Project Thoughts

Well, I think I finally have direction for the Integrating Technology Project.

Introduction

This project will be created for the introductory course in the AAS Business program designed for freshmen students at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. The course provides foundational principles in business, including advertising, marketing, law, management, and human resources. And upon completing this course, students will have the ability to describe how these areas efficiently interact with one another in the field of business. Ideally, this course will allow student to gain a complete understanding of basic business principles, and provide students the ability to decide if the field of business is one that they desire to study and be employed.

This course could be dramatically improved by utilizing additional resources to create learning activities that integrate technology and challenge students to think critically. To do so, this course will be set up to go beyond a blended environment to include various web 2.0 tools and create a “blurred learning environment” (Whitehouse, 2009) with eight face-to-face sessions, seven asynchronous sessions, and one synchronous section. Additionally, usage of a typical textbook will be limited and resources available through the Internet will be incorporated to provide opportunities for students to become more aware of available resources in the global environment.

Integrating Technology

Integration of technology will include the use of Twitter, blogs, a course-created wiki, and WebCT.

Students will utilize a weekly “3-2-1” assignment in which students identify three key points, two questions, and one reflection question all pertaining to the weekly topic or the final project. The three key points and two questions will be submitted in a blog, while the reflection will be submitted on Twitter, limiting the student to 140 characters. This limit on the content of the reflection requires students to critically self-assess what they have learned. These activities will serve as a method of formative assessment, allowing the instructor to track student progress and determine what needs to be addressed in subsequent sessions. Additionally, these activities support integration of technology and the acquisition of critical skills for living and working in the 21st century.

The wiki and WebCT components will serve as portals of delivery for both the asynchronous and synchronous portions for this course. The wiki will be developed and managed by the instructor to serve as an organizing center for the final project. This will be a forum for discussion, resource sharing, and access to students’ personalized web pages.

The WebCT component will be utilized throughout the semester to deliver all other elements required in the course, including the syllabus, course schedule, PowerPoints®, links to the Internet, portals for submitting assignments, quizzes, and all other instructional materials related to the course.