Spring 1998
Vol 6 Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE...
Technology and Change ... duh!
Some Thoughts on Change from Egypt
Creating Opportunities for Student Success
Playing
Out the Imagination's Wildest Scenarios...
From Computer Bio Simulations...
Community College Assessment Library
SEE ALSO...
The Forum
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Technology and Change ... duh!
Alan Levine, MCLI
How can one say anything about technology and change without sounding clichéd?
This issuešs theme made it easy to identify potential faculty authors. Given the breadth of innovation with technology by Maricopa faculty, we did not find anyone who wrote about their use of technology without also speaking about change.
In this issue of the Labyrinth we are zooming beyond the change of the technology itself (continual software upgrades, newer CPUs, faster networks, web sites by the bucket load) to explore what changes technology brings for the way we learn, the way we teach, the way we do business, and even what we do for fun.
We have words from Jon Lea Fimbres about the permeating sense of change she has experienced first hand in Egypt. Jeanne Franco (Paradise Valley Community College) describes her experience as a student in an on-line course and the way it inspired her to build tutoring support into the web courses she is developing. Richard Effland (Mesa Community College) shares his extensive experience at creating rich, interactive technology experiences for Anthropology. Dean Stover (GateWay Community College) writes about his new idea for using video clips of students as a means for them to understand their own writing. We have some thoughts on change from Walter Skurda, a student at Scottsdale Community College. Also, we interviewed John Arle (Rio Salado College) to highlight the change he has encountered (and embraced) to bring computer simulations to science classes and how he is incorporating technology into Rio's Internet courses.
We have change in our publication as well. As an effort to increase the interaction between our authors and readers, we are adding an on-line discussion area to the Labyrinth/Forum web site. This is nothing of extreme novelty to those in our system who have long experience with the Electronic Forum. However, in a web environment, the discussions are enhanced by an ability to link to related information resources within the context of our own words. In addition, the web environment changes the impact of a static print article, if it can grow from the ideas reflected from its readers. Quite a few Maricopa faculty (including at least two of our authors) are already actively using web discussion boards in their classes.
We've recently experimented with a new system for creating "Web Boards" that is highly flexible and functional. One problem with on-line discussions is that without a critical mass of people who check in on a regular basis (or without it being a required part of a class!), the discussions tend to wither. Our new "Web Board" has an option that allows a message writer to request an email notice when a response to his or her message is received. This feature lets one know when to check the board.
So read this issue of the Labyrinth/Forum, on-line or off-line, on screen or on paper, but then think about change and join us at http://www.mcli.dist. maricopa.edu/labyforum/. Just follow the "discuss" hyperlink on the black side bar, and start a conversation about any of the articles. Let's see what happens.