z_+Questions?+Comments?

=Questions? Comments?=

I'd love to hear what you have to say about any of the content on this wiki.

This is also the place to ask questions, share insights, share ideas.

How to add your comments/questions:
 * 1) Click on the Edit icon (upper right of screen)
 * 2) Notice that you now have a toolbar and you can add text, links, files, widgets (videos and lots more).
 * 3) When you are finished, click Save. That is all that is to it. Come on, give it a whirl!

If you have information about one of the questions or want to add onto someone's ideas, feel free to do so.

Have fun!

Sue

Questions: I would be interested in knowing how others approach learning to use a new technology. The way i learn to use a new technology is to "play" with it and try different things and see what happens. I guess that would be tinkering... For some reason, I find following step-by-step instructions overwhelming (though i find myself going back and forth between tinkering and reading the instructions). How do others approach learning a new technology?

One of the challenges i experience arises when I find I do not have the time to tinker with the technology but have to use it in a real life application, quickly. Is this just a reality of our highly technologically-focused world today? How, as instructors, can we help our students learn best with technology? I guess we are asking our students to double up on their learning objectives: 1) Learn the new technology, and 2) the subject matter of the course. Does this mean we can get more subject matter across - or do we have to cut back on subject matter to account for the time being taken up in learning the technology?

These are my musing early Saturday morning,

Scot

Hi Scott,

Thanks for getting things rolling. I rarely will tinker with something new unless I can think of an application for it. My preferred mode of learning would be hands-on with a guide (someone who knows the ropes), second preferred mode would be to have someone model how to use it, and third would be step-be-step instructions.

As to your question about students doubling up on objectives, the new technology 'must' have a benefit to both the learner and the instructor. For instance, right now I am using Blackboard (similar to Desire 2 Learn) with all my classes. Why? Benefits to learners - course material is always available (handouts, videos, powerpoints, websites, etc). Assignments are always submitted online so less paper is used. Testing is done online and learners get (almost) immediate feedback on how they did. Benefits to me - I never need to worry about carrying student work around with me, I can get to it from any location, if there were storm days I can still communicate with students online, all work is date/time stamped.

With some of my classes I use Wikis, especially if I want them to do research and share with colleagues, I have these same students learn about social bookmarking so that this helos their research, plus we share bookmarks by using the course code as a 'tag'. On Monday I will be using clickers as a way of reviewing material in my class, this truly engages the learner in the process. In all these cases, the time used to learn the technology is worth it.

I try as much as possible to use the technology and activities as a way to have students "uncover" the material. I think that is where the magic happens.

Looking forward to hearing other's remarks.

‍ **NOTICE - I was just talking to Judy and we are still meeting at UNB at 10 if you can make it.**

** Seaslugs rock **

**Hey, my name is Haley.**

Greetings : )
Hello

=== **Werner Heisenberg was speeding down the highway when he gets pulled over by a policewoman.** The Policewoman walks up to his car and asks "Sir, do you know how fast you were going", Heisenberg replies "No, but at least I know where I am".===

I am Error :P

Was the previous joke a reference to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, or am I reading to much into it? Stuck in St Andrews today due to late pickup of plan B/C to go ahead, but will try technology as suggested Sue, thanks. Mark Kirby

So how do you add an image if it is on your hard drive say? - Mark
Hi Mark, it's Kathleen. If you click on "edit" at the top of one of these wiki pages, you should see a toolbar. There should be a picture with "File" next to it. When you click on this you should see an option to upload from your computer.

**Hi everyone,** **I would like to use one of the applications learned today in my capacity as an organizer of a non-profit event. My concern is that the data I would be sharing is sensitive, so which application is best? I didn't realize that Wikispaces is public unless you pay (free for 30 days). Is there one which is better to use if you have sensitive data? I want only invited members to have access to view the data.** **Suggestions?**

Hi, I would suggest Google Docs as you can decide who gets to see the documents. Dropbox would also work as long as you had a folder just for your group. Sue