The University of Vermont
College of Education
&
Social Services

Ten Ways to Use Technology in Your Teaching


by Joyce L. Morris
jmorris@zoo.uvm.edu
http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris

October 11, 1996, revised May 21, 1998

  1. Use articles and documents from the Internet for you and your students. If you provide students with the location (URL address) they can read, and in many cases print, articles without infringing upon copyright law. Many journals and newspapers are now online. You can puruse the Wall Street Journal at http://www.wsj.com, The New York Times , http://www.nytimes.com, The Boston Globe , http://www.boston.com, as well as thousands of other electronic journals. Other sites with some noteworthy publications include:

See a sample of an electronic reading list integrated into a college course at http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/read55.html

  • Communicate with other educators through listservs. ListServs are e-mail discussion groups. You subscribe to a listserv and receive all the messages posted to your e-mail. There are thousands of listservs where people with similar interests are communicating about common issues. Some places to get addresses of listservs can be found at
  • Use Internet resources to access documents, reports, lesson plans, schools on the internet, and grant information. The following sites are represent only a few places of interest to educators and social service professionals.

  • Take a virtual trip. When the real thing isn't possible a virtual experience may be the next best thing. There are virtual museums, field trips, adventures and experiments.

  • Use the Internet as a place to share your students' work as well as your own. The World Wide Web is the world's largest bulletin board. Check out Software reviews written by students at UVM http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/software.html or see dreamhouse designed by students demonstrating their ability to use the drawing tools in ClarisWorks, http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/dream.html and for some examples of what faculty might want to present http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/prp.html

  • Place your syllabus and other course information on the Web. World Lecture Hall at http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture has many examples of faculty that have used the Internet as a place to organize and distribute handouts from their courses. You can see a local example at Teaching with Technology http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/course.html

  • Use e-mail distribution lists to communicate with your students. Using Moose, Zoo, or Eudora, you can create an E-mail distribution list. This enables you to send one message that will reach everyone on the list. Setting up a class distribution list is easy and provides a fast convenient way to send one message to a number of students or faculty. This is an easy and convenient way to discuss articles, work on collaborative projects, or share and critique case studies.

  • Use the local area network to access the college of education server. We have just installed DoctorBrain, our server. This will enable faculty and students to share documents, collect documents, and distribute information. You will be receiving instructions on how to use the server shortly.

  • Have students use, critique and examine educational software. We currently have a number of educational programs that are available in 123 Waterman for students and faculty to preview and use. Some demos of software as well as reviews are available on the Internet.

  • Create electronic portfolios and multimedia presentations. With computers, text, graphics, animation, sound and video can be used to document and reflect upon experiences as well as organize and present new information.