technology and teaching: make the first class count
Set a Productive and Active Tone
One of the traditional ways of spending the first class of any course is
for the teacher to stand up, hand out the syllabus, and then use most of
the class time saying what's already in the syllabus--these are my office
hours, this is the attendance policy, buy these books, do your work, here's
how I'll grade, and so on. It's as if we believe students can't read. It's
also a loss of 45 minutes or more that could have been spent writing, reading,
and talking about writing. The lost time is even more grievous when you're
in a computer-networked classroom or in a brick and mortar classroom where
you plan to use and refer to computer technology quite often. Instead of
getting students engaged, the hour is eaten up with course overview. Here
then, are some ideas for using the course time to get on with teaching
via the technology you'll be using.
Networked Classroom Ideas
-
Start by having students get online and write. For example, if you want
the class to introduce themselves, and you have a bulletin board system
(BBS), have them log in. Your introductory message might ask students some
questions, such as what kind of writing they like to read, what kind of
writing they do most often, where they're from, or what their major is.
There are any number of first-day questions to ask students. If you don't
have a BBS, you can have students use a word processor and save their files
to a common directory, where files can then be swapped.
-
Don't take attendance during class. If they're logging in to write, you
can learn who attended from the saved files or stored messages. This keeps
the focus immediately and dramatically on the work at hand, not the incidental
classroom management stuff.
-
Have students exchange their writing, and read one another's pieces. This
helps them get used to sharing writing, to hearing one another's written
voices. Invite them to respond to one another, either by writing a response
or walking over to chat face to face.
-
By having the class online right away, you can be sure that some students
will be confused by your software configuration. This is an opportunity
to ask the students who have no trouble to help those who are stumped and
gets students used to helping one another. By telling students they can
only offer help by coaching and not by taking over a classmate's keyboard,
doing things for them, you can also begin to foster good peer review skills.
Brick and Mortar Classroom Ideas
-
If you have a class Web page where students can find your syllabus and
course policies, hand out a sheet of paper with the page's URL, and use
the class time to have students do some writing and talking.
-
Ask students to do some reading the first night, and to post their responses
to a class Web forum or email list. Not all will succeed in this, so don't
grade it. But make it a point to use some of the responses as a basis for
continued discussion in the next class meeting. This lets students know
that sharing ideas electronically is intrinsic and important to the class
routines and work.
-
Collect email addresses from students. If you don't have a class Web page,
you can use these email addresses to send students their syllabus and assignments
sheets. Start a class distribution list and you will only have to enter
the email addresses once, and then attach the syllabus once. (If you do
this, send the syllabus as an attachment in Rich Text Format to allow for
students to download and open it with either a Mac or PC. You can also
send the syllabus as a text-only email message.)
-
If you want to hand out the syllabus, have students go to a Web discussion
forum or class email distribution list to ask and answer any questions
they have about it. You can make this required by telling students the
syllabus is the class contract, and the online discussion is where you'll
clarify any question they have.
-
Give students homework verbally, and then follow up by sending a written
version to them via email. This is helpful for students who miss class,
or join late (you can resend the message to late students by getting it
from your sent messages folder). Also, by making homework assignments verbal
at first, you can amend them on the fly, to take into account the day's
class, and what got accomplished or discussed. Of course, you'll have to
remember what you've said.
In both these scenarios, the idea is to get students involved immediately
in the technology you'll be using in your teaching. You don't want to create
busy work or diversions. Instead, have students jump in and do the kind
of work with technology that will be part of the course's fabric. The fear
might be that not all students will be able to get everything done, especially
if they are using a computer for homework for the first time. But that's
okay. The goal is not to have everyone succeed, necessarily, but to have
everyone know and get used to what's expected. While the course's membership
suffers the turbulence of the add/drop period, you may need to reiterate
your course policies again and again. By doing this work with technology
on the first day, that need to cover things again will help those who are
slow technological starters get some practice before the class settles
in and things start in earnest.