From VR Professional to Teacher: Crafting Instruction Sessions

From VR Professional to Teacher: Crafting Instruction Sessions

Betha WhitlowWashington University in Saint Louis

bwhitlow@wustl.edu

Share What You Know About….

Image AccessDigital ImagingPresentation TechnologiesWeb 2.0

It’s not my job…

Instruction Planning

• A template for developing instruction sessions• Presentation Tips• Great Topics

= TEACHER

Pre-Planning: The Art of Selecting a Topic

Start with what you know…..

Then Collaborate With Your Patrons

Pre-Planning: Determining Teaching Objectives

After your session, what should your students be able to….

Do?Understand?Care About?

Beginner’s Mind

• Openness• Eagerness• Lack of Preconception

Determining teaching objectives, or Questions that deserve answers…

• What is this?• Why is it useful?• How can I use it effectively in teaching,

learning, and research?

Example of Teaching Objectives: The Takeaway from Introduction to Web 2.0• A clear definition of Web 2.0, its major

concepts, and it’s predominate technologies (WHAT SOMETHING IS)

• How Web 2.0 impacts students in the classroom (WHY THIS KNOWLEDGE IS USEFUL)

• A sense of how to work with a Web 2.0 student, including how to implement various technologies into courses (HOW TO USE THIS KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTIVELY)

Pre-Planning: How Much Time?

As little as possible….

Say it with me….• Clear, Concise, and Short • Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short• Clear, Concise, and Short

Pre-Planning: Lecture, Discussion, or Hands-On?

If you want an interested audience…..

Always start with a hook…

What are “hooks?”

• Provocative quotations or images• Analogies that relate old information to new

information• Mind Blowing Statistics• Mashing up of all of the above

There is a world of difference between the modern home environment of integrated electric information and the classroom. Today’s child… is bewildered when he enters the nineteenth century environment that still characterizes the educational establishment--where information is scarce, but ordered, and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects, and schedules.

Marshall McLuhan wrote this in 1967.

And he was only talking about the influence of television onthe way young people behave and learn.

Information Overload?

• As of August, 2008, there were more 71 million blogs. That’s 71 million more than in 2003.

• There are over 60 billion e-mail messages sent every day.

• 40 billion gigabytes of UNIQUE, NEW information will be produced this year. That’s as much as 296, 000 Libraries of Congress.

This Information Explosion is Largely Due to One Thing: Web 2.0.

Once your audience is hooked…

Reel them in with a brief summary of the information to follow!

Image

Quote

Mind Blowing Statistics

Analogy

Teaching Objectives

The Beginning

Common Craftwww.commoncraft.com

The “Input” Phase

Where Key Terms Are Defined

Where Basic Concepts Are Described

The Input Phase Should Reflect Your Teaching Objectives

Specifically, the teaching objectives that answer the question of what

something is, and why it is useful…

Example of Input Phase Information (For an Introduction to Web 2.0 class)

• Define Web 2.0 and describe important Web 2.0 technologies and concepts (what Web 2.0 is)

• Discuss the Web 2.0 student (why Web 2.0 is useful or important to know)

The “Modeling” Phase

Where what is useful about a technology is reinforced with specific

teaching and learning applications

Theory versus Practice?

Example of Modeling Phase Information(Introduction to Web 2.0 Class)

Explain how to enhance classroomcollaboration and interactivity through the use of:

BlogsCourse WikisGoogle DocsTwitter

Basic Instruction Session Template

• The beginning, or “hook” and brief summary of what your students can expect to learn

• The middle, or “input” phase, where the nuts and bolts of a particular topic are explained and key terms defined

• The end, or “modeling” phase, where a topic is grounded in specific applications for teaching and learning

Q & A

The first step to a good Q and A session?

Loosen up and work the audience

In Conclusion….

Encourage independent practice.

Provide contact information

Check in with your participants

Now that you’ve got the basics..

Enhance your style

Practice Makes Perfect..

Natural sounding jokes!Sentences that make sense!I actually know what I’m going to say next!

Body language and tone are your allies

• Get comfortable• Lean forward

• Make eye contact• Inflect! Emphasize!

PowerPoint Do’s and Don’ts

• Slides are not scripts• Slides and spoken content enhance—not

replicate--each other• Slides should be visual. You should be verbal.

Audience, I’m going to be hilarious now!

Instruction Session Topics: Imagine the Possibilities!

• Introduction to Google Docs• Google Apps of Interest• File Management 101• Introduction to Flickr for

teaching and research• How to use Zotero

• DIY Digital Imaging• Going Places: Blogging and

Photography for Study Abroad Students

• Privacy 101: Managing Identity in the Digital Age

From Prezi to PechaKucha: New Presentation Trends

A good teacher…

• Desires to acquire knowledge• Understands and documents the approach

they took to learn particular topic• Can translate that approach into a lesson plan• Grasps the importance of style as well as

substance