Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Innovative Uses for a Computer Classroom?

Posted by Cliff on from the non-tech-classes-in-a-tech-environment dept.

flard asks: "I will be teaching a Freshman English class at a medium sized public university, in a computer classroom for next semester. Every student has their own machine with an internet connection. I am thinking about using a weblog for them to post their work and critique each other. Do you guys have any other cool ideas on what to do and what NOT to do?" How can the computers best be applied to assist in teaching a non-technical class? Use of a weblog is a start, but are there other pieces of software that can be deployed in such a setting?

4 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. I had a computer lab English class once... by TWX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...and it degenerated into the teacher saying "stop touching the keyboard" every five minutes. No matter what concept for curriculum one comes up with, as long as the students can get onto the Internet, they will. I even was more creative than most, since I SSHed to the university solaris server, which was an arguably legitimate use, only to then launch a black and white console IRC session. I didn't get caught, but several other students with IM clients or GUI-based IRC clients did. Nothing punitive came of it though, because there were no real enforcement policies.

    The class could have been much more efficiently run without computers, or at least without a live Internet connection. Some (like my case) will always find a way though the campus network, but if it can be minimized, that's the only way it will work.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  2. Use Slashcode by mikeophile · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Post an essay topic, let the kids review the submissions with mod points given to your favorite students. Just like Slashdot.

    1. Re:Use Slashcode by Osty · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Post an essay topic, let the kids review the submissions with mod points given to your favorite students. Just like Slashdot.

      Or better yet, use Scoop and let everybody moderate. Picking favorites is just asking for trouble. I'm sure you could give mod points to everyone in Slashcode as well, but I don't know how much hacking this would involve.


      Anyway, both engines are probably excessive for the job at hand. Something along the lines of PHP-Nuke would likely be more than sufficient.

  3. MUSHes by Boatman · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Have them explore a multi-user text-based reality simulator, like Elendor. My little brother learned his excellent writing skills on Elendor, as a byproduct of interacting textually with extremely literate and picturesque writers.

    He has been playing for about 7 years now. I asked him about the character he plays... and he could have gone on for hours. Read some of the "Role Play Logs". Amazing. And amazing that they're ephemeral - imagine if every action were logged! We could spend years just as spectators, watching wars and communities from hundreds of different perspectives.

    --
    --Just the place for a snark!