Dexter Response

Dexter provides a good overview of the questions that instructors should ask when utilizing technology. That technology is new, should not be the reason to use it; rather the value that the technology can add to reaching the instructor's learning goals. I found the questions Dexter provides to be very useful, and I wish I had a more thorough and thoughtful approach to an attempt I made a couple of years ago to implement a "new technology" into my classroom.

In an effort to provide my students with a private, interactive "home base" for resources, information, and documents, I had them each set up a blog, where they used privacy settings so that no one could access their blog other than myself and other program staff. The idea was that once they graduated from their program, they could readily access much of the work we did over the semesters (personal organization is frequently a problem for my students, and tend to lose papers, etc.), as well as other resources to assist them in their on-going process of finding employment, etc. I also thought that by using a "blog," self-motivation would have increased. Unfortunately, the obstacles experienceed by my students using these blogs outweighed any potential added value. Additionally, I did not have the interest or support of other program staff that would have been necessary to keep the use of the blogs afloat and relevant. My eagerness to implement a new method in order to solve an ongoing issue for my students caused me to lose sight of the fact that ultimately, staff would not have time to track another organizational system outside of the current (and more critical) one in place. This experience serves as an illustration of how reflection and consideration of Dexter's eTIPS may be of value in my future attempts to use technology in the educative experience.