From+the+Heart

= From the heart =

"WOW, I'm done with my wiki! Almost.

This course had been great for a guy (me) who fears technology. I don't fear what technology does or can do, but it can make me feel inept. Not this semester, though. I ran into problems a couple of times with programs and tools that didn't work right the first time, but I always managed to fight through it, with help from Dr. Stocker. Now I know that I can make some very cool WEB tools work for me — and my future students.

Fear and excitement, that's what I went through every week. Fear that I couldn't get something to work properly, followed by excitement at what the tool could do. Then frustration when something went wrong late in the process. For instance, I couldn't get my digital story to load up on TeacherTube, although I did get it to work on YouTube. At the end of the week I often felt a mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration. This wasn't an easy course for me, but it was a good one. I learned about so many WEB tools, and I learned that I can command those tools. That's a big deal for me.

Another thing I learned during this course is the value of success through struggle. I often learned the most from the toughest assignments. I didn't always enjoy doing something three or four times before it worked, but by that time I REALLY knew what I was doing. I don't recommend making assignments for students harder than they have to be, but there's something to be said for gaining knowledge, and a sense of pride, by overcoming educational obstacles.

I learned a great deal by creating two units this semester, a folklore unit for English 4640, and a journalism writing unit for this course. Both units benefitted from the use of podcasts and other wiki tools. Contrasting the two, the folklore unit seemed a lot more compelling, which makes me wonder what I could do to invigorate the journalism course. The wiki tools helped a lot, especially the Vocaroo interview assignment and the news story created as a Voki. The journalism course requires lots of writing instruction and practice, which isn't as fun as examining the myth-making process behind Pocohantas and Davy Crockett. Still, I believe any course can be made lively with the right mix of creativity, humor, and enthusiasm. I was inspired by reading __Eats, Shoots, and Leaves__ for my English 4620 course in the spring, a book that shows that even the driest subjects can be animated with the right approach. One thing I could do for the journalism unit is get students to make fictional video cover letters, with some groups instructed to make them as dull, silly, meandering, or off-topic as possible. That could be fun to do, fun to watch, and make a point about the value of selling yourself or your story to a specific, demanding audience.

I enjoyed creating the digital story more than anything else I did in this course, although I also loved making the podcasts. I delight in watching documentaries, and the fact that I can make my own polished-looking documentary just blows me away. I can see assigning a digital story as a group assignment; for instance, three or four students working on "Feminism in Nineteenth-Century Literature" could result in a fascinating blend of narration, images, analysis, music, and more. I fear some students might spend more time on the mechanics of the digital story than the actual writing, a concern with many tech assignments (we know that some spend way too much time picking out fancy fonts and colors), but the possible benefits outweigh this caution. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about creating a digital story about my biological father, who spent time as a Prisoner of War in Germany in World War II. I'd love to create a digital story I could use as an exemplar for my students; I'm going to see my father in Oregon in September, and will try to get enough stories recorded and photos copied to make it work.

I'm proud of the "hire me" digital story I created. More and more, I'm convinced that oral (and technological) presentations make us better writers. I initially wrote some "hire me" text that, looking back a few weeks later, seemed a little stodgy. Approaching the same assignment as a digital story made me concentrate more on how to get my positives and personality across in a more relaxed, fun-loving manner. In fact, that's one of the benefits of this course that you, Dr. Stocker, should emphasize: Web tools give us a different way of looking at ourselves and our assignments, and sometimes that altered perspective is as important and illuminating as the technology itself.

I don't know that I'd change a whole lot if I had the chance to do this course again; I learned a lot from false starts and mistakes. I might have picked a different unit than journalism, but something like "folklore" might have been too easy for me. Because I feared that the course might overwhelm or confuse me, I started early each week and worked hard. Anxiety, I've learned, can be a great motivator — although as a teacher I don't plan to make others anxious if I can avoid it.

The last thing I'll mention is the connection I see between creativity and Web tools. On our only day of in-person class, you emphasized the importance of creativity in teaching, something I believe in strongly. The best teachers I've ever had found novel ways to make a subject come alive. I love teachers who can make a great assignment from scrap paper and string, and we should never forget the power of simple teaching tools, but there's so much fascinating technology out there for teachers and students. I see the tech tools and skills we learned this unit as expanding our teaching vocabulary. We don't have to use all these things all the time, any more than we need to use a word such as "aggrandizement" every day, but it's beneficial to have a big, deep teaching toolbox we can plunge into whenever we need it. Digital stories and podcasts are just two of the tools I've acquired that will, I think, make me a more creative and effective teacher.

Thank you for teaching me!

— Bill

