This week I have given the first lecture on the topic Credit Crunch to about 20 fresher students taking the module ‘Current Affairs‘.
This dury did come towards me rather unexpectedly after a temporary appointment had dropped out on short notice. I accepted on the basis that I will be using it as a platform to experiment with new teaching methods.

First I had a look at what other colleagues teaching on this module were offering on our VLE and found to my horror large quantity of unedited recordings of the BBC Newsnight program plus some other footage with most clips often 30-45 minutes long. Even I was unable to hold my attention for more than 15 minutes or so – clearly unsuitable.

After a few minutes of hunting on the internet I came across this video:
http://www.vimeo.com/3261363

It was snappy, lively and to the point, and about 10 minutes ling. I decided to show it in the classroom and everybody was impressed…
I then decided to put the class into groups of 3-4 and asked them to search for their own preferred source material (about the Credit Crunch) using the following Web2.0 tools (one per group):

  1. BBC Web-site
  2. GoogleNews
  3. Google Blogsearch
  4. YouTube, blib.tv
  5. slideshare
  6. delicious, diigo

Will they be getting the right mix of source material which we can be used in  class, what will they like, pick and present? We”ll see next week.