Interviews with Real Teachers: Technology in Today's Colleges
Diane Scrofano, English instructor,
Moorpark College, Moorpark, CA

Diane Scrofano teaches freshman composition and critical thinking with composition at Moorpark College. This is her first year as a full-time faculty member at Moorpark, having taught part time there for five years. She has also taught high school English and has worked as a librarian at the college and high school levels. Diane holds a BA in English from California Lutheran University, an MA in English from Cal State Northridge, and a Master of Library and Information Science from UCLA. She also holds Professional Clear CLAD credentials in Library Media Services and English.

Question: How do you incorporate computer technology into your teaching?
Diane: My courses are usually taught at least half-time in a computer lab. So if a class meets Monday and Wednesday, our Monday meeting might be in a traditional, low-tech classroom and our Wednesday meeting would be in a computer lab. Why split them up? Because the demand for lab space is so great that we instructors have got to share!

I refer to Web sites often in conjunction with lessons. I might pull up a Web site with an illustration or an interactive exercise, for instance. Or I might play a video of an author's appearance on TV off the Web. With students having individual computers, individuals and small groups can do impromptu research. For example, in an activity about learning how to write instructions, I might have them go to a popular how-to site.

We use online resources heavily when it comes to research. I teach information literacy, which includes judging the credibility and usefulness of Web resources. We'll discuss why Wikipedia is not a traditionally authoritative source and why we should use our college library page and its proprietary databases. Magazine articles, newspaper articles, images, transcripts, e-books, and more are made available by publishers through these services that college libraries pay big money for, and many kids don't even know they exist!

Question: Do you post student assignments, grades, study guides, or exams online?
Diane: Our campus Web content creator allows each instructor to create simple sites. You can find mine by going to the college homepage, http://www.moorparkcollege.edu/, clicking Directory, and looking me up. My contact information is listed. I also post my syllabi. Most important is my Links page. I post sites that we use often in my courses so students can easily refer to them.

Online learning is divided into three types at my school. There are Web-enhanced, hybrid, and totally online courses. A Web-enhanced class meets on-ground for all of its required contact hours, but the teacher may use the Internet in assignments and miscellaneous activities. A hybrid class meets on campus sometimes but also online. The totally online course does not meet face-to-face with students at all. We use WebCT for much of our online teaching, and with it teachers can conduct discussions, post assignments, post grades, create tests, etc.

Question: Does your course textbook provide online or electronic resources?
Diane: My developmental classes are required to practice grammar, and among the options I give them is to work on the Web site of our handbook, "A Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker. This is one of the most popular writing handbooks at the college level, and it provides what is, in my opinion, the best set of online exercises. The exercises provide immediate feedback, so I encourage students to use those over the paper workbook. I think students care more if they get the answer right or wrong while they're immersed in the activity, as opposed to later that week.

Question: What is your preferred method of communicating with your students?
Diane: E-mail, e-mail, e-mail! I can attach forms and other documents that students request. Can't do that over the phone! Also, e-mail allows me to quickly send announcements to multiple students through the use of distribution lists. Plus, all e-mails that I write and receive can be saved for future reference.

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