Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

26 – Techno Expression
CHATS
In some ways, chats can resemble a classroom setting in
both good and bad ways. In the “good” column, chats
are live, synchronous activities that gives participants a
sense of being in the same place, even if they are all sitting
at home with a cup of coffee and a cat in their laps.
In the “bad” column, only a small percentage of students
get a chance to express their views in the classroom.
The same is true for chat sessions. Factors that
contribute to this in chats include, but are not limited to,
social dynamics involving students who dominate conversations,
cultural tendencies not to speak up in public,
reluctance to contribute due to language difficulties,
poor typing skills, or shyness. As an instructor, it becomes
your job to facilitate discussions that give everyone a chance
to add their ideas to the conversation. (Review the tip and
example in the section on synchronous methods of expression
above, for facilitation and assignment ideas to try.)
WEB PAGES AND GRAPHICS
Static web pages provide a space for faculty and students
alike to state their views on academic and non-academic
topics. Some learning management systems (LMS) provide
space for students to create web pages. Many
schools and universities now provide web space in conjunction
with email account. If appropriate, ask students
to create web pages related to your course material.
Consider asking students to engage in creative expression
with applications like Adobe Photoshop or
other graphic creation and editing tools. For example,
students can create a digital collage to show how they
feel about a topic. In the past this type of assignment was
done with magazines, scissors, and glue. Now students
can do it with magazines and scanners, web image
search engines, Photoshop, and colour printers. Even if
you ask students to draw something with paper and
pencil, they can scan it and post it to get feedback from
other students.
Example
At the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics,
the Advanced Multimedia class requires students to
create a self portrait using Frida Kahlo’s paintings as an
inspiration (http://www.mcsm.net/art/frida.html).
Before assigning students to create web pages and
digital images, you should check to make sure that they
have access to the hardware and software required to
make them. There are several free web page editing
software applications, such as SeaMonkey Composer by
Mozilla.
WIKIS AND BLOGS
Wikis, or collectively built web pages, provide students
an opportunity to collaborate on group or class projects.
Since anyone can edit the wiki pages, it is a good idea to
set some ground rules, similar in nature to the concept
of Netiquette described above. Some common wiki rules
include not deleting anyone else’s contributions without
permission, avoiding slang and acronyms, and contributing
only original material.
Example of techno expression assignment using wikis
Wiki assignments that encourage expression might be
similar to those described above for static web pages, or
they might be more complex.
Wiki assignment example for a seminar in intellectual
freedom at Indiana University: In the assignment, students
are asked to do two things:
• Make a wiki entry on a controversial intellectual freedom
issue
“For the first part, you will collaborate with another
person and write a wiki entry on a controversial intellectual
freedom issue that is discussed either in
class or in the readings … This entry should have
three main sections. In the first section, clearly introduce
and define the issue that you are exploring and
explain its significance. In the second section, develop
the main argument of the entry. Explain both sides of
the issue (you explain one side and your partner explains
the other). Try to offer the strongest case for
your side of the issue. Make use of other resources in
your entry, including articles and websites, where appropriate.
In the third section, take an informed position
on the issue. This means giving your opinion
and supporting it in some way. You will express your
opinion as will your partner. You and your partner can
agree, in which case you can write this section together,
or you can disagree, in which case each writes his or her
own third section” (Rosenbaum, 2006, para. 72–73).
• Contribute to at least two other wiki entries
“For the second part of the assignment, you will contribute
to at least two other entries in the wiki. This
will involve posting your informed opinions, clarifications,
additions or suggestions for deletions to
other entries. In your posting, be sure to make reference
to relevant materials whether from the course or
your other reading” (Rosenbaum, 2006, para. 75).
420 Education for a Digital World