The master’s tools: feminists teaching with technology

presentation byDr. Sharon Collingwood, Ohio State Universityfor the Teaching with Technology WorkshopDepartment of Gender and Women’s StudiesUniversity of Kentucky

10 March 2011

•     Almost two-thirds of for-profit institutions now say that online learning is a critical part of their long term strategy.

• The 21%growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth in the overall higher education student population.

• Nearly one-half of institutions report that the economic downturn has increased demand for face-to-face courses and programs.

•    Three-quarters of institutions report that the economic downturn has increased demand for online courses and programs.

Sloan Consortium Report, 2010

http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/class_differences

Nearly 30% of higher education students now take at least one course online

Reservations about technology

Standardization and impoverishment of curriculum

Fewer instructors, fewer voices

Loss of intellectual property

Are these fears well founded?

Will avoiding technology solvethe problem?

AAUW Report: http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/whysofew.cfm

Why So Few? (2010)

B.A. Degrees, 2007 AAUW Report

Doctorates AAUW Report

What sector of society will be most influential in our students’ lives?

4Number of women in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2008

list of the 25 most influential people on the web.

Casserly, M. and Goudreau, J. (2010). Top 100 Websites For Women. Forbes.comAccessed June 15, 2010 from http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/23/100-best-womens-blogs-forbes-woman-time-websites.html

8Females among the 100 most influential people on the internet, according to Internet Evolution.

--2010 Internet Evolution Surveyhttp://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=190304

13%Percentage of female editors on the Wikipedia

--Wikimedia Foundationhttp://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/04/02/new-reports-from-november-2008-survey-released/

1/3Number of female bloggers

Technorati annual report, November 2010http://technorati.com/blogging/article/who-bloggers-brands-and-consumers-day/

We need to encourage our students to participate in digital culture.

Do we have the right tools?

The Silo

• Hierarchical, authoritarian

• Closed

• Proprietary

Learning Management Systems

OPEN SOURCE

SakaiMoodleSloodle

PROPRIETARY

BlackboardDesire to Learn

WebCT

There are hierarchical tendencies in the software we are required to use.

THE SOLUTION?

Use the tools that we find useful

Subvert the tools that are antithetical to feminist teaching

Automated quizzes

Allow students to decide when they are tested

Offer reinforcement of learned facts

Controlled or controlling?

Discussion and chat

Can students truly find consensus through online discussion fora?

Within the LMS

Student journals

Private conversations

Limited collaboration

Web conference

• Synchronous meetings

•More interactive than LMS, but still very structured

• Student contributions are controlled through the software

• Can they be truly collaborative?

The Cloud:A Paradigm Shift

•Google Apps for Education

• Blogs, wikis, RSS Feeds

• Etherpad, Dabbleboard

• Prezi, Mindmapping

• Livestream, You Tube

• Twitter, Facebook

• Teach much-needed skills, acclimate students to web culture

• Integrate our students into ongoing conversations

• Encourage a more open and collaborative approach to subject material.

• Empower students in the classroom, whether virtual or physical.

Cloud applications

Virtual Worlds

Immersive, persistent 3D spaces

Non-hierarchical

Free to our students

Approximates the actual classroom

Growing educational community

Let’s discuss

•Which applications are most useful to us

•Which applications conform to feminist pedagogy

•Which applications are most comfortable for our students

•Which applications are most accessible for our students.

Continue the conversation here:

• http://adarocks.wikispaces.com/