Hello All,
As we come to the end of week one, I too realize that I have been remiss in a formal introduction. Here is that one, straight from my "academic" side:
Dr. Troy Hicks is an associate professor of English at Central Michigan University and focuses his work on the teaching of writing, literacy and technology, and teacher education and professional development. A former middle school teacher, he collaborates with K–12 colleagues and explores how they implement newer literacies in their classrooms. Hicks is director of CMU’s Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and he frequently conducts professional development workshops related to writing and technology. Also, Hicks is author of the The Digital Writing Workshop (Heinemann, 2009) and a co-author of Because Digital Writing Matters (Jossey-Bass, 2010). In March 2011, Hicks was honored with CMU's Provost's Award for junior faculty who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in research and creative activity. Most importantly, he is the father of six digital natives and is always learning something new about writing and technology from them.
On a lighter note, I like to consider myself someone who is always interested in learning. Learning from my children, my students, my colleagues. I want to be a better teacher of writing, and I think that tech can play a huge part in that process. So, I am here, to work with all of you, maintain strong ties with NWP, and, well, generally learn some new things.
Finally, like Heather, Ben, and others who have raised thoughtful questions about technology, I remain somewhat critical/skeptical. I am at an edtech conference in Michigan right now, leading into a literacy conference this weekend. The titles of many of the sessions here are something like "10 Web 2.0 Tools You've Never Heard Of," "50 Apps in 50 Minutes," and "Using Screencasting to Flip Your Classroom." I pause when I hear each of these titles. Not because I am not a techno-geek, because I am. Instead, I worry that we are putting the tech cart before the learning horse. If we are going to do things digitally, we need to do them as well or better than what we would do in an analogue manner.
Looking forward to seeing what you all have bookmarked from Digital Is!
