Humbled by technology training

It's interesting to take stock of your skills in teaching when you are training others to make use of a particular piece of software. On the one hand, it's easy to receive kudos when you bring students from 0 percent to any level of achievement. On the other hand, you get instant feedback as to the effect of your instructional design on your students' learning. In this respect, I have not impressed myself - I've made too many assumptions and have not spent enough time preparing instructional materials or activities.

It's also been interesting to read student blogs. While all students profess that the blogs are something that they might not use at all, it is interesting to see the effect of publication and commenting on their thinking. I'm wondering whether or not this form of communication renders a different result from simply using a word processor or sending materials via email. I have to say that I am mightily impressed by the level of effort that everyone has put into reviewing others' blogs. Would be interesting to see whether this sort of activity is something that some folks would like to use, and the results.

Here's hoping that the workstations actually work today!