Wednesday, January 24, 2007

First Post

This is a first post, so as a backgrounder, I need to state up front that I'm talking about Wikis in the context of teaching a specific class. I think the techniques I'm dealing with apply to any class, but all of the experiences and observations will be related...at least at this point...to COM 402: Advertising and Promotions for the Internet. It's a senior level seminar course. I should apologize to anyone reading this other than myself in advance because I'm mainly writing as a way of solidifying my thinking. I'm sure this will be haphazzard at times, but I guess I believe blogs are a journey anyway. I'll fill in details as I go so that folks interested can get caught up. Minimally, I can say I'm an Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University. Our school is located in New Haven, CT. The location brings all sorts of interesting teaching dynamics, not the least of which is a student population that is diverse, largely overcommitted with personal responsiblities, enthusiastic and bright. Regardless of what might come out in future posts (semester stress will undoubtedly sneak into my narrative in spots), I really like ths students here. At times I am frustrated by a general lack of preparedness students have because of their backgrounds, but ultimately it's an interesting challange to help them grow beyond what they come into school with. I hope that I inspire them to be more than what they thought they could be...or minimally...to realize how much potential they really have. Some have been so squashed by circumstance that they don't realize how truly gifted they are. The problem for teaching is that many times, even if they are aware they have a talent, they're not sure how to take advantage of it. So I feel it's part of my responsiblity to help them discover their own potential and, if we're lucky, understand how to make that work for them in their lives. A bit more longwinded than I thought I'd be, I guess this leads up to why I have such a passion for using Wikis. Hidden in all the other benefits, I see a Wiki as providing an opportunity for students to engage in a process of self discovery. In writing or developing other content for the Wiki, they're really finding out more about what they can do. It causes reflection...and that strengthens a sense of personhood and identity. So...with that said...on to talking about Wikis.

First off, I make a few assumptions about the course. First is that I am working to create a community of understanding that evloves throughout the semester. By this, I mean that I aim to decentralize my role as instructor (particularly as an authority on a subject area) and empower students to generate course content. I don't know that students necessarily understand the implications and it's been a while since I've thought them through myself, but the bottom line is that I believe that this mode of instruction leads to high levels of engangement, investment on the student's part, and an overall better understanding of subject matter. Second, and in direct relation to the previous point, I hope to serve as a coach/mentor for an intellectual line of inquiry. I really want the students to think and explore concepts and techniques for discussing topics. I want them to collaboratively define and make some conclusions about the topic at hand (advertising on the Internet). I also want them to explore what collaboration means and what the possibilities provide for any creative endeavor. Most of what I'm saying here is quite esoteric, but with the students we'll approach it on a straightforward, applied level...here's what you can do, now try to do something with it. From time to time I'll act as devil's advocate, interrogating their choices and approaches. At others I'll ask them to take a step back (to a Meta level) and really think about what's happening in the course of the interaction. My interest here is less in coming to real conclusions about advertising and more about helping students to better understand their own communication behaviors and how it intersects with technology. Because the course is in a Communication Department, I feel pretty comfortable in this sort of exploration...though I don't feel that there's room in the curriculum or interest on the part of the students to really pursue the questions I'm interested in an a heady, esoteric way (as I am wont to do). Advertising in this case is mearly an incidental...a contextual basis for discussion...but the real interest is in what a Wiki is, how it can be used generally, and how it can be used to enhance instruction.

It's pretty amazing to me how odd getting started on this endeavor is. I had taught the course previously and didn't keep a strong journal or log what was happening. The best I have is reflection on the previous Wiki I created. My previous experience with the course was definitely rich, frought with all sorts of pitfalls and obstacles. I hope that at some point I'll be able to incorporate those experiences into this blog. It's been about a year since I last taught the course. I had forgotten how much background I needed to cover in the class before we could really jump in. Most of my students don't have Internet experience...at least not at the level I'd hope. So...it's starting from scratch for the most part. It's going to be a challenge getting them up to speed and working on projects.

Right now I'm in the "Agenda Setting" process. The students were given a worksheet that asks them to list five things in one of 4 categories: (1) My skills related to Internet; (2) My skills related to Advertising/Promotion; (3) What I'd like to learn about (related to the course); and (4) Things I notice/find interesting about Internet advertising and promotion. I'll use the other 3 categories for other aspects of the course, but not so much for building the agenda. I took the worksheets and compiled a list from the "What I'd like to learn" category. I sorted and combined similar topics/questions. Then I split the topics into 4 basic categories: Tech Stuff, Personal Skills, Advertising Concepts/Issues, and Nature of the Industry. I distill the lists down to a manageable length. I think 10 is about the most that can be handled. I think the first two had 9 and the second 2 had 10 topics this time. Tomorrow in class I'll ask the students to individually rank the lists in order of importance to them personally. Each list gets a separate ranking and the students can also add an additional point to a list for ranking if they'd like. Then they'll split into groups and agree upon a ranking for the groups. There are 19 students in class, so we'll have 4 groups. Taking a cue from my colleague Linda Sampson (we co-taught a course recently), I'll likely give the students a different colored sheet to give the group rankings. It's a logistical thing, but it helps a lot. I'll weight the rankings, looking for the top topics. Ultimately we'll be able to look at about 10 topics or so during the semester. Once we have topics, the students will sign up to be discussion leaders and each week they'll be responsible for creating a new Wiki entry for their topic and leading an in-class discussion. Those who aren't leaders will need to read the posts and will have to respond or add to the topic entry before the in-class discussion. Scheduling is a bit tricky, but in the end I think that's a minor compromise for the results the exercise generates.

Oh...this is important, too! Their first assignment was to "Pick their Textbook". They each had to go to a bookstore or library and find a book that they'd like to use for the class. The interesting part of that is we'll wind up with 19 different textbooks (possibly more or less depending on duplicates or whether they want to use more than one). I asked them to bring their book to class so they can use it as a guide for what they'd like to work on this semester. I know there's more, but I'm tired...it's too late to be thinking so much. Until next time...