I can already see the addictive nature of edublogging. This is going to be a fantastic way of keeping track of webinars and recording my feedback for future ref. Fantastic I tell you!

This particular webinar (http://net.educause.edu/eliweb086) is a subject near and dear to my heart. How DO we determine the impact technology has on learning? There seems to be plenty of agreement that it does have an impact, but how much of an impact? Significant? Minimal? And having an impact doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a *positive* impact. And which technology? Not all technologies are created equal. So often faculty ask me about various apps and I want to encourage their experimentation and curiosity, but we also have to address why to use something, not just the how.

In this webinar Karen Swan is emphasizing the importance of instruction over the technology: you can’t ask generalities because there will always be exceptions. Instead, look at the particular instance: does this podcast improve learning in this course subject? Can’t argue with that at all. Start with desired outcomes and then look at specific inputs. I’m not sure how faculty will respond to this response- the ones who are willing and able to do this are already doing it (theoretically); faculty who want to try out technology usually want a blanket answer, however- they’re already going through a time investment in learning how to use the tool in the first place, and I suspect that they wouldn’t thrilled about having to add additional assessment rubrics on top of that.

I’m amused that the survey data on student learning is pulled from UCF’s recent assessment data on learner characteristics (thanks Chuck!). Professional development equals more than knowing how to use the technology- they need to know how to use it in meaningful ways. This is the key issue I’m concerned with. The workshop training I provide almost exclusively deals with the how- in a group I can give different applications as examples, but it primarily rests on the faculty member to use what they have learned in a meaningful way for student learning.

UCF conducts a dedicated professional development track that addresses online pedagogy, but not all faculty have access to this (strictly limited seating). My department (Course Development & Web Services) and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning are looking for ways to make pedagogy input more accessible to faculty outside the professional development track, especially for adjunct and transient faculty.

Overall, I can’t say that I took much new away from this session- some new assessment ideas and a fresh look at the intersection of teaching and learning, but the presentation was mainly geared toward semester-long events. The session title really only peripherally had to do with the content- the focus was on assessment and less on technology- a valid point in Swan’s approach, but I would have liked to have seen a case study of the system applied to an actual instance of technology use in the classroom to move it out of the theoretical.

I must admit, however, that I was marginally amused by some of the technical issues they had with Connect- it sounded very much as if the presenter was using a stationary mic and occasionally moved closer and farther away while speaking. I’m guilty of this myself, which reminds me to get my mic jack fixed before Friday’s online training workshop. *snerk*