Fall 1999
Vol 8 Issue 1
IN THIS ISSUE...
Technology: Places for Student Voices
Assisting Student Learning with Technology
Technology and Computers- More than Just Classroom Learning
Laptops, Websites, and Angkor-Wat
Ten Years of Student Voices on the Electronic Forum
Learning, Programming and Moving On at MCLI
Learning that Provides a Direction for the Future
Are We Listening to International Students
Hands-On Experience, Service Learning Makes it Real at MCC's Network Academy
SEE ALSO...
The Forum
Assidere
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Laptops, Websites, and Angkor-Wat
David Jannosy, MCC Student
Considering my technical major, it was pure coincidence that I happened to enroll in a class in the cultural sciences, which would have so much influence on my higher education. In fact, the reason I was in this class at all was just to "fill a requirement." In any event, it was an honors class, and though I do not avoid such challenges, I was honestly taking the honors section purely for my time schedule and need for a general history requirement. The class was ASB222, "Buried Cities and Lost Tribes," led by one Dr. Effland, and I expected to show up at class with my textbook, notebook, and pen ready for some serious caffeine-required 10:00 a.m. lectures.
I was not expecting to be greeted by laptops and web sites. However, this technology appeared in front of me, and as the class began to develop, it became apparent that technology was going to be an integral part of the curriculum. This immediately excited me. Luckily, I remember thinking, I had taken the honors section, which would delve further into the technology and utilize it to study topics of anthropology. The idea of studying the advancement of technology in the past contrasted with the rapidly advancing technology of today struck me as a very interesting and analogous mix of activities.
The medium that was emphasized with the various curricula was multimedia web "course-lets" that brought together group skills to evaluate anthropological situations. One particular exercise I remember was an excursion into ancient Angkor-Wat, a Buddhist nation in Asia. We worked in groups around notebook computers and hyper-linked our way through pages that were filled with various representations, statistics, etc., that revealed clues about the material and, in small groups, we were left with the responsibility of solving the mysteries of this intricate subject.
One thing that definitely facilitated our small groups was our use of laptops, an idea so subtle but effective that I didn't even notice until we had completed a few exercises. There was a completely different atmosphere in the class contrasted to the traditional "computer lab." In fact, I would say that the social psychology of this setting was completely different than that of the typical "computer lab." We could share the computers much more effectively than sitting around desktops, and we could sit in circles talking, passing the computer, and easily switching roles from writer to information collector. And, considering the web medium, there was practically no learning curve for the software; in fact, everyone was quickly comfortable with the format.
As our class progressed, we began working on our final project. This was a class assignment that combined elements of research along with designing a web site. This would then tie together a central theme of anthropology. Together, the class decided upon the central theme. After several interesting class conversations about the format of the Web and the types of information best conveyed with it, our class decided upon comparative ancient religion. We were also faced with a project management situation. Despite our small class size, having more than ten people contributing to a document required careful consideration of how to best organize all of the information! We concluded that our best bet would be to take a central theme we could considerably task-out to each individual. Later, we could combine it into a highly cross-indexed type Web site of various concepts in comparative ancient religion. Again, we utilized the classroom laptops to reach these goals for both researching our topics and learning about the construction of web pages.
Overall, the experience was highly informative and thought-provoking. The atmosphere of the entire class was enhanced by the Web and the informal laptop atmosphere. Our final project integrated up-to-date technology and real-world skills from which I still draw ideas.
