Friday, April 18, 2008
CompClass Workshops 5/7-5/8
I just set up a pretty big block of time on 5/7 and a little on 5/8 for Nick Carbone, the director of new media for Bedford/St. Martin's, to provide CompClass training. (I'll work on food too.)
More details to follow, but in Cyberia on Wednesday, 5/7, we will have semi-formal or structured presentations between 9am-2pm, and then we'll splice the rest of the non-presentation time to help individuals with follow-up or one-on-one intros. We'll also have 5/8, 12:30-2 (maybe longer), in Cyberia. Nick could also meet with teachers elsewhere till 4pm both days. I hope that this will allow many of you to check out this cool tool, especially if you're considering using it this fall.
As you probably remember, CompClass is Bedford's course management system available with the new department handbook, RULES FOR WRITERS, for an additional $10. To see the features, which include COMMENT, e-handbook, and student blogs, jump to this site, which includes a virtual tour, as well as handouts.
CompClass can also be packaged with other Bedford texts. I might bundle it with my 1B anthology.
Please let me know if you're planning on attending, even if it's for just, say, 45 minutes.
KLEINMAN
http://fog.ccsf.edu/~ckleinma
AND HERE'S MORE FROM NICK CARBONE ON THE TEACHING/LEARNING/TECHNOLOGY LINK--
The workshops, while they will show CompClass for Rules for Writers, are not only about CompClass, but will more generally be about teaching writing with online tools. For example, CompClass offers discussion boards that are very user friendly. But the question isn't so much about what buttons to click to create a discussion board (though that will be covered) but also (and more importantly) about the role an online discussion can play in your course: what's a good way to write a discussion question to generate online discussion? what directions are useful to give students about responding to classmates' posts? in what way might a discussion replace an essay draft? what are useful strategies for bringing back to the face-to-face classroom issues raised in the online discussion? CompClass has a blog as well. What's the difference between a blog and a discussion forum? When and why might you use a blog assignment instead of a discussion forum? CompClass lets you link to any content provided in it as well as to anything on the Web or that you upload. You can link to: a specific page in Rules for Writers, a tutorial on integrating sources, a model document, a peer review game, any document or video or audio file you upload; you can even embed a YouTube video into a page that you add to the e-book. What's a good use of all that linking? How will that ability to link to content open up new assignment and teaching possibilities?
The workshops are meant not only to be an introduction to CompClass and the Rules for Writers e-book, but are also intended to be conversations about teaching, where attendees can trade ideas, learn from one another, and come away with dreams and plans for their fall courses.
___________
And if we can bring in some snacks -- juice and cookies, coffee and
donuts, etc., . . . will be provided.
Nick
Nick Carbone, Director of New Media
Bedford/St. Martin's
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8 comments:
I'm really looking forward to this. Here're some links to things that will relate to our workshops:
Notes on Teaching Writing Online
An interview I did following a workshop that looks at the ideas of "ecology" and "economy" as ways of framing the use of technology and teaching. It's a four page PDF document, the Q&A are on pages 3 & 4.
And there's useful stuff here as well: bedfordstmartins.com/workshops/.
In addition, we'll have handouts on using CompClass, including some quick start guides and a useful list of things to do first.
Should be a fun few days.
Nick
Nick, if CCSF switches to Moodle (we're phasing out of WebCT and Blackboard), and we wanted to use CompClass with Moodle, might there be any programming clashes? I'm considering do things with CompClass but within a Moodle shell.
Thanks,
Words of Praise and a few Caveats about CompClass
This semester I have been using CompClass as a free trial. I have been using it for my 1A (one section only), just to see whether the benefits outweigh the trouble. I haven’t reach a final judgment yet, but there are enough good things going on that I remain hopeful. And I’m adopting it w/Rules for Writers in the Fall. At the end of the Fall semester, sanity permitting, I will report my findings.
Strengths: a vast array of lessons, quizzes, ways to adapt materials, ways to add your own tests and lessons, full-featured gradebook with student progress graphing, many ways for students to communicate with each other and the instructor (including discussion forums, blogs, dropboxes, and email tools). In addition, you can post important announcements and put due dates, etc. on a calendar.
But watch out for the following.
1. There is so much that I became a bit bewildered after awhile. An excess of choice tended to grind me to a halt. My solution was to strip things down to a few essentials. Fortunately, you can customize CompClass and weed out lots of functions that you don’t yet need or may never need. Also, I found the students to be quite helpful. I was honest with them, telling them that I was in the process of learning about CompClass and its capabilities. The students were interested in helping me as they helped themselves get more out of the course. So when something went wrong, rather than complaints and rebellion, I got suggestions and encouragement from the class.
2. Things go wrong and have to be fixed. The support has been excellent so far. I have had quizzes not work and other minor problems. For example, I uploaded a set of questions on a reading assignment so the students could download it, but when they tried, a bizarre technical error message came up. I submitted the problem to the support staff and promptly received my answer: there was a question mark in the title of my uploaded document which caused the problem. I was told to avoid certain characters in titles! So if little irritants like this drive you crazy, you may not be a candidate for CompClass. Patience, as we’ve been told, is a virtue. With CompClass (as with software in general), you will need to call upon your reserves of patience, not to mention perseverance, attention to detail, an some meditative calm.
But at this point, I would recommend finding out more about CompClass at the upcoming training Craig has been publicizing. I have a hunch it will not only improve learning outcomes for my students, but help me stay on top of all the things we as instructors have to stay on top of.
brown, thanks for your caveats and of course your praise, but mainly your caveats. Knowing what to do better matters most. I think you're right about the array of choices; to exercise a choice means knowing how to choose it and why, and CompClass does need to get better at giving you that guidance.
I realize now that I may have been too focused on the "button pushing" aspect of CompClass; these words from Nick really hit me: "the question isn't so much about what buttons to click to create a discussion board (though that will be covered) but also (and more importantly) about the role an online discussion can play in your course." He goes on to get specific about the choices we have to make when using this (or any) powerful software tool. So now I know what I'll be looking for in the workshop next week, the help I'll be needing. Till now, my questions have been mainly technical, but I see I need to shift a good deal of my attention to the pedagogical. It is beginning to dawn on me that we probably can't just mindlessly put our same teaching materials online and expect them to work; the different medium really does send a different message (as McLuhan would remind us).
Brown,
I think that's the key -- the same materials might work, but how you make them work will change in an online environment. It's really a fascinating and exciting process -- rethinking the ways you teach. Everything changes just enough to make it new and maybe strange, but things don't change too much as to become unfamiliar. Or at least they don't if you don't try to change too much all at once.
--Just a quick thank you to Nick Carbone and Rachel Losh of Bedford /
St. Martin's for today's valuable help with CompClass and for the great
range of insights about teaching and learning with technology. Nick
and Rachel will be in the Department Conference room Thursday from 10-12
and 2-4 (with food and their laptops) to answer more questions about
CompClass and Rules For Writers. From 12:30-2 we will be in Cyberia
again.
Remember, CompClass--with online access that is good for two years--can
be bundled for $10 with any Bedford text; it can be purchased
standalone--including e-handbook--for $15.
The Rules for Writers version of CompClass will be done around July 1,
but talk to Rachel Losh if you'd like to try the Writer's Reference
version of CompClass this summer--compliments of Bedford / St. Martin's.
Materials can then later be exported into your new class. Nick and
Rachel have handouts explaining the programs and the fall updates,
including the Comment peer review program and a new Personal Study Plan.
Pre-set practice courses (see Nick for ID and password) and trial
requests can be found at
http://courses.bfwpub.com/writersref6e.php
We owe Nick our thanks for his informative, entertaining workshops on CompClass. I was especially pleased with the suggestions and advice that went beyond the technical and into the truly pedagogical. Although I still have some trepidations (not the least of which are based on my own insecurities in cyberspace), I was greatly reassured by Nick's presentations. In fact, "inspired" is not too strong a word for it! So thanks again, Nick.
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