Teaching with Instructional Technology

There are numerous ways for faculty and graduate students to learn about and gain experience with technology-rich teaching strategies and pedagogy. Three of the most useful ways to get involved are the Teaching with Instructional Technology (yes, TWIT) group and to teach computer-intensive or computer-assisted courses.

The TWIT group meets every Friday during the regular academic year in Walker Arts and Humanities 134. The focus of the group, as its title would suggest, is learning about integrating information technology into the computer-based and the regular classroom, working with instructors to cope with technology issues in the classroom, and educating instructors on the many information technologies available to use in the classroom.

Past TWIT topics have included:

• Intellectual Property and Plagiarism Issues and the web
• Migrating from Print to Web Publishing: A Methodology for Designing Web Sites
• How to Use the NorthWoods MOO- a Synchronous Discussion Space for Teaching and Collaboration via the Internet
• Demonstrations and discussions of integrating various software applications available in the CCLI, including iMovie, Photoshop, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver.
• Designing distance learning environments and assignments

To learn more about TWIT or to get involved, contact Dickie Selfe at rselfe@mtu.edu

Classes in the CCLI- the Center for Computer-Assisted Language Instruction
In the Humanities Department at MTU there are two approaches to using communication technologies in your classes. One won't cost your students any money (no additional lab fees) but does require substantial pedagogical planning on your part (I'll call these computer-assisted (C-A) classes). The other costs your students money (usually $45) and requires substantial departmental and pedagogical preplanning on your part (I'll call these computer-intensive (C-I) classes). Both, I think, have the potential to help you and your students accomplish important objectives in your classes. The following is a short description of each type of class:CA Classes--

All MTU students are supposed to have access to basic computing needs within the department computer lab for their major: these needs include access to email, word processing, the WWW (though not necessarily access to web authoring capabilities), printing, spreadsheets and databases. You should be able to build assignments based on these basic technologies into your classes at no additional cost to your students. Non-Humanities majors, however, do NOT have access to the CCLI (our lab) unless they have paid a lab fee in addition to the basic fee that they pay to their "home" department.

WARNING: You should not assume that all students are using the same hardware and software to accomplish technology-rich assignments in your class. In addition, not all first-year students (or students new to MTU) will know immediately how to access their email or even how to use some of the rather obscure software they are provided for word processing. Be sure when planning in the fall to allow some time for them to get used to the technology access they have in their home labs. Ask them about it. Make it an assignment.

Computer-Intensive (CI) courses are specially designated sections of general education and communication courses in which students and instructors have access to the CCLI and all of its technology resources. There are two reasons for justifying the cost of a computer-intensive HU course.

1. The class will use specialized soft/hardware that is above and beyond the soft/hardware identified above as "basic."
   
   
2. The class will actually meet in the lab for collaborative work, thus taking up lab time that might otherwise be used by our majors to complete their work. Some combination of the two--soft/hardware use and lab time--might also be important to your class. We have an extensive collection of technologies in the CCLI that might be useful in your class. I can't list them all here, but would be more than happy to talk to you about planning a CI class for the future. Weekly TWIT (Teaching With Information Technology) sessions (most Fridays at noon in room 134) are meant to familiarize teachers with technologies and how they might be used appropriately in HU classes.

Since we use the CCLI as a home lab for all HU majors AND as a teaching lab for CI classes, I have to balance the demands of both. Our 15 year policy of holding aside 80% of our official lab hours for walk-in access for HU majors has helped maintain this balance. 20% of ~90+ hours per week still provides time & space for 11-15 CI sections of HU classes each term. As you can imagine there is increasing competition for these 11-15 sections. To secure one, you need to talk to me well in advance (usually 6 months in advance) to so designate your class. I then have to make sure that we don't over load the lab with CI classes and short change our majors.
Since the University required every department to plan all of NEXT year's classes soon. That means that all computer-intensive sessions have already been designated for this year and those for next year will be scheduled by the end of November! If you are hoping to teach a CI class any time soon, please let me, Dickie Selfe, or Cheryl Ball know.

All CI teachers have additional responsibilities:

1. They are the primary technical support for their students. That means that they have to have a fairly extensive knowledge of the soft/hardware used in their classes. There are consultants on duty, but they are not trained on many of the packages used in CI classes, and they are also responsible for the users not in your class. So we suggest two strategies:
   
   
   • do all the activities you are asking your students to accomplish just before the class period in which those activities occur.
     
     
   • ALWAYS have an alternative, non-computer activity to back up the one scheduled for the lab.
     
     
2. You are responsible for signing out the lab when your class will meet. Sign-up sheets are available in the notebook on the consultant's desk in the Mac lab. You should sign up for all classes during the term that you KNOW will meet in the CCLI ahead of time. Come to the lab early the day you will meet in the CCLI and the consultant on duty will help you ask the walk-in users to make room for your students.

If you suddenly realize that you need to use the CCLI but have not signed up for it at least a week and 1/2 ahead of time, you may still bring your students into the lab. But your class will not have priority over the students already there. Please don't ask others to leave. Have your students find vacant machines and/or work together at one workstation.

SUGGESTIONS FOR CA and CI TEACHERS:
Plan ahead. Talk to me and other experienced teachers about classes that you think would benefit from CA or CI instruction. Contact HU faculty & staff who teach those classes & talk to them about your interests in teaching in the lab or teaching with technology. Volunteer to help with the technology-rich instruction that you and the instructor of record agree on. Another way to plan ahead is to try out some CA instruction in your assigned classes to test the value of technology-rich assignments. If you do sign up for a CI class, try to find a graduate or undergraduate teaching assistant to help you with the logistics of preparing the class and teaching in the lab. I can give them upper division HU credit for that work if we set it up ahead of time or they may just do it for the experience.

Final Words: This all sounds fairly rigid and formalized, but we try to accommodate folks who have well thought out plans for incorporating technology into their teaching.

Computer-Assisted (CA) Classes
There are several web-based systems that the HU department and MTU provides that do not require any additional fees or computer-intensive status for your courses. The following is a short list of these resources and how to get started using them. If you have any questions (e.g., jargon I've used that makes no sense to you), PLEASE send me, rselfe@mtu.edu or Cheryl Ball ceball@mtu.edu private mail:

• Email and Email Lists
  Go to majordomo.mtu.edu. Click on the "create" button and fill out the form there. Attend carefully to the options UNDER the first "GO" button. They make a big difference in how your email list works.
  
  
• WebBoard
  This is a threaded discussion board system we maintain on the web. It also has a chat function. Send an email to Marj Hebert (mghebert@mtu.edu) with your name, email, and the name you want to give the WebBoard site (make it shortish but descriptive). If the name of the board is broad enough, you can use it for many classes and projects. Once Marj sets it up you will find your WebBoard at <skipper.hu.mtu.edu/~youremail>. Mine is at skipper.hu.mtu.edu/~rselfe. Log in as a Guest and check out the 21st Century Literacy conference if you'd like to see how I've used WebBoard during workshops and in classes.
  
  
• Web space
  Everyone has access to web space on the HU servers. We can show you how to use .html code or web editors like Dreamweaver to put pages up on our system. I'm no expert, but feel free to visit my simple class pages if you like: www.hu.mtu.edu/~rselfe/4630 is the address for my current undergrad. class: Online Learning and Training.
  
  
• NorthWoods MOO
  This is a simplified web space and chat system that you and your students are welcome to use. To check out the space, go to www.hu.mtu.edu:8000. Log in as a Guest. It requires no password. Follow the links around to see some of the spaces that have been developed there. Better yet, talk to me or Cheryl about how to "build rooms" (i.e., put up a space on the web) and how to chat in those spaces. We'll also show you how we've used the NorthWoods MOO in classes and for professional meetings.
  
  
• WebCT
  This is a class management tool that includes tools for threaded discussions (like WebBoard), chat spaces (like the NorthWoods MOO), syllabus space (like web space mentioned above), along with many other features. Fill out the forms off of this page: http://www.it.mtu.edu/dcs/webct/ and Mick McKellar at webct_admin@mtu.edu will help you out.
  
  
• Nicenet's Internet Classroom Assistant
  http://www.nicenet.org is a freeware space on the web for those who don't want to use an expensive proprietary system like WebCT (It's expensive for the university; you don't have to pay more for using WebCT). It has some of the features of WebCT but not all.

Please feel free to come by for a planning session with me. My office hours this fall are from 1:30-2:30 TT and by appointment.

Dickie Selfe
Director of Center for Computer-Assisted Language Instruction
138 Walker
906-487-3225
rselfe@mtu.edu