Workshop Presenter Sue McIntyre

I attended my first RWP Summer Institute in 2004. The opportunity to work with K-16 teachers from varying disciplines renewed my teaching spirit and set me on a course of ongoing professional development and teacher inquiry. I currently serve as Director of RWP, on the National Writing Project's Rural Sites Network Leadership Team, and on the board of directors for the Humboldt Literacy Project.

In my free time, I teach composition at Humboldt State University. While I've increasingly incorporated technology into my courses over the past ten years, participating in last summer's RWP Advanced Technology Institute turned a passing interest into a near obsession. I began by incorporating Virtual Fridays--online class activities in lieu of face-to-face meetings--into my composition classes in Fall 2009. I'm now working on a HSU-supported Class Transformation Project, and in Spring 2011 I'll be offering a "hybrid" version of the required freshman composition class, in which at least 50% of the class activities and work will be completed online. I also hope to work with a group of colleagues in the coming year to pilot an ePortfolio system for our composition classes.

Overall, I believe that the New Writing Pedagogy--incorporating online technologies into academics--engages students in authentic writing, builds on their existing expertise, opens up new opportunities for their voices to be heard, and better prepares them for the lives they will be leading in an increasingly tech-dependent society. With so many possibilities unfolding all the time, I'll never know enough about teaching with technology to consider myself a true expert. However, I truly enjoy the time I spend learning about tech teaching strategies, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share my experiences with others.

Thanks for joining me!

Sue