Week 3 - The Perfect e-Storm

I feel as though all of the four storms, listed in report A Perfect E-Storm by Dr. Curtis Bonk, have a lot to do with student engagement. Selecting the right technology to use for an online course can definitely make or break the course. One must be sure to not only select the appropriate technology for the specific course they are designing/teaching, but they must also select the one that will be the most engaging. When technologies are always changing and improving , I feel it makes it easier and yet more difficult, at the same time. The benefit of having many option is that htere is sure to be something out there for an instructor to use for any selected course. The downside, however, is that they are always changing and new (maybe better) options are also always available. An instructor who is one to care about the engagement of their students must be prepared and educated enough to know that there may always be a better option. A designer or instructor should never be satisified with the same old technologoes they have used for years, even if it does work. One must be on top of the newer technologoes in order to engage the newer learners and to also keep less technologically advanced students up-to-date with the new technologies.

One example I have with an advancing technology problem is from many years ago (as technology is concerned is was long ago). Back in 2004, I created a project at the Henry Vilas Zoo, where I worked as a zoo keeper. I wanted the visitor to be able to get some current information about the zoo and the animals, as the graphics were very old and worn down. In 2004, the PDA was a tool that maost people know about and used. You can read a little about the project on page 2 of this newsletter. By the time I got all of the PDAs purchased and the website, that would run on the PDAs created, the automatic updating docking stations up and running, we decided to cancel the project because the PDA was so "old school" by then and we were in the age of the iTouch. It made a big different because the iTouch would allow the visitor to download a zoo app. right from their own computer. Things changed so drastically in just a year that we really had no choice but to stop the project and re-evaluate everything we had spent so much time doing. However, this was very beneficial to do as then we didn't continue with a project that would have not been as engaging to visitors as the newer technology would have been. What we did wasn't bad...just frustrating and costly. Anyone want to buy a PDA????