Reflection # 2

What?Last semester, I took a writing class at Northwest. It began as a very good class with lots to learn and lots of writing practice to be had. Then the class took a turn for the worse. The concept was to write papers based on the cultures discussed in class. Unfortunately, the dual professors were technology illiterate and it took them up to 20 minutes every time to turn on the film. Also, calling IT to turn on the sound was a regular occurrence. We would watch maybe 30 minutes of film in one class and have 15 minutes of unrelated lecture. This would cause the class to take 4-5 class sessions to finish one film. By the time we finished the film, we had already started working on our NEXT paper. So what? Now, I think that this could have been a useful learning experience if the concept had been executed well. The idea of taking themes from a film and writing a paper based on the characters, relationships and cultural themes present could have been enjoyable, educational and even productive. It is just too bad that in the lack of technological knowledge, learning was lost. In the end, I would have to say that that was on of the most pointless and boring classes I have taken in my life. I didn't learn a thing. Now what? I will not include tech into my classroom that I am uncomfortable and unpracticed with. I will have back up plans in spades. I will not let myself fall into the trap of 'oh, I'll just show a film, and that will take up the time.' If an aspect of technology becomes a distraction or starts to take away from learning time, it is better to lose it than to force it into the curriculum.