In any case, I was reading Wesley Fryer’s Speed of Creativity blog the other day and he featured edmodo.com, a social network for the classroom.  You can check out his great instructive blog post here: http://tinyurl.com/ykfbr4f

This fit in well with what we discussed during the NASPA presentation. Edmodo.com can make your First Year Seminar class paperless and develop some online community, almost like a cross between Ning.com and a Learning Management System.   Because I use Blackboard, my institution’s Learning Management System, I haven’t tried out Edmodo.com yet, but I am intrigued by the possibility and may be using it for some upcoming Orientation staff training.

At my institution, we decided to move the First Year Seminar to our Learning Management System for a variety of reasons.   The largest reason was philosophical.  Many of our major classes use Blackboard in the first semester to post lecture notes, syllabi and tests or quizzes.  Therefore, it made sense that the First Year Seminar acclimate students to using our LMS.  We built one of the first seminars around accessing and gaining familiarity with the most commonly used tools Blackboard.  The rest of the seminar then used Blackboard as a supplement to the face to face classes, allowing students to gain a tremendous comfort level with the platform before they took their first test or quiz.

The other main benefit is that the LMS, like edmodo.com, is web-based.   This allows both instructors and students to access the course from anywhere.  For students, we posted a helpful resources folder that contained a guide to Boston as well as links to time management tools and other helpful items.  Students could access this folder from anywhere they had an internet connection.  Instructors could prep their classes at home without lugging binders around.  Using an LMS facilitated an easier connection to the course as well as allowed us to go “paperless” and live up to the commitment to be more environmentally responsible.

The best part about moving to an LMS was that it was free.  We ended up with a more environmentally friendly class that gave students the opportunity to practice a vital skill needed for success at our institution.  To boot, we ended up with easier facilitation of the class for instructors and a more mobile version for the students.  It was a win-win for us.

Chances are very good that you already have an LMS on your campus.  Find the instructional designers or academic technology people in the phone directory and call them up (or email them).  Find out what they have and whether or not you can tap into it.  Start collaborating across the digital divide.  If you run into roadblocks, trying checking out edmodo.com as an option.

As intellectually stimulating as this day was, my key take away from the day had nothing to do with the sessions I attended.  For some reason, as I was making my way to the 8:30 AM session with Dr. Rice, I found the conference venue incredibly difficult to navigate. I felt like I was surrounded by people I did not know, who all seemed to know each other.   I felt stressed that if I didn’t arrive on time, I would be embarrassed to walk in late to the session.  I got annoyed that there weren’t very good signs pointing the way.  I almost gave up trying to find the session.

As I was on the verge of retreating back to my hotel room, I realized this was the first time in years I had been immersed in something completely foreign and new.  If you were at the conference you might have seen the light bulb go on over my head as I stood there with a dumbfounded look on my face.  That was me blocking the escalator (sorry!). I was viscerally  experiencing some of the feelings that my first year students experience on their first days on campus.  Don’t get me wrong, I try new things, especially technological things, in my job all the time.  I try new food, new restaurants, new work outs and new routes to work.  However, all of those things have an element of familiarity to them.  This was different as I was completely encompassed, completely in this new, foreign experience.   I may start a new project at work, but I am comfortable in my job.  I may try a new restaurant, but with old friends.  Very rarely am I in a new environment surrounded by unfamiliar faces trying to find my way.

As I literally struggled to find my way  through the conference, I pledged to remember this feeling as I work through the craziness that is August in Student Affairs.  I also decided to make sure I get completely immersed in something new and foreign every once in awhile.  It is a powerful reminder of the experience of our new students