I use technology to enhance my pedagogy and encourage

student engagement in various classroom settings.







Using Technology for Class Instruction 

Many instructors use Power Point presentations in the classroom. Although I create slide decks sparingly, I find that at times, a presentation can help students understand and visualize difficult concepts. In First Year Writing, I use a Power Point presentation during a lesson on when and how to use source material in academic writing. This presentation:



     contextualizes a writing activity so students can understand the significance of that activity beyond one assignment

     illustrates specific concepts

     models how to put these concepts to use in academic writing

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In Advanced Technical Writing, students explore how visual and verbal texts interact. I enjoy showing David McCandless's TED Talk, "The Beauty of Data Visualization" in class because it stimulates conversation about the complexity and ethics of visual design.​





Using Technology to Communicate with Students

I have learned that when teaching online, it is vital to put special attention into communicating with students. In the online environment, instructors must compensate for a lack of face-to-face interaction with students. I make my outreach to students more lively and engaging by creating screencasts. For example, a screencast tutorial can help students tackle rhetorical analysis in a First Year Writing course. I enjoy using screencasts for several reasons:


    (1) Students hear my voice, which makes instruction more personal
    (2) I can explain myself as I would in person
    (3) Screencasts (and other audio/visual files) account for students' various learning needs and abilities. For example,  
    screencasts have been particularly useful as I worked with students with visual impairments.



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Using Technology to Tackle Challenges in Distance Education

One challenge of online writing instruction is guiding students in textual analysis. This challenge is greater when the texts students analyze are in a hard-copy text book. In order to facilitate learning, I decided to scan one of the assigned readings in our course--an essay from the assigned Penn Statements workbook--and annotate it with my comments. I then distributed the electronic document to students. By scanning and annotating the essay, I was able to model analysis for my students, demonstrating how I read and mark up a text. In future classes, I hope to use this method of visual modeling to prompt a unique approach to peer review of writing called "spotlighting" that is recommended for the online classroom. Kip Strasma's essay on Spotlighting has shaped my thinking about this approach to peer response.

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​Using Technology to Help Students "Write for the Ear"

"Writing for the Ear" is a composing strategy that helps students produce a variety of "ear-friendly" texts. I explain this concept in the following audio file​, which allows students to hear my definition as  a piece of writing for the ear. To better understand the characteristics of good writing for the ear, students listen to and analyze podcasts such as Radio Lab's excellent piece, "Obama Effect, Perhaps."