1. The document discusses a course on effective writing skills that teaches students how to develop a research paper and thesis. 2. One module focuses on brainstorming and organizing ideas, with learning objectives of reflective journaling, practicing brainstorming techniques, developing artifacts for different audiences, providing peer feedback, and creating a writing timeline. 3. Students are challenged to select emerging technologies to support the learning objectives, choose an activity, and experiment with tools like mind mapping, timelines, and document sharing to present their activity.

1. emerging technologies that
enhance teaching & learning
Case Study 2: Effective Writing Skills
Solution
You are teaching an Effective Writing Skills course. The
purpose of this course is to teach the students how to Learning Objective:
design a research paper and to guide them in the process Activity 1:
of developing one for their own master thesis research. Tool:
The course is classroom-based with an online component Set-Up Time:
in WebCT Vista. There are a number of activities planned
Tech Savvy:
for each module in the course. One of the modules is
called "Brainstorming and Mapping" and focuses on
helping students develop clear strategies for organizing
their thoughts/ideas. The learning objectives you have
set out for this module are for students to accomplish
the following:
1. Identify the ways in which your writing has changed
throughout the course using reflective journaling.
2. Practice new techniques for brainstorming and
developing arguments.
3. Development and present a collection of artifacts
that best illustrate the ability to write for different
audiences. Learning Objective:
4. Comment and give feedback on peer work. Activity 2:
5. Develop a writing timeline for the final thesis.
Tool:
Your 30 minutes challenge… Set-Up Time:
Your challenge now is to figure out ways to select and
use emerging technologies to support your Learning
Objectives.
A/ Work with your group and choose one or two
1 learning objectives from the list above and
develop an activity that supports the learning
objective. (10 minutes)
B/ Select an appropriate learning technology tool
Resources
Check out our wiki for all the resources discussed in this session:
http://wiki.ubc.ca/EmergingTech
from the suggested list at right (Resources) and on
Some suggested emerging technologies for this Case Study are:
the wiki URL and experiment with tool (s) (i.e. acct
setup, etc). (15 minutes) • www.mindomo.com - mindmapping
C/ Debrief with class – groups present their
learning activity. (10 minutes) • www.xtimeline.com - timeline
2
You should also be thinking about how to bring the • www.flickr.com – sharing photos
information & data gathered and produced by
your students into your online course (See Embed • www.twitter.com – micro blogging
Content handout).
• www.wordle.com – word cloud
Contact us: emily.renoe@ubc.ca | catherine.paul@ubc.ca
• www.buzzword.com – peer review/doc sharing
• docs.google.com – document sharing/collaborations