http://nctaf.org National Commission on Teaching & America's Future Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:17:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://nctaf.org/featured-home/notes-from-the-field-tlinc-at-the-university-of-new-mexico/#comment-71 Karyn Hutchens Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:17:33 +0000 http://nctaf.org/?p=1009#comment-71 Hello! At the University of Central Oklahoma we have seen similar reactions to individuals using technology in professional settings. I agree with Mary. There seems to be a major difference in individuals accessing online communities for personal v. professional reasons. Many of our recent conversations have revolved around relevance. How relevant is the information to what these individuals are doing daily in the classroom? How can we make the information provided online so impactful that individuals cannot ignore how helpful it is to them? We believe that once our students realize how valuable the information is to what they are doing every day then they will access these online learning communities frequently. For us, many individuals immediately recognized the value, while a few are more reluctant. Some of these who are reluctant have told us that technology is simply "not their thing." I believe that in today's world, it will become more difficult to "opt out" of technology. Hello! At the University of Central Oklahoma we have seen similar reactions to individuals using technology in professional settings. I agree with Mary. There seems to be a major difference in individuals accessing online communities for personal v. professional reasons. Many of our recent conversations have revolved around relevance. How relevant is the information to what these individuals are doing daily in the classroom? How can we make the information provided online so impactful that individuals cannot ignore how helpful it is to them? We believe that once our students realize how valuable the information is to what they are doing every day then they will access these online learning communities frequently. For us, many individuals immediately recognized the value, while a few are more reluctant. Some of these who are reluctant have told us that technology is simply “not their thing.” I believe that in today’s world, it will become more difficult to “opt out” of technology.

]]> http://nctaf.org/featured-home/notes-from-the-field-tlinc-at-the-university-of-new-mexico/#comment-70 Mary Clevenger-Bright Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:05:47 +0000 http://nctaf.org/?p=1009#comment-70 Hi Brittany and everyone at UNM! In reading your post, I was reminded of the idea of 'resistance' to using technology. We may assume that this generation takes this up readily, but we have also learned that using technology for personal uses may be perceived differently than using technology for learning/professional reasons. There seems to be a difference here. It helped us think about how to address issues of resistance, and ways to support people's use in their professional world. We needed to address this explicitly. It was not uncommon for our students/teachers/faculty to think of using technology as one more thing to do instead of a way to make their communication life easier. This led us to think about the purpose and usefulness of what we asked them to do via the technology. Sounds like you have an active 'on line' community and this is exciting. It would be interesting to hear more about who monitors and supports this community, and about some of the discussions that users initiate on their own. Hi Brittany and everyone at UNM!
In reading your post, I was reminded of the idea of ‘resistance’ to using technology. We may assume that this generation takes this up readily, but we have also learned that using technology for personal uses may be perceived differently than using technology for learning/professional reasons. There seems to be a difference here. It helped us think about how to address issues of resistance, and ways to support people’s use in their professional world. We needed to address this explicitly. It was not uncommon for our students/teachers/faculty to think of using technology as one more thing to do instead of a way to make their communication life easier. This led us to think about the purpose and usefulness of what we asked them to do via the technology.
Sounds like you have an active ‘on line’ community and this is exciting. It would be interesting to hear more about who monitors and supports this community, and about some of the discussions that users initiate on their own.

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