Tech Pedagogy: An Annotated Exploration


flickr photo shared by zoxcleb under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

My friend, Terry, recently published an entire series of blog posts in which he introduces and explores various technology tools, from an angle of pedagogy. He wonders as much of “the why” as much as the “here it is,” and I like that.

I’ve collected his series of posts as an Outliner in my Diigo bookmarking world, pulling out some of Terry’s words and adding a few of my own as an attempt at annotating what he was doing.

You can can view the Outline here on Diigo, if you want.

Or you can see it all right here in a sort of messy version of the Diigo Outliner.

In either case, bookmark what he was up to, and share it out. I’m sure that will make Terry happy.

Tellio’s Tour of Tech Pedagogy
  • RhetCompNow | Nowhere but here.
    “I also believe that unless technology evokes fun and the spirit of play it will never be personally useful to you as a teacher and learner.  So…I propose to bring you a series of tech tools, processes and information that you will come to find are “as handy as a pocket on a shirt”.” — TerryDon’t know Terry Elliott’s blogs? You should. He’s always up for the unexpected — either through sharing of what he is learning at one of his online spaces or asking questions meant to push our thinking. Revive the signals? Yes. (That’s the tagline at one of his blogs) This outline list of links tracks and shares Terry’s work to uncover the pedagogy behind various technology for learning. While he made these posts for his Writing Project Summer Institute, he is kind enough to share them out to the world. Enjoy. Learn. Create.

    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Thirteen (6/24/2016) | RhetCompNow (Managing the Media Overload)
      “Today’s post strays into a briar patch where only rabbits feel comfortable: the sense that the noise of the net is drowning the inner signal that is trying to get out of ourselves, our voice.” — Terry.
      Me: Here, Terry pulls back the cover on how he manages his media stream. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Having a means to manage it all is important.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Twelve (6/23/2016) | RhetCompNow (Finding Media to Use for your Projects)
      “Do you need free?  As in “copyright free, CCBY,  public domain sounds and music for a student or personal project” free?  If so, your options are extraordinary and here are a few of them.” — Terry.
      Me: Remixing and using media for creation can get tricky. The best option? Make stuff yourself. The next best option? Find someone who is freely offering their work for your use, and then point back to the artist.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Eleven (6/21/2016) | RhetCompNow (Assorted Summer Reading Doo-Dads)
      Me: Terry gives us some options for online summer reading.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Nine (6/18/2016) | RhetCompNow (Neat Stuff)
      “Some websites are cool tools unto themselves. I am going to share a few of those today. They have proven to be artesian wells of knowledge and prompts to action. I hope you enjoy them as well.” — Terry.
      Me: I didn’t realize he had my blog on there. Well. Thanks. I love how Terry annotates as well as shares. He models for the rest of us how we can think out loud, for the benefit of the self and for others, about the “whys” of what we’re doing.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Eight (6/18/2016) Analog Meets Digital: the Fountain Pen as Strange Attractor | RhetCompNow (Of Fountain Pens and the Analogue World)
      ” love fountain pens. I love what you can do with a decent one. ” — Terry.
      Me: Writing comes in all forms. I do find myself leaning in to the digital a little too often, perhaps, and I admit, I have not written with a fountain pen since … I was a child, playing with ink. This is a nice reminder that the tools we use to write can often shape the writing we are doing.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Seven (6/17/2016) | RhetCompNow (Make YouTube and Online Videos Work for You)
      “Want to use YouTube in the classroom, but find it a bit risky and potentially embarrassing or worse with younger students? Wish you could convince your district to open up YouTube but not sure how to argue for it?” — Terry.
      Me: For teachers wondering how to safely use the vast media out there in the classroom, Terry points us in some various directions.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Six (6/16/2016) | RhetCompNow (Twitter and Its Potential)
      “Today, a simple suggestion. Use Twitter for professional development.” — Terry.
      Me: I’m not sure if his Writing Project colleagues took him up on the offer, but there is little doubt that Twitter has completely changed the way teachers can connect and share and learn from each other. It has completely turned the whole PLC concept on its head … in a good way … (but avoid the echo chamber effect)
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Five–the Ides of June Edition | RhetCompNow (Audio Annotation)
      “My post today is about annotating SoundCloud. Yes, you can make time specific notes on sound files. It’s free, easy to use, congenial to share, and worth having in your repertoire.” — Terry.
      Me: Over the years, Terry has reminded me time and again about the power of adding text annotations to digital media, and here, he explores the very rich opportunity that Soundcloud has baked into its system.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Four (6/14/2016) | RhetCompNow (Annotating Images)
      “All of this activity falls under what I think of as “developing a repertoire.”  The Internet is still a collection of small tools loosely joined.  All you need is a small collection of tools in order to create and share.” — Terry.
      Me: Here, Terry introduced Pablo. I never heard of Pablo. You can do fun things with images and text, such as write short text pieces or add annotations. There are, of course, many ways to do this, but sometimes, it’s worth checking out a new technology in order to see what might happen, even if the tech is not designed for that experience. And I like Terry’s words about having a collection of things to pull from.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Three (6/13/2016) | RhetCompNow (Annotate the Web)
      Hypothes.is allows you take any web page on the Internet and annotate the text.  Like Vialogues, it is free and open to all.  You just need to sign up with them and then begin.” – Terry.
      Me: What happens when your thinking meshes in harmony and reacts in contrast to others’ opinions? You get a conversation. Technology like these ones provide a path through the gap. Not perfect. Not yet. But a path, just the same. We can talk and react and learn.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode Two (6/12/2016) | RhetCompNow (Close Read This)
      “Close reading is an old buzzword.  The idea of slowing down and breaking open a text in order to explicate its meaning goes back to the the very earliest Biblical scholarship.  Like most ideas it bears a bit of skepticism.  In other words use it and don’t be used by it. ” — Terry.
      Me: Good words, there. Terry turned me on to Vialogues some time back and I love that it allows people to interact with a video, and that you can skip and jump from comment to comment, and it lands on the video the comment is about. Nice.
    • Writing Project Tech Pedagogy: Episode One | RhetCompNow (What He’s Up To)
      “Life is short, teaching time is precious.  If the tool is handy and you find it is valuable to you personally, pedagogically or professionally, then “have at it, hoss”.  If not, then move on to the next one. I will promise to do my best to not waste your time. ” — Terry
      Me: Thanks, man.

Peace (it’s all good),
Kevin

2 Comments
  1. That whole series was justified above by your profligate generous kindness. Kinda gobsmacked. This is what I live for as a writer. If social capital was bitcoins you’d be a very wealthy man right now, but what you have shared is beyond reciprocation and social capital. It is the Holy Grail of online life–friendship. Good on ya, mate.

    antispama-yeahbuddy: stifle ho Historians often wrote that the battle cry of wagons heading to the West was “Wagon, ho!” Not so. What they actually said was, “Stifle, ho!” Yeah, pretty lame, so out of the kindness of their hearts they rewrote history.

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