Part 1: Sparking Student Conversation with the iPhone and Blogger

In the Psychology major at ACU, we teach an upper-division class called History of Theories of Psychology (PSYC 493). One of the goals of this class is to get our students to fall back in love with psychology.

One of the great things about psychology is that people-watching classifies as a legitimate scholarly activity! And students often come to our major because they love to think about and analyze the human drama within and around them. But after moving through our undergraduate curriculum, some of our students have lost the joy that brought them into the major — a common enough complaint in most majors or in any activity that becomes “professionalized.”

So, how do we get students to fall back in love with their major? In PSYC 493 we try to help students connect the theories in psychology to everyday life. Every class, we try to put in front of the students some psychological insight — new or old — that immediately changes how they look at themselves and their social world.

Pedagogically, we’ve usually done this by having the students write a journal where they connect class content to their life. Although effective, these journal assignments are not very interactive. Further, the journal, as a “typed-up-and-turned-in” assignment, doesn’t take advantage of how our students are using other technological platforms to communicate and connect with their world.

So this year, as a part of the iPhone research team here at ACU, I wanted to replace the journal assignment in PSYC 493 with something that had the following features:

1. Allows for greater conversational interactivity.
2. Replaces the “typed-up-and-turned-in” format with a communication platform that our students would find more attractive.
3. Media richness. That is, a format that can include not just written but also audio and visual media.

My solution was to unite the iPhone with Blogger.

I replaced the class journal with a class blog. Instead of turning in a weekly journal, students were asked to interact on a class blog. Many of our students are already using blogs to communicate with others about their life and their thoughts. Thus, a class blog is a media platform that intersects with students where they are currently sharing, communicating, and thinking about the world. Logging in and checking out the blogs is as natural to these students as breathing. My idea was to situate my class conversation in the conversational ecosystem where my students lived.

How does the iPhone aid in hosting a class blog? From conversations with colleagues about online discussion forums used in their classes the big observation was this: Student interest and effort in online discussion is directly related to the degree to which the students feel that the professor is interacting along with them. Basically, if students feel that no one is watching their online forum their interest wanes. It begins to feel like busy work. But if the professor is constantly interacting with students the online conversation grows energized and creative. A true intellectual community can emerge.

Given this information, I was concerned about my ability to monitor and participate with the class blog in PSYC 493. Although I could interact with the blog from computers at home and at work I would often find myself away from a terminal for large portions of the day. Further, my family wouldn’t like me obsessively checking the computer during the weekends.

Enter the iPhone.

I’ve found the iPhone to be the perfect support technology for hosting a class blog conversation. Due to the iPhone’s browsing capability, no matter where I am during the day, during the week, or on the weekend, I’m in constant communication with the class blog. With the iPhone, I’m able to use small moments of free time (for example, walking across campus) to check the blog and upload a quick comment. The total effect is that my students get the sense that I am a constant presence on the blog. I’m able to respond very quickly to just about every substantive post uploaded by my students. And this quickness on my part causes the students to return to the blog to see what a classmate or I have said about their insights. The blog comes becomes very busy and alive, crackling with activity.

What has been the outcome? Well, the class blog in PSYC 493, supported by the iPhone, has turned out to be one of the richest educational experiences of my teaching career. The blog format along with my ability to “hover” via the iPhone has revolutionized the intellectual conversation in my classroom. Quite frankly, I’m startled by how well it has gone.

In the coming installments to this series, I’ll discuss how the blog is constructed and graded — along with some of my favorite student posts.