Week 1: Aaaaaand Blog!

Why am I taking EDHI9040? I guess I'll start the inaugural post off with a little background. It's definitely starting to seem like a long time, but I've been at UGA since 2009. Since then, I got my masters, am 1 year in to a PhD in Integrative Conservation through Warnell, and, like many of us, plan to earn the certificate in university teaching. Being on assistantship throughout my career in Warnell has forced allowed me to TA 6 times, and these opportunities have really developed my interest in teaching in ways I didn't expect. My teaching experiences have mostly relied on minimal technology (powerpoint, statistical software, and my favorite - the ol blackboard), but I've been in a few classes recently that made great use of student blogs and wikis. I view Teaching with Technology as another solid opportunity to become more fluent in a suite of tools that, when used properly, can facilitate active learning. Personally, my career goals include teaching the general public (outside of academia) about conservation and our impacts on declining species, and some of the web-based technologies we'll probably cover in this class will be the best methods for teaching across a diffuse audience like this. For now, I'm excited to learn from and get to know everyone in this quirky class and look forward to a good semester.