg’s Wisdom and Curriculum, 2008)
- Play around with it.
- Experiment with it in a disciplined context rather than doing a rote activity.
- Complete a few tutorial sessions.
- Use the technology to complete a meaningful task.
- Use the online help or other available help resources when problems arise.
Posted in: Best Practices: Faculty Highlights
