C 8a: Reflections: Jottings of the ‘Technology’ challenged tutor…..

Is it poetic justice? Or was it a message from the beyond? As I sat down to ponder on my e-learning module, the radio station which was softly playing in the background decided it was time for the listeners to listen to a song by Queen aptly named – ‘Under Pressure’!!

The choice of an e-learning tool for the fourth assignment in the second module of the PGCHE programme turned out to be the most challenging of assignments. Chats with colleagues and students on what would be interesting and participative, and would run on its own steam began to give me sleepless nights. My sons found it most intriguing, and felt that for someone who did not even know how to switch on a computer till as recently as 1995, to write a paper on the advantages of e-learning was a challenge as tough as the ‘Survivor Series’!

I wanted the e-learning tool I chose to be effective. I was definite that I was not going to go through the motions of using such a teaching tool because the PGCHE required me to do so. It had to be something that excited the students, and me, and maybe also my course team, as I would be required to incorporate it into my regular teaching. While I was deliberating on whether to use a blog or a web 2.0 based bulletin board, I happened to sit in on a colleague’s marketing class where the discussions veered towards using social media platforms for product promotions. The growth of social media since the advent of Facebook, and more recently Twitter, in the past decade have made them ideal vehicles for people to people interaction, information exchange, creation of opinions, and ideation. On closer examination I realized that these were exactly the things that we as teachers were also trying to achieve through classroom teaching and learning…….so why not teach through a social media platform? May be - Facebook?

The Facebook class has been by far one of my most successful teaching experiments till date. The asynchronous medium of this platform has encouraged idea exchange, collaborative learning, feedback and participation at a level way beyond my expectations.

The student group continues to use the platform and it seems like the FMG 1 group page has become their classroom away from classroom. Initially I was nervous that the cohort may find the tool overwhelming and infringing on their ‘social standing’ on the platform, but it has turned out quite to the contrary. Most of their social circle outside of their college environment thinks it a really ‘cool’ way to learn!

The faculty is happy because they are able to reach out to the cohort beyond the ‘brick and mortar’ classroom. And me?………..My social internet computing skills have vastly improved! J!