In this episode, Rob and Jared talk with Dr. Alicia McCartney, Assistant Professor of English at Cedarville University. They discuss some of her teaching and learning strategies, technology integration and how she incorporates student questions into her teaching. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. We would love to get your feedback!  Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better.

Dr. McCartney sees teaching writing as especially important to develop critical thinking and teaching literature as an opportunity to ask big questions and find big answers through discussion and interpretation of text. She also learns from her students and looks for opportunities to incorporate their input into her teaching to clear up any confusion and to enrich her content. Dr. McCartney wants to create a safe space for her students to share questions by encouraging them to ask questions.

When it comes to technology integration, Dr. McCartney starts with the objectives and only integrates technology that fits with them. For example, she uses Google Slides for students to share questions about a text or notes from discussions. Dr. McCartney also likes using annotation tools such as Hypothes.is with a text, asking students to do research on a text and ask questions through annotations. Participating in this kind of activity helps her students to be prepared for class and helps to create a learning community.

Resources 

Hypothes.is 

Class Hack: Using Google Slides for Group Work