Are you better than Steve Carell at using technology in the classroom?

Most people have seen at least one episode of Steve Carell’s hit show, The Office. If you haven’t seen an episode then please go here to check one out. It’s very funny stuff!

Lynn Schofield Clark in collaboration with her Innovation in Mass Communications class at the University of Denver have produced a very witty video as part of a class mini-project. It’s a parody video based on The Office. Only this time it’s not ‘The Office”, it’s “The Class”. Specifically, it is a class on the topic of integrating technology into the face-to-face classroom. There’s a beautiful write up about this video on Mike Wesch’s Digital Ethnography blog.

From an instructional design and teacher point of view there are so many little tidbits in this video that make me chuckle.



Some Lessons Learned for Teachers:

1. Know your students; know your target market. Then respond to the needs of your students.


2. Be cautious about using technology in the classroom; do not use technology for technology’s sake. Be sure that the use of technology in the classroom serves a specific goal to move you towards accomplishing a course or lesson objective.


3. Don’t go to class un-prepared and without a plan – it might backfire.


4. Let students participate in their own learning and let them take an active role in the class.


5. Know that floppy disks are useless as of 2010!

Can you think of any other lessons learned after watching this video? If so, please leave a comment below.

Add Post To: