Learning in the Future

While randomly searching through the UNLV faculty Web directory, I recently stumbled upon Dr. Rebecca Wood’s Prelaw Podcast site.

As the UNLV Law School Prelaw Advisor, Dr. Wood found that she was answering the same questions over and over again.  In order to provide consistent information to students, she created a series of podcasts answering typical questions.  She developed short videos using a webcam, PowerPoint and Camtasia Studio.  Once the videos are created, she generates the necessary XML files using a shareware generator, then uploads everything to the faculty Web server.  She’s also created an account on iTunes so that students can subscribe to her podcast directly.

To further promote her program, she’s also created a UNLV Prelaw Facebook account.   Here she can promote upcoming events (such as an upcoming Internship and Job Fair) provide additional links to useful resources, and give contact information.

In addition, she also manages the UNLV PreLaw Notes blog (through Blogger) which contains “latest information of interest of UNLV’s prelaw students.” Interested prospective lawyers can find out about scholarship opportunities, upcoming deadlines, summer programs, events on campus, and more.

To support her courses at UNLV, she has created multiple pages on wetpaint (a social network development site) that includes (among other things): a wiki so that students can develop documents collaboratively; discussion forums regarding constitutional issues, a glossary of terms; online content developed by students (with commenting), and exam review questions.

Using these technologies has been exciting…but also challenging, she says.   Students enjoy the ability to collaborate, but assessing the deliverables can be difficult.

Are you using Web 2.0 technologies in your course?  Have any experiences with these strategies?  Please comment!