Innovations in tech applications to higher education
Being back on the university campus after so many innovations in how technology is used in higher education have taken place at UBC has made for a strange yet very smooth transition. I didn’t take any short courses on how to use UBC’s Vista framework (a re-named, re-designed, updated version of Blackboard, which I have used before to teach at the undergraduate level). Thankfully I feel way more comfortable using IT.
Using social media has really enabled me, I have to admit. It took me a very short time to adapt to the new teaching conditions, including the use of the classroom and the e-learning framework. I also have to tip my hat to talented educators from whom I have learned a lot and whom I consider friends – Nancy White, Scott Leslie, Alec Couros. I also belong to the Social Media Club Education network, spearheaded by another friend, Chris Heuer. Finally, I should also thank my friend Andre Malan, who is both studying at UBC and a very passionate advocate for applications of tech to education.
I have decided to implement some of the innovations that Andre suggested, and the one that has actually made itself really useful and valuable this early in the semester is the use of wikis. Currently, my students are using wikis to share data and collaborate on a comparative policy analysis.
I am, however, more than curious to know which other innovations can be implemented in my teaching. So I’m opening the floor to suggestions. Andre gave me a few great ideas, which I plan to implement, but I’m also open to others. Thoughts? Please do remember that I use tech to teach public policy and environmental politics. I don’t actually teach tech (well, I sometimes teach social media but I mostly teach how to use social media). So I’m looking for thoughts on that area.
Related posts:
- The @SMCYVR Tech Karaoke is on July 1st, 2010
- GMail is down… again! On the dependency on tech tools
- On the need for higher-level, philosophical, theoretical social media discussions
- The electronics, tech and gaming cluster in Vancouver
- I guess I am in tech!
Happy New Years, Raul, and congrats on the new teaching gig. I’ll be looking forward to following what you learn and discover!
I’m playing with using private wikis, Posterous, blogs, and Google Wave as ways for my students to both collaborate and gather information.
The class I’m finishing this week was the first test and it wasn’t too successful, but I also didn’t make it mandatory to participate.
I won’t make the same mistake again.
where are your students starting from (in terms of the tools they use), Raul?
@ Nancy – they use a bit of Blackboard/Web CT, not much more – Facebook and a bit of Twitter.
Congrats on the teaching job!
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 4 years now since I’ve graduated university. Geez. It’s been a while.
You know, I was so sheltered working downtown for a while I didn’t even realize what was going on in the academics. Now that my office is at UBC for a while, I’m seeing tons of students walking around and it’s bringing back. Almost EVERY single one is carrying a laptop. At the time, most kids didn’t bring a laptop to class in university… it was considered being too nerdy and too obsessed with school
Now I feel like an old fart
So what are the bridges between the tools they are using now, and the tools you’d like them to explore/experiment with in their learning together?
I saw Nancy’s comment, and I’d love some clarification. I would love to help give suggestions, but think I need more context. What are you using, what have you tried, what are you trying to achieve, and any other context.
Best of luck … thanks for mentioning me, Raul.
Last term I gave my students an assignment where they had to contribute to Wikipedia pages. Despite none of them every have worked on any type of wiki ever before, they really learned a lot and enjoyed it!