Teaching with Technology Workshops

• Clickers: Best practices

  Clickers are handheld devices (much like TV remote controls) that provide opportunities for students to engage actively with course material, for instructors and students to get immediate feedback, for reluctant students to get more involved, and for instructors to adjust their teaching on the spot. In this workshop you’ll learn how they work, how to get started using them in your classroom, and how your colleagues at Penn State have been using them to improve student learning.
  
  

• Blogging and e-portfolios for instructors (Parts 1 and 2)

  Blogging and e-portfolios are often advocated as a way to showcase professional growth, integrate technology into the classroom, and encourage student writing. This two-session workshop will present participants with tools to create and use blogs and e-portfolios for professional as well as educational purposes. In this session, Jeff Swain of Teaching and Learning with Technology will help participants learn how to set up their own e-portfolios and blogs, using the Blogs at Penn State platform. Since this is a hands-on workshop, participants are asked to activate their personal Web space in advance. Please contact the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence for details.
  
  In the second session, graduate consultant Stéphanie Roulon will focus on how blogs can be used effectively to promote learning, with a special emphasis on best teaching practices.
  
  

• Best practices for PowerPoint: Tips for instructors

  PowerPoint is one of the most commonly used technologies in teaching—but in terms of promoting student learning, it’s often used less effectively than it might be. Graduate consultant Dawn Miller will share best practices in PowerPoint use, expanding on ideas developed and tested in the classroom by Professor Michael Alley.
  
  

• Blogs and wikis

  Find out how Penn State faculty members are using these web tools to help students learn. Blogs can be used by students for reflection assignments or journaling as well as by faculty for instructions to students, among other things. Wikis are like blogs, but are particularly well-suited for collaborative projects because they allow for editing by multiple authors. In this session you will learn how to access the blog and wiki tools available to Penn State faculty and hear examples of how they have been used in various courses.