Questions I am asked

Last Friday (prior to the so-called financial apocalyse of today), I spoke about my use of Web 2.0 to BC’s parents weekend.   I got some questions about my appraoches that tend to crop up again and again, so I thought I’d address them here.

1) You’re an IT prof.  Will the Web 2.0 tools work in other settings?  To answer this question, I use the example of Alan Kafka, a geosciences prof here at BC.  He started experimenting with wiki methdos in the classroom after a talk I gave to the faculty.  He emailed me to let me know that he had similar positive results as I have.  I joke that it doesn’t get much slower than geosciences, so we’ve covered all ends of the spectrum.

2) Do students still need to come to class if everything is online?  Actually my experience is that it is MORE important to be in class regularly in a Web 2.0 setting.  Yes, it is easy to miss class from time to time and catch up easily becuase of all the information online.  On the other hand, there is SO much information online that it quickly becomes impossible to filter the important infomration from the unimportant stuff.  Students who have tried not attending tend to score in the 30s on my exam.

3) Do young students perform better than older students?  In the beginning, yes.  Students who are under the age of 23 (having had Facebook in their college years) are already immersed in the Web 2.0 culture.  Older students (i.e. older than 23) usually take a bit of catching up – but it doesn’t take long.  The tools are so user-friendly these days that it’s easy to get the hang of it.