EDUCAUSE | Contributed by EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and Organizational Issues, Teaching and Learning

ELI Innovations & Implementations—Student Success Initiative, Montgomery County Community College

drupal — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:36:13 -0600

Montgomery County Community College is using technology to create a culture of evidence, drawing on campus-wide data and sharing information with other institutions to increase student retention. MCCC is mining campus information systems for performance indicators to better identify which students will need academic intervention so that programs can be devised to help them succeed.

ELI's Innovations & Implementations series highlights innovative teaching, learning, and technology practices in higher education. Each Innovations & Implementations piece provides a practical overview of an innovation, focusing on its significance and implementation issues. Use Innovations & Implementations to explore innovative practices that might be of value to your institution.

ELI Innovations & Implementations—Ancient Spaces, University of British Columbia

drupal — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:49:33 -0500

Students learn about antiquity by using the Ancient Spaces application to build 3D virtual models based on architectural plans and the latest archaeological reports. Ancient Spaces involves undergraduates directly in the kinds of research required to reconstruct sites. It also encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication with cultures beyond the university.
ELI's Innovations & Implementations series highlights innovative teaching, learning, and technology practices in higher education. Each Innovations & Implementations piece provides a practical overview of an innovation, focusing on its significance and implementation issues. Use Innovations & Implementations to explore innovative practices that might be of value to your institution.

ELI Innovations & Implementations—DukeCapture: Automated Classroom Lecture Recording

drupal — Tue, 16 May 2006 11:24:19 -0500

Duke University is developing DukeCapture, an automatic lecture recording service. It will allow instructors to easily record audio, video, and visuals from a lecture, knowing that the files will be available online shortly after class.

ELI Innovations & Implementations—DRE at Purdue: A Distributed Rendering Environment for Teaching Animation and Scientific Visualization

drupal — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:53:37 -0600

Purdue University's Distributed Rendering Environment (DRE) allows students to render 3D models and animations using grid computing. The DRE's long-term goal is to lower the threshold of entry into grid computing for students and faculty in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

ELI Innovations & Implementations—Ubiquitous Presenter: Increasing Interaction in a Digital Lecturing Environment

drupal — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 09:55:59 -0600

The Ubiquitous Presenter (UP) application enables instructors and students to annotate slides during a presentation, knowing that both sets of notes will be saved to the file and will be available online for access anytime, anywhere. It also allows instructors to increase student engagement by accessing and displaying students' notes in real time during the presentation.

ELI Innovations & Implementations—The Computing Center at Cox Hall, Emory University

drupal — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:36:42 -0600

In 2001, Emory University opened a student computing center designed to foster digital literacy and collaboration among students and faculty. The Cox Hall Computing Center reenvisions the traditional student computing lab as a creative, mixed-use facility where students drive their own collaborative initiatives and faculty use incubator classrooms to test new multimedia tools and collaborative teaching approaches.

ELI Innovations & Implementations - Instructional Development Initiative (IDI)

drupal — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:34:29 -0500

In 1993, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University launched the Instructional Development Initiative (IDI), using technology to foster curricular and pedagogical innovation. IDI set in motion a series of carefully managed investments, resulting in a suite of high-profile, campus-wide professional programs for faculty and staff. As a result, Virginia Tech has been recognized nationally for its achievements in engaging faculty in the sharing of successful strategies; expanding the range of active learning experiences available to students; providing a replicable model for other institutions; and managing resources while supporting innovation in an era of continual budget constraints.

ELI 2005 Fall Focus Session, The Design of Informal Spaces Informal Space Design References and Resources

drupal — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:23:58 -0500

ELI's 2005 Fall Focus Session explored how appropriately designed informal spaces can contribute to successful learning. The session planning committee developed the following set of articles, texts, and Web sites as a resource for participants to use to enhance informal space design efforts at their institutions.

7 Things You Should Know About Wikis

drupal — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 17:05:09 -0500

Update: An earlier version of this document contained an error that has been addressed. If you accessed this file prior to February 17, 2006, please download the corrected PDF.

Wikis are Web pages that can be viewed and modified by anyone with a Web browser and Internet access. Described as a composition system, a discussion medium, and a repository, wikis support asynchronous communication and group collaboration online. Their inherent simplicity gives students direct access to their content, which is crucial in group editing or other collaborative activities. Their versioning capability allows them to illustrate the evolution of thought processes as students interact with a site and its contents. Wikis are also being used as e-portfolios, highlighting their utility as a tool for collection and reflection. They may be the easiest, most effective Web-based collaboration tool in any instructional portfolio.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning practices and technologies. Each brief focuses on a single practice or technology and describes what it is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use ELI's "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs to gain a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.