A Recent Afternoon in the Life of Geog. 350

Use of the Ullman Collaboratory

(http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/projects/aday.html)

October 28, 1997

Geography 350:

• Course Description

• Other Details: This class is an evening degree program class meeting twice a week (T&Th) for 2 1/2 hours each. As a rule, students do NOT come to campus between classes and expect that all readings and class materials are made available as text books, on-line or handouts. Class objectives and content as well as the "lengthy" class period require "mixed use" of class time, i.e. frequent changes of activities thereby avoiding the need for time consuming "relaxation breaks" outside the classroom. The Ullman Collaboratory is ideal for this kind of "flexible instruction" for a (lengthy) class with 12 students allowing students to pursue different types of activities at different tables without wasted transition times.

• Class Objectives: The objectives of this class focus on the acquisitions of analytical skills related to small area economic analysis as they may be needed and applied in local (public sector) planning departments and (private sector) marketing activities. The selection and presentation of these tools are firmly linked to regional development theory and market area concepts and theories on the one hand, and regional data systems, on the other. In addition, all students are strongly urged to develop their own "area of interests" or focus for this class and to search for appropriate data and other resources as part of many of the assigned exercises in support of their individual (or group interests).

  In addition, all students are given an opportunity to apply and develop their writing, communications, and collaborative skills through weekly exercises, online and in-class communication and collaborative extensions of the exercises.

  Concepts & Theory, (Theories of structural and regional economic change, market area concepts etc.)
  Analytical Tools, (from location quotients, transition matrices, network measures and input-output/ multiplier analysis)
  Resources Skills, (Library & Internet search and evaluation skills) [Objectives parallel those depicted in this Nyerges et al. Resource Skills Table; a similar articulation more specifically for classes in Economic and Business Geography is "under construction".
  Communication,
  Collaboration [on Exercises and joint and/or linked Web pages],
  Hands-On Student Work (Exercises, In-Class & At Home),

• General Pedagogic Objectives associated with the Use of the Collaboratory: The integration of multiple computers into the flow of class proceedings has progressively increased over the past few years (first in the UWIRED Collaboratory [as one of its first "innovative courses"], and has become a surprisingly attractive and successful alternative to overhead transparencies, television clips etc. Students have been awed by the realization that they can readily accept at least partial responsibility for illustrative choices in class activities. In addition to the hands-on communication and collaboration role of multiple computers in the classroom, it is the "level playing field" between instructors and students which makes the presence of computers so desirable. While the instructor may have a head start in the use of a variety of specifically educational technologies, a diverse student group is bound to have a superior collective computer experience which helps to break down unneeded barriers between students and instructor and provide a more collaborative learning environment.

Time Schedule:

3:30-4:30

• Web Page Clinic, open to all Undergraduates taking Geography classes and Access Students (Wayne Brewer and Gunter Krumme, supported by Friends of Access Funds),
• Geography 350 students "trickle in", try to find empty computers, participate in the clinic (one or two of them still need relatively basic help) and/or raise their recent creations to discuss and consult with 350 instructor

• All students not associated with Geog.350 are asked to leave the room
• 12 Geog 350 students assemble around two or three tables; One student at each table accepts role of "Web-Clicker"; students keep their screens up on all other computers (on which they have worked before class started) for later and intermittent work.
• Class begins with preliminaries: Distribution of "Weekly Agenda" and other handouts (most are also available on the Web); Identification of Links which are not distributed. Q&A related to readings and other activities during the week.
• Traditional lecture component (40 minutes); with use of overhead transparencies and instructor's station (overhead computer). Today: Concepts of Regional Economic Change, Shift & Share Analysis (continued from last week, since we could not finish the topic due to Midterm).
• Instructions for "Extended Break Period" (5:20-6:00). Handouts: Boolean Logic and Library/Internet Search Methods || Susan Ives' Paper "Searching the Internet: A Guide to Boolean Logic".

5:20-6:00 "Extended Work-Break"

• Students disperse to individual work-stations, typically 2 per computer, one or two students try to find computers elsewhere (e.g. outside the Collaboratory in ("scholar space") [more computers would be useful at other 4th-floor locations for these activities which are only partially and not necessarily "collaborative"]
• Shift and Share Exercise [due next week]: Any Questions (Conceptual foundations, Data, Method, Interpretation of Results? [Students find their own data fitting their individual class interests ("Theme")]
• Individual or collaborative work on the development of students' "Resource Page" (All-Quarter Exercise)
• Another quarter-long exercise (collaborative between Geography 350 and 498) is the on-line discussion on societal implications of new telecommunications technologies. The discussion form is on a Web page. Contributions are posted automatically underneath the form. Generally, students do not use class time to formulate their responses.

6:10 - 6:50 Developing the outlines of a "Class Model" on the basis of students' interests:

• Instructor sits at central work station and displays document with students' own introduction and areas or interest
• Students can suggest corrections which are instantly recorded (via changes in Web page saul account)
• Instructor briefly reviews the essence of a prior reading on "Models" and the nature of alternative links between model components or "submodels".
• Students at each table are asked to identify obvious, or not so obvious, links between students interests. These links are recorded as arrows on overhead transparency and given labels.
• Students "pair-off" to discuss the substantive foundations of their "connections" and report back (confirm and cancel) the partnership.
• Instructor makes xerox copies of "connection matrix" and sketches "class model" on power point.
• Instructor briefly explains the meaning of this modular approach to modeling in the context of the economic base and input-output models which will be part of the class content during the following two weeks.