Our first Team Tech Talk today was about synchronous methods of teaching.

First, they told us a little about different synchronous tools, including Second Life, Blackboard Collaborate, and Skype. Synchronous tools can be great for including experts who cannot physically come to your classroom. Also allow you to do similar types of activities as in the face-to-face classroom

Our second tech talk was about ethics in using technology. The team shared information about copyright and fair use, monetary costs of requiring technology such as laptops, clickers, tablets, etc, and also security and privacy issues. Following the information session, the class debated two issues:

1. You should provide alternatives to each assignment so that you give your students more response/self expression options (ex. they can post to either Pinterest or Delicious, or choose between blogging and tweeting).

2. It is better to use hardware/software that students already have access to (ex. having a twitter account v. not, or having a smartphone v. not) than to require that they use technology that is new to them.

The groups all came up with great arguments for their sides, and some even convinced themselves to change their minds! These are great questions to think about before assigning tech-related assignments.

Two more great tech talks, one to go!