The projects the social work students are engaged on are starting to take shape. I am just so impressed by the creativity here.The truth is I had expected this group to be rather serious and also a little jaded perhaps. I think my invitation to them (right from the start) to have fun with this project has started to pay dividends.
They are a mature and a challenging group - they are not overly keen on my suggestions for topics (the films and TV programmes I put forward) - they would rather come up with their own. They are not all totally sold on the idea of creating a web site - so again they are playing around with different ideas. One group is quite interested in using Google Sites and have asked to see examples. Others want to stick to Powerpoint but will upload those to Slideshare or Googledocs as the deal is there has to be an online presence.
Two groups have come up with the idea of videos: in one case they want to undertake a team building task, film themselves doing it , and then analyse the video in terms of emergent leadership behaviours (wow!). The second group wish to film themselves discussing leadership theory and commenting on the film case study they are using rather than write anything at all (wow, and wow!)
PS A little anecdote: today a final year student told me that he prepares for my seminars (looking ahead at the links I post on the VLE ) and that this is this is the first time he has ever done so. We chatted a bit more about how he likes the "technology" and feels that it is especially good for engaging students who often struggle to engage (his terms - and he included himself in this category!) He particularly liked the videos and podcasts I have been providing to supplement the lecture notes - but what really motivated him, he told me, is that he could see that I was motivated to do more than just the hour of teaching that is timetabled. Now I am even more motivated :0)
