Week 3: Twitter

  

From: http://docsheldon.com

Sheldon: "Tweet that tweetie bird."

I just had to start out with a Sheldon Cooper quote (it was too perfect)! So this week the web 2.0 tool was Twitter.  I have to admit, I was a HUGE Twitter skeptic prior to reading some of the articles out there about using Twitter in university teaching.  I had no idea all that you can do with a simple tweet!  Rather than go into crazy detail (I'll save that for my Learning Portfolio), I figured I'd give you a list of some of the ways I hope to incorporate Twitter into my teaching arsenal:

1. To receive feedback on a video: This would allow students to comment in real time as well as ask questions that they may forget by the end of the film
2. Allow students to ask questions in a less intimidating environment: Especially in large classes, it can be hard for students to pose their questions clearly (or at all) with everyone staring at them.  With Twitter they can simply tweet it using a hash tag (e.g. #Biol4444) and I can pose it to the class or answer it directly myself.
3. Use Twitter instead of expensive clickers: Clickers are handheld devices that allow students to enter in their answers to get a quick poll of the classes opinion.  Twitter could be used in lieu of purchasing these clickers (it just may take some quick counting on the instructors part).  This would be perfect for some immediate feedback on the level of understanding on the topic. 

I found some great articles on the use of Twitter in the classroom.  One of my favorites was by Gavan Watson "Reflections on my first use of twitter in the classroom". 

I'm going to have to play around with Twitter a bit, but I'm excited to see what I can do with it in my teaching.  If used well, I think it will make a great tool!  If you'd like to follow me on twitter my address is @Off_In_DataLand

 

From Flickr user: dmixo6



Flickr continued....

Apparently I did not read all of the instructions for this week regarding Flickr.  Shhhh...don't tell the students that I didn't read the instructions carefully before starting! :P So here are a few of my own photos which are available on Flickr under the tag DUT2011, as well as a photo from Flickr that would be appropriate for educational and instructional purposes.

My photos on Flickr My photo slide show

The below pictures are courtesy of Flickr user Michael Scott with scottphotographics.com.  In science, your ultimate goal is to publish your findings.  So while you're initial goal is to "make a big splash" in the field, contributing new and fascinating information, its the lasting effects that should really be your focus.  Like the rings that circle out from the point of impact, you want  your study to kick start research and lead to more and more questions, and thus a more in depth look.  You want your scientific contribution not to just be a splash, but to reverberate and create waves of activity. 

Flickr: All rights reserved, no rights reserved...?????

From Flickr user: Zanastardust

Flickr.....I don’t like it.  I’m told that it’s a great resource for finding photos that will improve your PowerPoint presentations, handouts, etc.  But I’m not convinced; in fact I’m just frustrated!  Here are some of the problems I have with Flickr:

1) Copyright: I understand the need for copyrights, but what I don’t like is that most of the photos that I liked were unavailable for download (so I can see but not USE them?!?!)  Why put up public photos if you’re not going to let people use them?!?! I kept finding these great photos, and after finally get to the point where I can download it, realize that I couldn't use it because it wasn't open access.  Couldn’t there be some icon on the photo on the first page so users can immediately know the accessibility?  I also found it hard to follow what the copyrights were.  Some photos said ‘All rights reserved’ but yet allowed you to download the photo.

2) Privacy policy:  Apparently you should be able to find the terms of rights regarding copyright, but after spending 20 minutes searching the site, I came up with nothing.  This would definitely be something I’d want to provide to my students before allowing (or encouraging) them to use Flickr, but if I can’t find this, I won’t be using it. 

3) Search Tool:  I found I got a lot of non-related content.  For example I typed in the search “deep sea animals”.  This is what I expected:

A deep sea hatchet fish from Flickr user: anniecrawley

But somehow, these came up too?!?!

A stuffed whale (on its side...is it dead?!?!)
by Flickr user:dodosimpledolls

Ok randomly a TERRESTRIAL frog jumping
from Flickr user: law_keven

4) The layout: I hate having only 15 pictures per page show up.  Can’t Flickr take a look at Google and realize that people want to be able to search and then scroll through the photos.  Its a pain trying to go back to a photo and wondering if its on page 13 or page 2. 

That being said, I think Flickr is good for one thing….storing your own photos.  I would use it to upload my photos so I could access them anywhere.  And if I didn’t want people using them, I wouldn’t make them public.  The only way I can see this possibly working for students is in a intro biology lab, uploading pictures of specimens and microscope slides to share with their classmates.

So Flickr….Yay or Nay?  

For academic purposes, NAY.  

For storing my photos of last nights BBQ, YAY.  

Week 1: Blogging

I was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy blogging is.  Perhaps this is my millennial generation attitude (in which computers and breathing seem to be on the same level) but in just a few clicks I had a blog!  I can  see how this could be a great addition to my teaching arsenal.  For instance, in one of my previous classes I was required to write a weekly journal in a bulky notebook, which hopefully I could remember to bring to class each week.  Now comparing that to simply being able to type my journal into a blog, I would DEFINITELY choose the blog.  Let’s face it; students today are constantly hooked into technology.  Why shouldn’t we, as teachers, use this to our advantage?  Instead of carrying around bulky stacks of journals, read their weekly blogs!  Instead of wasting 5 or 10 minutes with announcements, post them on the class blog!  To involve even the shyest students in class discussions, post a question or controversial statement on the blog each day, and make it a requirement for students to post a set number of responses every week. 

A really great resource for how to use blogging in Academia is http://edtech.tennessee.edu/set/2005/set31/.  This site highlights the idea of using blogs as a research journal.  Being that my field is science, in particular biology, this would be a great way for students to record their methods for experiments, report results, and hopefully begin to see the benefits of recording their methods as they do them, instead of trying to remember all the details when they sit down to write the report!  One of the major goals throughout my teaching is that I want my students to learn good scientific writing.  A blog would be a great place for my students to post potential hypothesis, try their hand at writing abstracts and correct and re-write examples of bad writing. 

In my opinion, using technology (like blogging) in our teaching may just be the catalyst needed to get students to start activity learning and participating!  Remember, I informed you thusly :D.

A Millenial Student without a blog????

I know its shocking....a millenial student who doesn't have a blog. Well, no longer!  As part of my DUT class I am making the bold leap into the world of blogs.  I have to admit I had a hard time naming this blog.  Most of the names I came up with were either entirely too geeky or would have taken the whole day just to type in the url.  So I settled for "I informed you thusly".  I got this gem of a phrase from my favorite science show, "The Big Bang Theory" and it is compliments of the oh-so-lovable Sheldon Cooper.  Apparently this is his alternative to the over-used "I told you so". 

So in case you can't tell from that, I am a lowly biology graduate student, immersing myself in the world of marine biology and loving every minute of it (I give you fair warning now that I may break into periods of science geeky-ness throughout this blog!).