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May 10, 2006
Innovative Use of Wikis for the Introductory MIS Course
Professor Yasin Ozcelik at Fairfield University, Connecticut, uses wikis for team projects in his introductory MIS class. He uses MediaWicki (a license free product available here). The following is a brief excerpt of a wiki descritpion he sent to TeachingMIS.com this week:
"...I have been looking for ways to implement groupware software in my classes so that students can collaborate without meeting face-to-face while they are creating online content for their term projects. MediaWiki was exactly what I have been looking for! Well, it is free but that is not the best thing that it can offer. After creating an account at my wiki site (www.misworld.org/isopedia), my students can start editing their content by discussing with each other on the website and changing the content in real-time. The online content is actually half of their work--they are also required to present their findings in class.
"My experience with the Open Source software, and MediaWiki in particular, has been positive so far. I am sure that software like MediaWiki will find its way in academia and be an indispensable tool supporting our teaching needs. They will be especially useful for us who teach MIS classes because we will be demonstrating a real-world case, rather then making students read about a real-world case... If you have any questions about MediaWiki, you can contact me at yozcelik(at)mail.fairfield.edu. More information about me is available at www.misworld.org"
You can read more about his experiences and find some useful links in his full description here.
Thank you Professor Ozcelik! Very useful!
Posted by DavidK at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)
Dent Was Right -- Technology Jobs Rebounding
"Despite worries that outsourcing would reduce the number of U.S.-based technology jobs, there continues to be strong growth in that field as well, according to the Monster employment index, which measures online job postings and availability on 1,500 Web sites each month. Demand is greatest for workers in databases, security, privacy and new media."
source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/269330_hotjobs08.html
Posted by DavidK at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2006
Clickers III
Bob Grauer (author of the very popular series of texts on office applications) sent this comment:
I was enamored with clickers two years ago and went to Prentice-Hall for a major push with them for my series. I thought that we could use clickers to take attendance, but more importantly to get instant feedback to multiple choice questions, in class quizzes, and so on. I thought it was great, but the reception was cold. One big objection was that students lost them.
Posted by DavidK at 04:38 AM | Comments (0)
Clickers II
Jean Lacoste teaches at Virginia Tech and used clickers for her large sections last year. She's decided not to use them next year. She writes:
"I teach two sections of 540 each. It seems, no matter what I try, the students feel anonymous. Even my best students tell me this disconnected feeling makes it easier to cut class. I tried to use the clickers to give attendance credit. I used to give attendance credit by collecting OpScans each day. It worked, but I'm a tree-hugger so I didn't like the paper usage. I also thought the high-tech clickers were more appropriate for an IS class. Finally, I thought the clickers would force students to participate rather than wait for the discussion of the question to be completed before bubbling in their answer. Each class period, I ask students to enter their seat number (to cut down on cheating) and I ask several multiple choice questions throughout the session. This is similar to how I used the OpScans.
"I've had numerous technical/user-error problems with the clickers. First, students must self-register rather than me batch-registering them; which means usernames get entered where ID numbers are supposed to go, etc. E-Instruction is supposed to be working on a batch registration program but it's not in the next release. Second, students forget or misplace their clickers. Some faculty overcome this by providing extra clickers that students can sign-out for the day. I don't want to fool with that. Third, everyday another clicker goes bad; it won't turn on, it won't join, it cuts off. I have no idea what causes these problems. The bookstore will exchange with a receipt up to x days after purchase or E-Instruction will exchange via mail but it takes time. Finally, everyday I have about five people out of every 100 students who just don't enter their seat number accurately. Most of it is probably user error but I believe some clickers have sticky buttons. E-Instruction has a new remote with a screen so students can see what they entered. That should solve most of those problems.
"My biggest complaint is with the software. With my numbers, it runs slow. I ask fewer questions because I don't want to wait on the software to move to the next step. I feel like the entire system has added to the distance between me and my students. Rather than looking into their eyes, I'm looking at the PC to interact with the software. I reworded most questions from discussion to multiple choice. Once the students enter their multiple choice answer, they don't want to discuss. I never had a problem getting students to participate in discussions when I used OpScans.
"For me, the clicker has resulted in less discussion, more distance, and more admin work. The way I have used it, the technology has gotten in the way. Some students think the clickers are really cool, others feel ripped off because they lost attendance points due to technical or user error. The kicker is that attendance is down over 10% this semester and I attribute it all to the use of the clicker.
"I have spoken with many faculty who love the clickers so there must be a way to implement them to help in the classroom. I'm going back to old-fashioned eye-to-eye discussions."
Posted by DavidK at 04:30 AM | Comments (0)