From VR Professional to Teacher: Crafting Instruction Sessions Betha Whitlow Washington University in Saint Louis [email protected]
May 16, 2015
From VR Professional to Teacher: Crafting Instruction Sessions
Betha WhitlowWashington University in Saint Louis
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