Keeping Current

Even with all the options we have available (an overwhelming number) I find there are many times when I want a tool that I am unable to find. This is especially true when I am teaching from a distance and want to work with my students in specific ways with out large expenditures of money. So, I was looking for a way to collectively create a timeline in my class. One that we could all add to, that could hold text and linked citations, but one that would also be visual.

Initially I tried to do this in a wiki within Blackboard (what a big mistake), but it lacked the visual representation I was craving as well as having numerous other problems. Time lines need to be visual to get the whole picture in my mind.

Well, I recently saw a linklog post by Chris Lott that talked about a new blog called Dandelife. This tool is commonly used to tell life stories. OK, so maybe this will work to tell our story?…

This semester the class is trying it out. We are sharing an ID so that we can all post since it is a blog and not a wiki. We could haved used tags to link things together (a suggestion from Kelly at Dandelife), but I wanted it all to be in one place. So, we are on our way. I will post more as the experiment takes shape.

One thing I will reflect on is my role as instructor. I need to be more specific in the design of this assignment. Important lessons have been learned this semester that will just continue to make the assignment better and more meaningful.

You can check out the progress we are making if you are interested. Once we are done, hopefully my students will comment here to let me know how well it worked.

Each semester as I struggle to manage my time between my full time job and my extracurricular adjunct teaching (for which the pay is pretty low), I ask myself why I keep doing it. Every semester there are at least a few students who remind me that I love to teach and that is why I work nights and weekends to keep up with their conversations and inquiries.

This semester is shaping up to be one of those times I believe. The enthusiasm for learning and the excitement for the content of the course inspires me to keep trying to make learning rewarding and engaging. I’ll get back to you on whether that feeling continues throughout the semester as everyone gets busier.

To see some of the reasons that I am encouraged this semester, you can check out the student’s inital blog posts. Most have never created a blog even though they are graduate students with many in the instructional technology program. I am glad that I decided to take a few exercises outside of the LMS and into the real world. I will see if the resulting work and student reflection changes with the real world “looking in”. The student’s blogs are linked on my bloglines if you are interested in reading them.

This blog helps to organize and rationalize the Professional World of Dr. Shauna Schullo. It will also be used to replace her current professional site since editing of a blog is much easier that all the current manipulation require d on the Schullo site (http://www.schullo.com). We will still use the blog you are all familiar with (http://shauna.blog.usf.edu) to keep everyone informed of what Scott and Shauna are up to. This blog is more for my professional side.

The year, since I do not have a dissertation to worry about, I am working on my own professional development and enhancing my vitae. So, this blog will be used to organize my thoughts, my classes and my research in hopes I can assimilate what is going on around me.