Perkins 218
Using Blogs to Make Texts Public
Christine Erlien, Thompson Writing Program
One of our initiatives in the Thompson Writing Program is to “make texts public.” We are working on doing that in a variety of ways, but one that speaks specifically to the use of instructional technology has been the participation of several of our faculty members in the WordPress pilot program. I think it would be valuable to share how writing instructors in a range of disciplines are using blogging software in their courses.
[CourseCast recording] or YouTube video (below)
WordPress in a Spanish Language Course
Lisa Merschel, Romance Studies
This session will explore the use of WordPress pages in two lower-intermediate Spanish courses as a substitute for the Wiki feature in Blackboard. In one class students worked individually on a WordPress page, and in another students worked collaboratively in pairs. Some questions addressed will be: what are the pros and cons of moving outside the Learning Mangagement System (Blackboard) for a technology assignment? Did students prefer working collaboratively or
individually? Was there added value in using a WordPress page vs. using a Wiki on Blackboard? And how does one assess such a project? I will share the results of pre-assignment and post-assignment surveys of my students and share some thoughts on what I think to be best practices for usingWordPress pages.
A SimSoap: Using a Twitter Narrative in Nursing Education
Mary Barzee, Margaret (Midge) Bowers, Margie Molloy, Newman Lanier
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The SimSoap project was created for nurse educators by a team at the Duke School of Nursing in Spring 2010. Through Twitter, nurse educators follow a narrative that is both a health crisis simulation scenario and an unfolding love story. The story incorporates teaching points and medical errors.
The first episode of the soap opera was delivered via 488 tweets over 6 days on Twitter. The main character is a medical simulation mannequin, Stanley, who writes about love, basketball and his medical adventures. The project helps teach and reinforce quality and safety learning competencies. Using Twitter allows for improvisation and the incorporation of real time current events. The Twitter followers are also able to participate, ask questions and make comments using Twitter.
“Twittare:” Micro-Blogging and Out-of-Class Communication
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Matteo Gilebbi and Emily Sposeto, Romance Studies
The presenters will collaborate to deliver a presentation examining the use of Twitter as a tool for encouraging communication outside of the classroom. Our presentation will consider the use of Twitter in several Italian courses ranging from the elementary to the intermediate level. Particular focus will be given to Twitter as a forum for linguistic practice as well as a medium for stimulating personal research on Italian culture.
Enhancing Teaching @ Duke with Online Training Tutorials
0Christine L. Vucinich, Technical Education & Outreach Coordinator, OIT and Richard Lucic, ISIS and Computer Science
Duke’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) has made it easy for Duke students, faculty and staff to have access to online tutorials in computer-related topics such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Video Editing, Computer Programming, Web Design, Database Design and more through the Lynda.com online training pilot. Christine Vucinich, who leads OIT’s Academic Services Training program, will discuss the pilot and demonstrate how to access the training tutorials. Richard Lucic will talk about how he is participating in this pilot and using the online tutorials in the Information Science and Information Studies (ISIS) program. More Information: http://www.oit.duke.edu/training/online/.
[CourseCast recording] or YouTube video (below)