I’ve been giving technology presentations for about five years now, and most of them have been successful. Not today’s, though. This is a quick self-inflicted debriefing.

¹ The main problem was that the presentation was way too full. I wanted to focus on theory. I wanted to discuss the ways in which these tools, if used thoughtfully, could encourage fluency and reflection in student writing. ² And I wanted to talk specifically about forums, blogs, wikis, and social writing tools, suggesting ways that each can be used to achieve those goals.

First, I should have stuck to one or two tools. It was just too much to cover in the time we had. Second, I should have had more student-generated examples for us to read and discuss. I couldn’t do this because I’d planned too much for the session to take the time to do that. Third, and most significantly, I over-estimated the level of familiarity my audience had with these tools. This meant I spent too much time simply defining what the tools are and how they work, and not enough time considering the theory.

I wonder when/if they’ll come a time when I can go into a technology presentation assuming a basic understanding of the tools and move directly into thinking more carefully about how best to leverage those tools to encourage fluency, reflection, or whatever the goal. We’re definitely still not there for the majority of teachers. When can/should we expect this? We’ve finally reached that point with word processing and (I think) with multimedia presentation software. Another five years for blogs and wikis? And will those technologies be eclipsed in the meantime?

Not that I blame my audience for not being at that point today … I didn’t know the people to whom I was presenting and wasn’t sure of their level of comfort. At any rate, people are where they are, and what they needed was not a theoretical discussion of best practices for these tools but a workshop introducing the tools and providing the chance to set up and play with them.

So, I think I need to take a step back and return to workshop sessions that address on one tool at a time and focus on the basic functions of the tool. What I would really like is the chance to conduct more multi-week sessions, where we cover functions for a week or two and then move into more theoretical considerations of best practice.

If you’re a presenter, and you have a single session to deliver to an unfamiliar audience, what do you? Any tips or suggestions are appreciated.

1. Phelps, James. Fat Boy. Photograph. 12 Nov. 2006. Flickr. 6 Nov. 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/mandj98/295343848/>. [back]
2. There are many other aspects we could have talked about: social learning and networking that can develop around these tools, the way students are using online services to help construct their identities, etc. My focus was increasing the amount of writing and level of comfort (fluency) and encouraging thoughtful reflection. [back]

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