EDUCAUSE | Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; and Instructional Technologies

Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds

elilly — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:03:10 -0500

Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. Recent technical advances in multiplayer, user-created virtual worlds have significantly expanded the capabilities of user interaction and development within these simulated worlds. This ability to develop and interact with your own simulated world offers many new and exciting educational possibilities. This article explores the technical capabilities and educational potential of these new worlds. Additionally, it presents and illustrates a model, which uses interaction combinations, to identify course content and topics having educational applications in virtual worlds.

Emerging technologies for learning

ckeller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:46:24 -0500

'Emerging technologies for learning' aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.

Traversing the LMS terrain

ckeller — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:37:29 -0600

With the emergence of strong open source contenders in the Learning Management System (LMS) arena, many schools are evaluating whether to stay with one of the commercial LMS products such as Blackboard/WebCT or moving to one of the open source solutions which are free to use, but offer no corporate support. There are many factors contributing to such a decision beyond price including migration from a current LMS, technical and faculty support and buy in. In the end, it is a decision that an institution needs to be well informed to make.

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

ckeller — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:21:21 -0600

Social network sites (SNSs) are increasingly attracting the attention of academic and industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together scholarship on these emergent phenomena. In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition. We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments. After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles in this special section and conclude with considerations for future research.

Learning 2.0

ckeller — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:19:34 -0600

"As online tools become more ubiquitous inside and outside the classroom, and the growth of distance learning continues, education researchers have begun to focus on how best to harness new technologies. Advocates for the classical lecture experience still exist, of course, but the general trend has been toward incorporating various technologies into the classroom, from course management software to digital photography. One approach, called “blended learning,” mixes traditional “face to face” techniques with cutting-edge developments in theory and technology."

Faculty Integration of Technology into Instruction and Students' Perceptions of Computer Technology to Improve Student Learning

ckeller — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:32:06 -0500

There has been a remarkable improvement in access and rate of adoption of technology in higher
education. Even so, reports indicate that faculty members are not integrating technology into instruction
in ways that make a difference in student learning (Cuban, 2001; McCannon & Crews,
2000). To help faculty make informed decisions on student learning, there is need for current
knowledge of faculty integration practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine
the nature of the relationship between faculty integration of technology into classroom instruction
and students' perceptions of the effect of computer technology to improve their learning.
A sample of at least 800 undergraduate students at a participating medium-sized midwest public
university was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The researcher delivered
and administered the surveys to the participating students and collected them after completion.
98% of the questionnaires were complete and retained for analysis. Two major statistical techniques
were used to analyze data obtained in the study: a multiple regression and a Two-Way
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
A statistically significant relationship was found between the three predictor variables and the
criterion. The Two-Way ANOVA results indicated no interaction effect between gender and
course levels, and students' perceptions of the effect of computer technology use to improve their
learning. The main effects of gender and course levels were not statistically significant.
The results indicated that students lack computer skills in various computer applications that are
necessary to support and enhance their learning experiences. Therefore, it can be suggested that
students need to have direct instruction to efficiently use computer technology applications such
as authoring and sophisticated hypermedia. These programs provide computer skills in advanced
computer technology applications that will enable faculty members to expect more disciplinespecific
computer-based projects such as developing a webquest in a web editor.

Student Expectations Study

ckeller — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:47:43 -0500

These are key findings from online research and discussion evenings held in June 2007 for the Joint Information Systems Committee. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake research among prospective university students to understand a number of issues:

current levels of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) provision at school/college
expectations of ICT provision at university
any difference between expectation of ICT provision and that which is provided by HE institutions

These objectives helped to explore the hypothesis that there is a mismatch between student expectations of what they will be able to do and what Higher Education (HE) institutions can and do offer in terms of ICT. This study will form part of an overarching piece of research being undertaken by JISC to examine this hypothesis and inform HE institutions of student expectations of ICT provision.

Using technology in teaching and learning: Resources to help you navigate a digital world

ckeller — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:38:30 -0500

The author provides a long and comprehensive list of resources concerning teaching and learning with technology.

A Teaching with Technology White Paper: Podcasting

ckeller — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:32:09 -0500

This paper will explore educational podcasting in three realms: the creation and distribution of lecture archives for review, the delivery of supplemental educational materials and content, and assignments requiring students to produce and submit their own podcasts.

Wiki as a Teaching Tool

drupal — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:39:06 -0500

Wikis are one of many Web 2.0 components that can be used to enhance the learning process. A wiki is a web communication and collaboration tool that can be used to engage students in learningwith others within a collaborative environment. This paper explains wiki usage, investigates its contribution to various learning paradigms, examines the current literature on wiki use in education, and suggests additional uses in teaching software engineering.