Table of Contents: April 2004
Volume 10 Number 5

SPECIAL WOMEN'S STUDIES SECTION

At a UW System workshop on women's studies and e-learning, participants came together to define feminist pedagogy and to assess the merit of distance learning technologies in their courses. Can technology further the feminist pedagogical goal of engaging students in their own learning processes, they asked? The group returned to their individual campuses as members of a community of scholars with whom they will continue to pursue these teaching and learning issues. They also acquired some new technology skills and some ideas for thoughtfully integrating technology into their courses. Klebesadel decribes the event in more detail and introduces TTT's special section on women's studies and technology.

Pamela Whitehouse, an invited presenter at UW System's workshop on feminist pedagogy and e-learning, compares the benefits and shortcomings of both face-to-face and distance education courses. Her research indicates that, from a student learning perspective, using distributed methods that draw on the best of both approaches leads to more favorable outcomes. TTT is pleased to have permission to post this article, which articulated many of the organizing themes of the UW workshop. It was originally published in 2002 in Women's Studies Quarterly.

Participants at UW System's recent workshop, "Incorporating Hybrid Web-Enhanced Course Development into Women's Studies Pedagogy," became members of an online environment established expressly for them. Nancy Chick, a veteran distance educator from UW-Barron County, facilitated a planned online discussion among participants prior to the workshop. Read more to learn how Chick designs successful online discussions for her students.

As courses adapt to the hybrid environment, librarians must consider how information literacy instruction can be successfully integrated. Nelson, a librarian at UW-Stevens Point, summarizes the presentation she gave at the recent UW System workshop on women's studies and technology. Here, she focuses on women's studies programs at other institutions that have incorporated information literacy components into their curricula--including online, hybrid, and traditional courses. And she offers an example of how an existing course at Stevens Point might integrate information literacy.

In January, Lombardi introduced participants of the UW workshop on women's studies and technology to an emergent virtual environment called Croquet. She recaps her presentation for TTT's audience, explaining how she believes Croquet will eventually exceed the capabilities of packaged content management systems. Croquet is a multi-institutional initiative under development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota, the University of Kyoto, and the Hewlett Packard Research Labs.

TTT staff link readers to articles, websites, and assorted resources for instructors interested in using technology to improve student learning. This month we feature Teoma.com, the Moderators Homepage, an article on blogging and RSS, and more. Look for a new IT Info each month!

This regular feature will take you behind the screens to meet UW System experts--people in the know about all things IT. In this issue, meet David Wirth who serves as the Desire2Learn Project Manager for UW System.