So I’ll be teaching a Freshman Seminar this coming semester. That’ll be a new experience for me – I’ve been here for 22 years, I remember when the First-Year Seminar requirement was instituted (back in 2000 or so), but I’ve never had anything to do with developing or teaching one. So this should be interesting.

But all that aside, I’ve decided to incorporate two new (to me, at least) types of instructional technology into the course. First of all, the students will be divided up into groups of three, and each group will be responsible for developing a wiki over the course of the semester, and presenting it to the class at the end. (To put this all into context, the course is based on a book called "Napoleon’s Buttons: Seventeen Molecules that Changed History". I highly recommend it. Each group will choose a chapter from the book, and their wiki will elaborate on the material included in that chapter.)

I will also be presenting material from the book, and each student will be blogging their thoughts on the topics being presented. They will also be able to read and comment on each other’s blogs. Kind of like keeping a journal, but more public and with better handwriting. 🙂 I (fairly obviously) know a little more about blogs than I do about wikis, but I’m sure that I will learn more about both of these as the semester goes on, and will report back.

Wish me luck! 🙂