Peter Ingle

PhD., University of Utah; Special Education
Areas of Specialization: special education, secondary education, diversity

• Peter uses many forms of technology but is aware of its potential problems. Peter was the first professor at Westminster to develop an electronic portfolio for his contract review. He regularly uses email, the Smart Board, PowerPoint, Excel, Inspiration, and WebCT. "Expose me to it, I'll try it, fool with it for awhile, and I may continue to use it."
  
  
• One feature of WebCT that Peter likes is the threaded discussion. "We used them to respond to the readings, and we got a lot more personal connection to the readings than we do when we have them write them up on paper. Because they can respond to somebody else's thoughts?they don't have to come up with all the original thoughts on their own. So I thought that was good."
  
  
• Peter has some suggestions about to include in the PT3 Grant in the future. "I would love to have regular meetings where we just dialogue about technology. Not learning it, not implementing it. Philosophical. But that might just be me. I need somebody to help me see why this is a helpful as everybody thinks it is."
  
  
• When asked about how technology will affect his future and his students', Peter commented, "I won't be able to teach my online diversity class this summer without it!"
  
  
• Peter calls for information literacy. "If we assume that information is knowledge, we are lost. And we make that assumption all the time. So if we assume that all we have to do is access information, it won't necessarily make you smarter or able to do things. And it's not about giving information, it's about the process."