Technology Workshops - Easy as 1, 2, 3?

Tech workshops are quickies to learn something new or brush up on something you have not used in a while. Having been to a few of these in recent times and getting utterly bored in a good number of those, I was faced with a dilemma since I had to conduct a workshop for a department here at OSU.

So how was I to keep this thing not boring and still be able to deliver these ‘techy’ materials? Though I had conducted workshops in the past, I wanted a new look and certainly not put the attendees to sleep. Once again, I referred to my friend, ‘google search’ and looked up some technology workshops. God there are some awful ones out there! Youtube is loaded with a million bad ones and some good ones too. After viewing a bunch of these and reading several other ones, I was equipped with some really good ideas.

1. Know your material – (This one’s a gimme!) It’s almost impossible to know everything with tech material, but expect some questions from the group. I pointed out the breadth of the material to be covered and encouraged future sessions.
2. Keep the group small and manageable – This was you can have an interactive session.
3. Keep it (slightly) informal – I took the time to know each of them personally and also their tech skills before we began so I knew who would require more/less time.
4. Tailor the material – Even if you get some or most of the content from various sources, keep the examples and subject matter relevant to your group. I researched actual examples that pertained to my group.
5. Show the basics only – Whatever level be it, just show them how to get started and have them experiment with the rest on their own. I took the time during the workshop to make sure they got the basics and encouraged them to use the HELP pages or refer to other sources. I took extra time to show them where to get help after the workshop.
6. Examples of use. I told then stories of how others use them and how others were (also) having difficulty using them in the beginning.

These simple ideas should carry you a long way and make you seem like you know what you are doing! And you do, right?

Technologies: MS PowerPoint, Classroom Management Software, Carmen, Blogs, Podcasts.

Contact me:
Sujan Manandhar
Instructional Aids Associate,
Foreign Language Center
Ohio State University

An Apple, An Orange Or A Hippo For Group Documents!

In the past few weeks, faculty members at the Ohio State University have approached me with help in incorporating a blog, a wiki, or a web-group in the curriculum. Great idea! I am glad (and very encouraged) that faculty is trying to incorporate facets of Web 2.0 in their classrooms. Students these days are well versed with 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networks, etc) and using these as classroom tools can certainly get their attention.

However, there seems to be some confusion about what these technologies are and what they do! Though most Web 2.0 technologies do not have rigid definitions/standards, each has a general purpose and should be used appropriately.

A blog (or weblog) is a term used to describe an online page (or web site) that maintains an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog also allows document collaboration via multiple authors but that’s not what really a blog is, especially when there are better tools out there. That is more a wiki. According to wiki.org a “Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.” Wikipedia defines it as “a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content.” This fits the need of a class collaborative document. A web group (e.g. google group, yahoo group) can also be used to collaborate on a document and exchange ideas to develop a group document. Most wiki and web-group technology is free and easy to use.

It is important to know what all these ‘new’ technologies do (& can do) before using them in curriculum (or elsewhere). Misuse can be a major turn-off and can actually deter the students. Know your blogs, wikis, 2.0s, ducks, apples and oranges!

Technologies: Weblog (blog), wiki, google group, yahoo group, Web 2.0

Contact me:
Sujan Manandhar
Instructional Aids Associate,
Foreign Language Center
Ohio State University