My name is Jason Brooks,
and starting when I was in college, I got interested in literature,
so I started picking English classes, literature classes, and I realized that with
Comparative Literature, I would be able to do both literature and language study, which is kind of
everything I'm really interested in, so right now my research is, I look at
ancient Greek literature generally and modern Russian poetry and find the
connection between those, because a lot of those poets in Russia at the time were very
influenced by and inspired by the ancient worlds.
Kind of as early as I can remember, actually, there would be email sort of
advertisement periods to complete one, but I never really got on board doing it
not for any reason other than just the time it would take, but I kind of finally realized that
after I'd built two web classes for Penn State, I realized I had
a unique set of skills, so I decided that well maybe now's the time to
put together one of these portfolios to sort of share my experience
with the online courses, how I use technology there, but also how I use technology
when I do teach in the classroom.
I think the benefits are about as limitless as the creativity of the person using the technology.
I really see that as long as you're using it in a pedogogically
sound way, the technology can't hurt in the classroom, especially
as people become more and more reliant on technology.
I think there are limitations, too, and if an instructor is just using technology because
they're being told by the dean they need to use technology or the department or their students,
say "We want more technology." I think it really quickly becomes a gimmick, and then it just
doesn't work. It becomes technology for the sake of technology, not for the sake of better pedagogy.
So, I think that it has to be a balance,
but I really see that with the way that technology is improving every day, I mean look at we're doing this interview
I'm sitting on my cell phone in a courtyard in Malibu
you guys are sitting in a conference room in Pennsylvania
The first thing you have to do is make sure you understand it, so that you don't
run into pitfalls, but I think also to really play around with it
outside the classroom, just on your own time.
The key is just to say "Okay, is there a technology that will make that more effective?"
And then make sure that it actually works before you just decided to start using it,
because I think otherwise students get frustrated.
I'm certainly not a computer science major or anything.
There's online tutorials for everything.
Penn State has all kinds of resources too, where you can learn how to build Web pages
and take classes on how to make ANGEL work more to your advantage,
and I think that it does take effort on the part of the instructor.
And so I think it's really just a matter of making the commitment,
say "I want to make my class better and more current. I want it to be a 21st century class."
I think it's getting easier, because I think that all these technologies are becoming more user friendly.
You know, I think the whole Web 2.0 thing has made it more
everything has become more approachable.
You just download a program, and there's always a wizard that walks you through it.
I think it's actually just getting easier and easier, but I think we also learn as we do,
so the more technology we use the better we become at the new technology,
because we sort of have like a basis of knowledge with all that.
That's why I say, I think if you want to do this, there's fewer and fewer excuses to not do it.
Well, I think it was actually a really valuable thing for me to go through.
I mean I sort of had all the ideas that I put down into the portfolio already in my head,
but just from the standpoint of organizing those ideas in my brain a little bit
into a more cohesive sort of philosophy or something on the issue on technology in the classroom.
I think it helped me work through some of those things,
and I think it also made me realize the things that I was doing well,
the things that maybe I really should have improved,
but even if all you do for technology in the classroom is use really great PowerPoints,
well that's fine, but Portfolio also makes you build a good Web page
and integrate different media into that Web page.
And also, there is the links section I think that was required on the
portfolio where you have online resources or you have links to resources you've created.
And I think that also is good because if you don't have any of those then,
oh, well maybe I really need to start having resources
for my students that are outside resources or online things that I've created,
so I think it was just a really good way to tie everything I'd been doing into a
more cohesive whole, and now it's great, because I can present this, like on a job interview.
I can say I also have this certificate, and if you'd like to see the portfolio,
you know here's the Web site and it's a way to sort of advertise myself that I'm up to date,
I use technology and I know how to do it.
The biggest challenge for me was actually putting
a cogent teaching philosophy down, I don't want to say on paper, but down onto a screen.
It just took time.
Honestly, I didn't really work with my coordinator.
I'm sort of an independent worker when it comes to things like this.
I also built this portfolio when I was teaching English in France for a year,
so I didn't have the opportunity to just walk into my coordinator's office
and say you know "Hey, I have a question about this" or "What do you think?"
I was kind of on my own anyway.
So I can say I was living in France, and I got to travel all over Europe for that year.
I got to go to Greece and I took all kinds of photographs of the archaelogical ruins
of the art in the museums and I've done that.
And when I've gone to museums in the United States, too,
because I want to use those in the classroom,
and so I just realized because I use Flickr for my own personal stuff, you know,
here's a good chance to put all this material together for my students to review,
to see even those extra pictures that don't make it into the lecture,
here's a place for them to go and look at these photos and study them.
The other things, just the other Web sites, one of them is it's on my portfolio,
it's just a link to the Penn State Library CAMS page,
the classics page with all kinds of resources those things that I already refer my students to.
It just seemed natural to include those. because I think it's good for my students to visit these sites,
and so I think it's good for people to see those sites that I have my students visit.
I would definitely recommend this to other students,
particularly if they're heading towards the job market soon.
I think it helps to have some formal recognition of the way you do things.
And this does that. You know this says "Alright, this person uses
technology in the classroom in an effective way, and Penn State approves it."
And so I'd say that it's very much worth the time if you are already doing the technology in the classroom.
So let me reiterate that I think that it was a really good experience
for me to go through building that portfolio.
I got to chart my evolution, which a lot of it had to do with where technology was.
Using overheads when I was first teaching and I was using very basic PowerPoint,
and that has evolved into online courses with Flash lectures and other kinds of media.