Wadman's Tech News

I really enjoy teaching technology.  Unlike other subjects, technology is constantly changing and in the news.  So, when my discussions became very stale a few years ago (one of my better discussions was "Fiber vs. Wireless, What's the Future?) I realized it was time to change.  The other thing that came to mind when I was looking at changing discussions was I teach at two different institutions (Pikes Peak and CCCOnline) and many different levels.  How could I change all of those discussions without going crazy?

My answer was Wadman's Tech News.  I started a blog where I would post three tech news articles each week and we as a class would discuss the news.  Everything from the iPhone to Net Neutrality to how candidates in the 2008 Presidential campaign interacted with people online was discussed.  Students would read the articles and start discussing with each other.  They started to learn how what was in the book related to what was going on in the world today.

In subsequent semesters, I have added a weekly video creatively named 4th Blog Post where I go through my opinions on the previous weeks topics.  This allows me to be the moderator during the week and not have my opinions hinder the discussion.  I've also added student submission week where students find articles and email them to me.  I pick the top three and post them.  So, they get to pick topics.  A couple of years ago, I moved the blog to WordPress to make it more attractive.

Drawbacks?  Yes, there are a few.  During the first few weeks of class, I have to be patient and push them to the blog for the articles.  Most other classes don't have an outside location like this.  Secondly, I had to turn off the comments on the blog itself.  Too many students thought the conversation was on the blog itself instead of the LMS.  While this might be okay, I picked the Discussion area for privacy reasons.  Lastly, if there's a quiet week in technology, it can be tough to find topics.  On the other hand, I find we discuss privacy and Google quite a bit, so I have to pay attention to the diversity of the topics.

Will a blog like this work for everyone?  No, of course not.  However, I think it would work for any class where current events are of importance.  Also, if you are teaching for another institution other than CCCOnline, it can allow you to have one common location.