The teaching strategy for this course surprised me. I always considered technology to be science. Science is logical, linear and fixed. I expected the traditional presentation + practice + mastery. Instead we clicked and used the software. I was exposed to new programs every half hour. When I got lost along the way, I was pulled along by a classmate who understood the next step or I found my way by exploration and experimentation.
Dave introduced the Ed366h course by giving us a reality check concerning how quickly software becomes outdated. He wanted more for us than having a working knowledge of a few tools that will change in 18 months. He wanted us to leave the course with confidence that each of us had the skills to navigate both the web and the indiviual programs of our inquiry.
There is no way I would have learned as much in so little space of time without this “computer immersion” approach. An intuitive feel for the sites we visited began to develop as the commonality in navigation and commands became apparent. A fellow student astutely observed that the high tech status of the webworld was being “debunked” and “we have the power.” I like that.
Even if the strategy was valid and executed as planned, the key was the trust that Dave secured from each of us through his calm and humor.