A New Beginning for Digital Pedagogy

In June of 2013, The Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) was formed bringing together four units formerly housed in the Robert W. Woodruff Library: the Digital Scholarship Commons (DiSC), the Electronic Data Center, the Lewis H. Beck Center for Electronic Collections, and the Emory Center for Interactive Teaching (ECIT). ECDS partners with Emory scholars who wish to incorporate technology into their teaching and research. Within this new center, a team of IT professionals, librarians, and students work to support the way digital technologies and associated methodologies play a role in teaching and research. The goal of blending IT and library cultures is to build on each's strength while recognizing the differences of both in creating a new institutional model for 21st century digital scholarship.

Images of ECIT - 2011

These images on flickr include the changes to ECIT Classroom's 214 and 217.  View the images.

Don't Landscape, Excavate

Much of the work done towards integrating technology into teaching has been largely to have technology enhance or mediate existing parts of instruction.  Adding a wiki to facilitate group work provides many things, but does it really change how things are taught and learned?  Blending technology into teaching is somewhat like landscaping your front yard.  A few shrubs and perhaps a flower bed or two.  Using technology as a level to rethink how things are taught from the ground up is really the key to realizing technology's full impact.  Instead of landscaping the yard, excavate and change the topography.  This question was raised last week during the Connected Summit on Mobile Learning at Abilene Christian University (http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/conferences/summit/index.html).

Another Observation on iPads in Teaching and Technology

As I spend more time with the iPad in my teaching and consultations with faculty there is another observation to be made.  In addition to the iPad changing the dynamics of the interaction between a faculty member and myself working on how to include technology in their class, the iPad can make managing technology in the classroom easier.  Going back to last semester, a faculty member teaching econ in one of our Center's classrooms asked "can you turn off the internet?"  The instructor was having their students use laptops to teach how to use Excel.  They noticed, as did I when walking behind the students in the class, that a good portion of the students were online with a myriad of web sites.  I worked with the instructor to structure the exercises with Excel so that there were periods when the laptops could be closed and then reopened during class.

When I worked with my iPad in class the other day, I realized managing either an online exercise or any activity utilizing a computer would be made easier.  Having the ability to see what is being done on the iPad without a laptop screen to hide behind nor the ability to easily conceal what is happening under the classroom table, a la a smartphone.  The nature of the iPad is to share what is on the screen.  More to what I mentioned in my last post.  Easily seeing what everyone is doing on the computers allows the instructor (even one that is fairly stationary while during their work) to manage the technology with a minimum of impacts to the way the class operates.  Perhaps no more turning off of the internet.

Now onto connecting the iPad into the classroom.

Experiences with an iPad - Transforming a Learning Moment

The iPad completely changed my recent experience consulting with a faculty member on her upcoming course.  Let me preface this with a statement: I don't work for Apple although I do think they create interesting products.  At our Center, we support both of the commonly used platforms.  All that being said, I am going to try and share my interpretation of a discussion I had earlier this week with an instructor about further developing and supporting her course.

As the brainstorming session progressed, the instructor mentioned a nature preserve near downtown Atlanta where her students were going to do some exercises.  I was unfamiliar with the location so I placed my iPad in between us and asked her to show me where this place was.  Immediately, she was navigating the map, zooming in and out to locate the preserve.  We could see the trails and the garden within the preserve where her student were going to learn about sustainability and nutrition. Then, as the discussion continued, she talked about a local group who was going to help with audio and video projects the students were creating about their neighborhood. We used the iPad go to the site and learn more about the equipment the group could offer her students so that we could continue the assistance when they came back to campus.

Finally, the discussion moved to what types of audio and video recording devices the instructor might get access to for the students to continue work outside the classroom.  We used the iPad to go online and compare and contrast the capabilities of the devices as well as their availability for her class' time frame.  Then, we talked  about a technology for her to create a repository of her student's work throughout the course and used the iPad to run through a wiki and explain the process of creating an online collaborative space.

The one thing you can see from the story so far is that "we" has been used more than any other single word.  This, I believe, is do to the iPad.  Previously, during a discussion with an instructor, we would use a large display screen and CPU.  Even with a wireless keyboard, more of our attention was fixed on the screen (that I controlled with the keyboard), not on each other to a greater degree.  If I turned the keyboard over to the other person to show something, it was like I was giving them something owned by our Center. Much like I was being kind enough to share "our" computer.  In addition to this, the first question was always "Is this a PC or Mac?"  Using this type of technology still come with "barriers" and what I perceive as a teacher-learner environment.

Even with a SmartBoard, I still feel as though there must be a learning barrier to get over before interacting with the content on the screen.  Interactive as it is, there is still a hesitancy to freely touch.  Perhaps this is because the display is so large that others might see any mistakes, or maybe the "our" equipment issue weighs more than the interactive nature of the equipment.  These feelings still exist if we meet in a semi-private area like our Center's Teaching Theatre.

With the iPad, the feeling was more like the instructor and I were learning and exploring together.  The interface of the iPad removes any steep learning curves.  The iPad screen is large enough for us to look together.  I easily shared my iPad (simply by scooting it a little closer to the faculty member) and asking them to show me what they were planning to include in the course.  It seemed as though all the barriers, either actual or perceived, were gone.  There was much more of a working together by using the iPad than if I had used my laptop.  With a laptop, there is still a barrier of the screen as well as a stronger issue of this is "my" computer that I happen to be sharing with you.  With the iPad we could seamlessly hand-off and share a screen better suited for us (two of us).  I felt it changed the feel of the entire discussion  and removed any "I am the tech guy and your the teacher" feelings.  As I said earlier, with the iPad, we were exploring, learning together.  Our attention was on each other and the discussion, not the technology (this only after the initial "Oh boy, and iPad moment).

How one deals with others on a personal level of course plays an equally important role.  However, I can't stop thinking about how this learning moment was positively impacted by the iPad.  How I could not have developed that type of exchange with any of the other technology in our Center.  My goal now is to see how it might change other teaching/learning moments between faculty, students and staff.  Obviously it is not the solution for all of these types of exchanges, but I intend to capture and assess for which types of learning it works best.

Google vs. the CMS

With the announcement of Google's CloudCourse (http://bit.ly/dc0FiY), can we now make the logical connections to the other elements of the Google "suite" and a cloud CMS/LMS?  Blending Docs, GMail and Groups with CloudCourse could produce a very full-featured, user-customizable online course management system.  The multi-million dollar CMS/LMS business might make a real move to the cloud and therefore more fully supporting anytime, anywhere learning.  There remains a little way to go, but IMHO this latest move by Google allows for an end to be in sight.  Only a few steps left to bring it all together.

Do we need to keep our hands on the Twitter brake in the classroom?

Using Twitter to extend the discussion outside of the classroom can be a double-edged sword (as can many other pedagogical techniques).  Yes, I do include Twitter as a teaching tool.  The question is how to gauge the use of Twitter so that is does support the discussion of in-class topics outside of the classroom walls.  Twitter can just as easily be a distraction as a help.  Several faculty have requested we look into some way to continue a conversation, topic, exchange of thoughts even after the class period is over.  I fully realize that faculty can easily overwhelm students with outside the class "activities."  We are always working with faculty to help them appreciate how much time it takes to participate in successful online forums.  However, Twitter might be a different type of animal.