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

Growing up with Google - what it means to education

ckeller — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:24:55 -0500

Diana Oblinger explores the 'net generation' who can seamlessly move between their real and digital lives. Their behaviours, preferences and expectations may be very different from those of their teachers. Diana examines the characteristics of these learners, the possibilities offered by new technologies and the skills that an education system needs to provide for the 21st century. She also argues that we need to adapt to this rapidly evolving context and goes on to explore the implications for learning space design, assessment and learning and teaching.

Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning

ckeller — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:03:37 -0500

Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning represents the fifth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education. This year’s study, like those for the previous four years, is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and based on responses from more than 2,500 colleges and universities, the study addresses the following key questions:

How Many Students are Learning Online?
Where has the Growth in Online Learning Occurred?
Why do Institutions Provide Online Offerings?
What are the Prospects for Future Online Enrollment Growth?
What are the Barriers to Widespread Adoption of Online Education?

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.

Hypermedia and Discovery Based Learning: What Value?

drupal — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 15:39:53 -0600

"In 1992, the author published a paper entitled 'Hypermedia and discovery based learning: A historical perspective'. It traced the swings in the history of educational thinking between, on the one hand, support for conventional curriculum based learning and, on the other, the non-linear approach expressed by many educational commentators over the centuries. According to the author, hyperlink technology would finally allow learning truly to mesh with the free association characteristics of the human mind. Once the technology had matured, it would be a teaching resource that would transform passive learners into active thinkers. Thirteen years on, the author takes a critical look at those optimistic conclusions. Are students better equipped to learn than previously? Are they able to think reflectively to a greater degree than their counterparts of a decade or two ago? This present paper addresses such questions, the result being that the guarded optimism of 1992 has turned to a deep pessimism."

Where Learners Go

drupal — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 11:37:13 -0600

The author discusses how to strengthen the library role in online learning.

Meet the Gamers

drupal — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:52:36 -0500

"They research, teach, learn, and collaborate. So far, without libraries."

The Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Enhancing Student Learning through Online Faculty Development

drupal — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:47:10 -0500

To support learning about assessment for all educators, I wrote, created and published online the Authentic Assessment Toolbox, a how-to text on creating authentic tasks, rubrics and standards for measuring and improving student learning. The site can assist faculty development by exposing educators to the process and rationale for an alternative (authentic) model of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks which demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills, and by describing and providing examples of how to construct such authentic assessments. Additionally, the Toolbox can benefit student learning by suggesting methods for promoting student engagement in substantial learning that connects to real-world applications students will recognize and value, and by describing tools (e.g., rubrics) that students can apply to their own work to gauge progress and achievement.

Video Games and the Future of Learning

drupal — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:41:39 -0500

Will video games change the way we learn? We argue here for a particular view of games—and of learning—as activities that are most powerful when they are personally meaningful, experiential, social, and epistemological all at the same time. From thisperspective, we describe an approach to the design of learning environments that builds on the educational properties of games, but deeply grounds them within a theory of learning appropriate for an age marked by the power of new technologies. We argue that to understand the future of learning, we have to look beyond schools to the emerging arena of video games. We suggest that video games matter because they present players with simulated worlds: worlds which, if well constructed, are not just about facts or isolated skills, but embody particular social practices. Video games thus make it possible for players to participate in valued communities of practice and as a result develop the ways of thinking that organize those practices. Most educational games to date have been produced in the absence of any coherent theory of learning or underlying body of research. We argue here for such a theory—and for research that addresses the important questions about this relatively new medium that such a theory implies. Video games and the future of learning

Engines of Inquiry: Teaching, Technology, and Learner-Centered Approaches to Culture and History

drupal — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 12:27:20 -0500

As Leo Marx pointed out a long time ago, rhetoric of the "technological sublime" is an American tradition, and though it first emerged in response to the inventions of the Industrial Revolution—the steam engine, the telegraph, the railroad—the idea of the technological sublime is still with us in this so-called Information Age. With their emphasis on solutions and efficiency, popular images of information technology have contributed to a misleading mythology—a new rhetoric of the technological sublime—about technology's impact on culture and especially education.

The Digital Disconnect: The Widening Gap Between Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools

drupal — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 12:06:37 -0500

Using the Internet is the norm for today's youth. A July 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that three in five children under the age of 18—and more than78% of children between the ages of 12 and 17—go online. Due in large part to high profile and sometime controversial education technology public policy initiatives, it is conventional wisdom that much of this use occurs in schools. Not surprisingly, one of the most common activities that youth report undertaking online is schoolwork. Yet, little is known about student use of the Internet for schoolwork or about their attitudes towards the broader learning that can take place online. Nor has there been much exploration of the consequences of those teenage views for educators, policy makers, and parents.