I knew when I joined this group I'd be overwhelmed but I've loved the exchange, -- great ideas, new tools to explore, new issues (at least for me) to consider.... I've been introduced to a pedagogy that isn't much practiced on my campus. I'm not sure why. I know there's a powerful element among the faculty that just naturally resists all the new-fangled gadgets and fancy notions and trendy techniques, no matter where they come from. In the end, that's a power struggle. We're not willing to take the principal's advice, in Bonnie Kaplan's video: relinquish our authority in the class room and give students room to learn by doing. I think there's an economic element, too; the fact that we don't have much to fight over doesn't make the conflict any less intense. And our faculty probably has all the usual reasons to hesitate before going public with their work.
My passion: I've been asked (sort of) to develop a Writing Across the Curriculum program on my campus. I'm convinced the only way to do it is to incorporate the tools, and the ideology, this group has shared. I'll recruit a study group (maybe half-a dozen) of colleagues, visit their classes, demonstrate some of the tools (as soon as I learn to use them myself), get them to demonstrate others, help them rethink and redesign their syllabi to include a new diversity of writing assignments and student projects. We'll probably do a great deal of the "invisible" writing that was discussed by the panel on that Canadian video and someone will be critical of that. (I confess; I spent the morning watching videos and such, trying to catch up. They asked some good questions and the panel was impressive but as always, they didn't quite answer the questions!).
Some things I need to know more about: Diigo, Screencasts, Voicethread, John Seely Brown, Howard Rheingold, Searcheeze.... I understand I've only scratched the surface these last couple weeks but everybody starts somewhere. I hope there's a way for group members to stay in touch. I'm going to need guidance.