Author: joanvinallcox

Joan Vinall-Cox, Ph.D. is a lifelong learner, retired communications professor, and rabid reader who has taught in both the college and university systems. Her Ph.D., in 2004 was an Autoethnographic Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry focused on moving from technophobia to technophilia. She is a widow from a pretty happy marriage and a mother to a strong and kind daughter. Her interests include Centering Prayer, Multiple Intelligences, Attention Deficit Disorder and its connection to creativity, Jung, Campbell’s Monomyth, and Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry.

Twitter and (University) Students

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I use Twitter to collect ideas and know-how on using the web in teaching, especially the Thursday night #lrnchats – they’re fun.

Recently a former student asked me about whether I was using Twitter in my teaching. I had just discovered some of the benefits and pleasures of following and being followed by students.

Here’s a slightly altered version of what I told her (images added):

Originally I avoided having students follow me on Twitter, but when a former student asked to follow me, I’d follow them back. Then I got a second course – teaching scripting for documentary podcasts – and several students from previous Oral Rhetoric courses who had already been following me on Twitter signed up for my second course. I didn’t actually use Twitter as part of my course, but seeing the Twitter comments of some of my current students was fun and informative.

Student Tweet

I also got some unsolicited positive feedback from a student from several years ago –

PositiveStudentTweet

And I found out, through a tweeted link, what one former student was doing in her business and civic life –

The Star article on Julie Tyrios

As a result, I have relaxed about having students, even current ones, follow me.

At this point, I don’t plan on requiring students to use Twitter, but I might incorporate it a bit more in future courses, but only if I think it will add to what they’re learning. Probably I’ll just show them how to use hashtags, and then create one for the course that they can use, if they want to. I’ll have to be careful not to have information only on Twitter, so that those who don’t Tweet won’t miss anything important.

Connecting on Twitter with students too – that’s fun!

Teaching in the 21st Century

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Here’s why I love the web.

I found the video embedded below on Twitter, with a mention in the post of Ignatia, a woman whose knowledge and sharing I have respected for years  – http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.com/2010/04/meaningful-and-powerful-learning-how-to.html.
I think the video is beautifully designed and presented, and it’s what I believe about teaching for today.
I hope you enjoy the 10 minutes it takes to watch it, I hope it gives you ideas and enthusiasm, and I hope you spread it.
Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD – joan.vinallcox@gmail.com
JNthWEB Consulting – http://www.jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/

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Communicating With Today’s Tools and Today’s Knowledge

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Charles Bell: Anatomy of the Brain, c. 1802

I believe, in this world of rapidly changing technology and increasing knowledge of how our brains ‘work’, that students of communication need to know more. (For the record, I believe it’s a human need to constantly learn more about how to communicate, but for the sake of argument, let’s limit this to senior post-secondary students of communication.)

For sure students who want to go into any field that includes communication need to know how to read and write ‘correctly’ and powerfully.  (True since the spread of the printing press and literacy.) They also need to know how to speak with rhetorical power. (True since before the advent of writing.) Now they need to know how to record themselves aurally and visually, and how to use sound and images to shape their messages. The tools for communication have both increased and been democratized. The web has opened up the world of communication possibilities.

The skillful writer now shapes the presentation of her or his text. At the simplest: What font? What type size? What headings? What length of paragraphs? Bullets? Paper type? Now there are multiple decisions to be made – by acceptance of what’s already there or by conscious choice. And each of these choices will affect how the readers will grasp the intended message.

When a person approaches creating a piece of communication now, the choices have multiplied: text (paper or digital), speech (live or recorded), image (still or moving), or some combination of these. Where and how to place or deliver these messages is now a moving and evolving target, (and not my focus here).

Now, what the student of communication needs to learn is how these choices will impact on their audience. They need to have the traditional information about their intended audience but I maintain they need to know more now. They need to know what part of the brain will be responding to their communication choices. Do they want the information to be recognized? Dealt with strategically? Or felt?

Now teachers of communication skills need to know something about, and teach about, where (and thus how) the audience’s brains will take in the message. I suggest reading, watching and listening to “How New Technologies are Changing our View of What Listening is” – http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/Listening-A-Powerful-Skill/The-Science-of-Listening/Learning-Through-Listening-in-the-Digital-World/How-New-Technologies-are-Changing-our-View-of-What-Listening-is/146/

Joan Vinall-Cox, PhD – joanvc@jnthweb.ca
JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/

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