Learning Space Design

Second Life is a virtual world with tens of millions of square meters of virtual lands, more than 13 million "residents," and a thriving economy. The ease in which users can build and modify virtual spaces has made it an attractive choice for experiments in learning space design and educational experiences such as virtual field trips or the creation of galleries to display student-created media. The 7 Things You Should Know About Second Life, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Second Life lets educators easily build and modify learning spaces to test how different strategies for a physical space affect learning and how a similar approach can be taken toward educational activities in those spaces.

The summer 2008 EDUCAUSE Quarterly spotlights the complete findings of the 2008 EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey as well as feature articles on open source software in education, a first assessment of a learning studio, and student use of clickers in library presentations. 

Kathleen Tyner, U of Texas at Austin.

What is New Media Literacy?

"The ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms." The Aspen Institute, 1992.

(Colorful graphic titled A Multiliteracy Mandala, CONTENT at the center, surrounded by DIstribution, Production, Audience, Narratives, Tools, Aesthetics..)

New Media Tools:

• The Intellect
• Gestural
• Orality
• Alphabetic
• Analog
• Digital
• Pervasive

Narratives, Aesthetics (see graphic that will be online later).  PPT will also be online later.

Multiliteracy Skills need to be wide and varied to cope.

Aims & Purposes for New Media Learning

• civic engagement
• social capital
• career pathways
• academic pathways
• knowledge and skill
• problem-solving

Design Elements for Learning

In this 17 minute podcast, we feature an interview with Mara Hancock, Associate Director for UC Berkeley's Educational Technology Services department. Educational Technology Services promotes and supports the effective integration of technology in teaching, learning and communication at the University of California, Berkeley. We are dedicated to service, partnership, and innovation.

In this 12-minute podcast, we feature a phone interview with Heather Gordon, Director, Information Services and University Librarian, James Cook University . She discusses the University's recent Review of Information Services Report and the role of the library and its staff in providing resources to enhance learning, research, and information literacy. Gordon also discusses her role as Copyright Officer for James Cook University.

www.jjorstad.blogspot.com

In this 40-minute recording from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, we'll hear from Kathryn Gates, Jie Tang and Anil Vinjamur in a session entitled Classroom Technology Standards and Design Made Simple. They share analysis of Portland Community College's five-year project to deploy standardized classroom technology tools on four campuses in Portland, Oregon.

The 2007 NERCOMP Annual Conference, “Connections, Collaborations, and Community,” will be held March 19–21, in Worcester, Massachusetts. View the program and register by February 26 to save money with low, early-bird rates.The conference will focus on the following topic areas:

• Enterprise Services and Administrative Systems
• Leadership, Planning, and Organizational Development
• Library and Research Initiatives
• Policy, Regulations, and Security
• Technology for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
• Technology Support
• Corporate and Campus Solutions
  

The two keynote speakers are:

• Charles M. Vest, President Emeritus, MIT
• Brewster Kahle, Director and Cofounder, Digital Librarian, and Chairman of the Board, Internet Archive

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s 7 Things You Should Know About E-Books offers a quick introduction to the potential instructional value of e-books. Two new ELI Innovations & Implementations case study briefs present snapshots of the Student Success Initiative at Montgomery County Community College and the Learning Grid at the University of Warwick.

With the ELI 2007 Annual Meeting fast approaching, I interviewed the University of Dayton's Deborah Bickford and David Wright on the ideas behind their upcoming featured session, "Creating New Spaces for Learning in Community." They will conduct their session on Tuesday, January 23, from 10:00-11:00 AM, along with fellow presenter Bill Dittoe of Educational Facilities Consultants.

My discussion with Bickford and Wright focused on the factors that motivated the University of Dayton to focus on learning spaces as a key component of its academic planning and development. They also reviewed the challenges the university encountered in effectively engaging the institutional community in learning space design, as well as the approaches the university took to overcome them. Finally, Bickford and Wright talked about options institutions might consider in assessing the impact of learning spaces on learning.