Post One: Technology in the classroom

I was in a graduate course at Towson 2 classes ago where we used technology. The course was ISTC 717 Distance Education Theory and Practice. The course had about 20 students and 2 instructors. Computers and Blackboard were the technologies being used in this class.

In order for the students to be successful in the class, they had to have access to a computer and internet connection. They also had to be familiar or become familiar "quickly" with Blackboard since this was our means for communication.

Technology was the main focus of the course since the course was "distance" education. The students and teachers only met the 1st and last class of the semester. All other class meetings were online via Blackboard.

The students were to read various chapters from the book and articles that were assigned and had to post their reactions on Blackboard. The students used threads on Blackboard and discussed their findings in small group and whole group discussions. The students were also placed in small groups and were assigned a week where they were the facilitators of the discussion. Each group member had a different role for that. (summarizer, devil's advocate, etc.)

I saw many benefits of this class and it's use of technology. We were actually able to have a course ALL online and really learn something from it. Not only learn stuff from readings, but from my peers as well. I also feel that I gained more tech skills and confidence than I had before the class. I also feel that because of this class I am more confident with expressing my thoughts and reactions on the internet instead of the normal F2F discussion in class.