Posts

On technology in the classroom

So far, all of my posts here have discussed how classes can be extended with technology outside of the classroom walls. But recently, my classmate Steven wrote a blog post about use of technology within the classroom, which got me thinking about how it makes its way into the midst of our classes. In some ways, the integration of technology can be very positive for ESL writers. Translation tools and online dictionaries can be excellent support systems for writers who are struggling to compose an ambitious text. Resources on correct English grammar and usage are also plentiful online, and so for English L2 students, who have very individualized English needs which cannot be addressed in a whole-class lecture, being able to tap into those resources while working can be great. It can also allow that sort of work to exist in the classroom at all, when previously it may have been prohibitively difficult for students. That can backfire, though. Students can rely on translation tools to cover ...
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On Vox and Wikipedia

At the moment I’m working on developing some lesson plans targeted at advanced learners. Some of the readings I’m using come from link-heavy websites: the Washington Post, Vox, and Wikipedia. Comparing the text structures and layout of the three, I’ve been reflecting on how students can compose for new media. It’s interesting to see these sites transforming. I’ve been a reader of the Washington Post for a long time, and the design of their articles – link-heavy and informal – is new. Five years ago, the Washington Post looked a lot closer to the New York Times, with long, mostly-formal, independently readable articles. The articles used to contain all of the background information you’d need to understand the topic at hand. Links were sparse to non-existent. The page layout has shifted along with the content. The Washington Post now has lists of links (like “top stories”) in different orders on different parts of the page, designed to get your attention, get more clicks. Ads dot th...
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On wikis

One might think, given my aforementioned distaste for online classwork, that I would oppose the use of wikis in class. That is not the case. There’s a substantial difference between wikis and social media, which comes as a result of the different environments they represent. Wikis are powerful, innovative forms of writing which requires a real reimagination of what writing looks like, whereas social media only serves to strip our unconsidered conversation of its civility. Wikis provide a potentially invaluable new medium that writers can, and ought to, become proficient with. They are also difficult to integrate into writing classes, and have not been as successful an experiment as they might be. To start, wikis have several significant benefits to them which social media do not: They’re truly interactive. You’re no longer posting your own ideas in response to another’s. Instead, you have to actually plan your writing along with your collaborators and execute as a group. That’s a...
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On Canvas

Canvas has two main purposes. Its first purpose is to centralize things. Assignments are handed in there, course information is found there, and readings are posted there. In doing so, Canvas serves a useful purpose, although it is a purpose that is equally well-served by simple web pages from the 1990s. But its secondary purpose, the one that requires the use of a specialized system, is to take many of the normal elements of a classroom, such as class discussions and portfolios, and bring them online. That, I have a problem with. I have complicated feelings about social technology generally. It is obviously greatly empowering, allowing art and information of all kinds to spread farther and more broadly than ever before. It facilitates projects and events which would previously have been infeasible; I have accomplished and created things that were only possible because of the internet, and collaborated with people whom I have never and would never have met. But it is also dangerous. ...
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