The First Week

As someone who uses technology quite a lot - at least in relation to other people I know of the same age - I have always considered incorporating technology into my courses. Hitherto I have "used" technology in the administration of courses but have never actually made technology the focus of the course. We have now had one week of classes and I am somewhat surprised by what I learned. Most students claim not to know what a blog or a podcast is. I would have expected them to have already dabbled in these new features of the internet. And so, contrary to what I had expected, the assignments I will be allocating for this course will be the first time that students will actually be doing these things. Things would be a lot easier if they were already familiar with the technology and could focus on the content. However, given that much of what they will do is new for them, it should ensure that their interest is retained and one may be getting them started on a lifelong habit.

I am still somewhat concerned about the assignment which will involve students initiating an online relationship. Again if they were already involved in online relationships, things would be a lot easier. I will have to carefully consider the advice I will offer and in particular I will need to take precautions to ensure that no one gets themselves into serious difficulties.

As there has been a lot of movement of students I cannot claim to have even met them all yet. I am sure that they find the constant movement as frustrating as I do. Once we are all together I will discuss in detail the assignments that they will need to do and elicit how exactly they feel about them. Depending on how worried they are we can modify expectations.

Here's hoping that the next few months will be fruitful for all. I am certainly looking forward to
learning about how my teenage students use the internet and possibly introducing them to some new ways of exploiting it.