Departmental Duties

Yesterday I posted, or tried to post, an update on miscellaneous department activities in my tech. land. Today, I learned, I some how didn't post afore mentioned post; I saved it as a draft.



And so goes my learning curve on blogging, even after using one with my class.



The most recent duty regarding my department, English, has been gathering technology requests that would better enable its use in teaching. Not many responded, but we do have a couple of needs and wishes. After reporting the wish list to Mike (Bachrodt), I have researched some of the items we requested for price and specifications. Somehow, shopping always takes longer than I anticipate. My personal favorite is the Sony digital video camera that records directly to a DVD. It would be so easy to "film" a speech and immediately give that student his or her copy for self-reflection with that item!



Other department 'duties' I have worked on revolve around the department web page, assisting others with individual web pages, and 'quick' questions that invite more instruction toward new opportunities. While working with Josh Teschner on his new Boys Golf page, I advised him toward different templates (self created ones) and new to him features. He then took off on his own often to explore and create a great page. With our discussions in the department room, others could overhear and insert, "Oh, ya, I need to update my page. Nicole, can you...?"



We may not create a spreading wildfire while working within our departments' walls, but the glowing embers of curiousity and convinience certainly heat up while instructing "one" teacher there.

With all the new tech. mind set in society, accompanied with the incorporated use of tech. in our daily lives (more so of our students), I finally assembled strong digital story/visual + essay assignment. I've wanted students to include images, music, and the written word (both by students and quoted from sources) in order to communicate their message. Happily, in my E403 course, I developed a very successful assignment: "Music Video Essay". Students chose a song and made a video of images and words (and combos there of) to leave a lasting effect on the audience. Messages varied, but all were extremely strong, and students composed in different mediums, including MovieMaker and PowerPoint. I applied requirements to mandate personal articulation within the presentation, as well. I was very impressed with their results, and keenly aware that they spent more homework time on this than on standard essay assignments.

Several English department members have started blogs in their classrooms, both for "discussion" and for "feedback". I find that once one person starts asking about using an aspect of technology, another overhears and joins in the learning. Working within the department setting allows for more such trickling of ideas to spread.