Documents Contributed by ECAR, Instructional Technologies, and Faculty Development

This research bulletin examines what the literature refers to as “new learners” or “critically engaged learners.” It explores the responsibilities our institutions have to create opportunities for these learners to actively engage in creative discovery, problem definition, and appropriate use of information technologies. It is based on a literature review and accompanying conceptualizations that begin to answer important questions about institutional development for a technologically sophisticated age.

Citation for this work : Moore, Anne H., Shelli B. Fowler, Brent K. Jesiek, John F. Moore, and C. Edward Watson. “Learners 2.0? IT and 21st-Century Learners in Higher Education” (Research Bulletin, Issue 7). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This research bulletin explores a new approach to faculty support for technology. The University of North Carolina Charlotte has combined a teaching center with instructional technology support into a single support unit that reports to the central information technology (IT) organization. The bulletin discusses the significant challenges in organizational behavior, socialization, communication, and priorities against a backdrop of the opportunities to overcome many of the real and perceived barriers that characterize the relationships between central IT organizations and support units for faculty in their roles as instructors.

This research bulletin reports on the state of learning objects in higher education, focusing on updates to the authors' October 1, 2002, ECAR research bulletin, "Learning Objects in Higher Education." This bulletin describes how the field has advanced, the new partnerships that have formed, and the challenges that remain. Conclusions are based on the results of surveys gauging acceptance of learning objects in corporate and academic sectors, as well as a review of the literature and work in the field.