Man, what a semester ... I actually can't believe that it is all the same one that started back in September. My life was turned upside down this semester due to a career move and the class was sort of a little lower on my overall priority list ... but, at the end of the day, it was a great group of students who provided me with wonderful results. Central to my approach this semester was the multi user blog space. The space was powered by Drupal ... I have mixed feelings on the whole thing. On one hand, giving students their own space provided for a rich environment ... on the other hand, it can become a bit difficult to navigate. Tough to really call.
For my class a year ago, I used a single user blogging environment -- at the time it was simply a blogger space. That was a good use of the technology at the time ... students couldn't start posts, only comment to the ones I did. I seemed to actually get better conversations going that way. The down side was the overall lack of extended functionality that type of an environment provided me. The Drupal space gave me wiki style pages, team areas, spaces for students to attach files, and post their own ideas. It will be a difficult decision on what to use next semester.
I am actually leaning towards a WordPress blog, a set of wiki pages, Edison Services, and parts of ANGEL ... sort of an extension of the small pieces concept paired with a healthy dose of large parts … If that makes any sense at all. Regardless of what it is, I'll be thinking out loud here ... for now, jump over to this semester's blog space and take a peek at some of the things we did.
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