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Stayonference 2014
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Hijacking Your Students’ Mobile Technology in the Classroom
Communicating Without Technology
Laptops, iPads, smartphones and other
comparable devices reign supreme
among students. Competing with these
devices is usually an exercise in futility.
Is there a way to reach students who are
super-glued to their laptops, tablets,
and smartphones without using technology? That can be a daunting challenge.
It is the challenge Beth Thompson addressed in the seminar Communicating
Without Technology: Can It Be Done?
The activities she presented got everyone involved. Activities ranged from
people doing a task as an individual to
people working in groups. One activity,
which proved to be humorous as well as
eye-opening, required participants to
Volume 1, Issue 1
Do you have participants you only recognize by looking at the top of their
head? Are your participants’ focused on
their laps instead of your content? The
problem isn’t the technology; it is what
they are using the technology for. It is
up to us as instructors to Hijack that
technology and bring their focus back to
our topic.
work in pairs and discover things
about each other by using nonverbal communication. The answer to the question posed by the
seminar title is a definite yes.
There is more than one way to
succeed in engaging students in
the learning process without using
technology.
By: Theresa Edwards
There is no magic device that is going to
do this for us. In the same way there is
no magic device that makes us a better
presenter/facilitator/instructor or a device that makes our PowerPoints more
riveting. So how do we do this?
Follow Stayonference all year on
Twitter —
#TCCstay
Hijacking their technology in the classroom is about providing activities for
them to do on their devices. One tool
that can be used for this is Twitter.
Twitter is an amazing app that is very
versatile. It can turn your participants’
technology into an automatic response
device for your class. It can be used for
researching topics and people using
hashtags. Create QR Codes using a free
online generator to deliver reading assignments. Place students together in
groups to watch videos on their devices
for later discussion. Provide supplemental materials. Give quizzes or have
them complete surveys using their de-
vices.
The key to this change is if they are
using their technology to complete
things that focus their attention on your
topic they will be engaged with you and
not distracted by their devices.
By: Larry Straining, CPLP
@larrystraining
#TCCStay
Review of Book Buzz Booktalks!
Twitter: Not Just For Sharing What’s For Dinner!
Let’s fly a kite – Benjamin Franklin
Fire bad – Frankenstein’s Monster
4 score & 7 yrs ago, r 4 fathers – Abraham Lincoln
Sometimes we can get lost in the jumble
of 140 character posts. The key is learning how to manage that and find what
we need at that moment.
Twitter allows us to follow people and
topics from our classroom to the world
stage. It can be used as a free audience
response system, an instant communication device, or a powerful research tool.
From the freshman student to the
world’s greatest scientist, Twitter is a
level playing field accessible by everyone.
The easiest way to learn how to use
Twitter is to use Twitter: Create unique
hashtags to use in your classes; explore
tools like Hootsuite or Tweetchat to help
you organize your hashtags; search
hashtags to learn more about a topic;
engage with your students in and out of
the classroom; share with fellow faculty
and thought leaders around the world.
Soon we will see: Wow Twitter really is
cool! – You
By: Larry Straining, CPLP
@larrystraining
#TCCStay
Overheard at Stayonference 2014
Acting Lessons for Everyone...Really?
Most of us are taught to “think before
we speak,” but in Acting Lessons for
Everyone, one of the breakout sessions
at Stayonference 2014, Norah Swiney
turned that axiom around to show
Stayonference participants that, sometimes, speaking before thinking can be
beneficial. Why is acting before speaking a necessary skill? Because responding in the moment instead of analyzing
responses lessens anxiety and promotes
creativity.
Ms. Swiney led Stayonference participants in the same activities designed to
train actors to avoid self-censorship and,
therefore, stage fright, and Ms. Swiney
demonstrated just how easily these activities can be adapted to the college
classroom. All of the activities that Ms.
Swiney presented occurred in-the-round.
Participants stood in a circle and
learned fun ways to act before they
spoke, which in turn, helped them to
remember names, to build comradery,
and to interpret nonverbal communica-
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“Please continue this event!”
“Enjoyed all sessions I attended!”
tion. In addition to engaging students in
the classroom, these exercises, as Ms.
Swiney pointed out, build transferable
skills such as confidence and poise that
equip students to succeed in job interviews as well as the work place.
All of those who participated in Ms.
Swiney’s session took away many ideas
to use in the classroom. Hats off to
Norah Swiney whose breakout session
contributed to the overall success of
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