EDUCAUSE Review Articles; Web 2.0; and Articles, Papers, and Reports

Web 2.0 is redefining what and how and with whom we learn. For example, in Wikipedia, “knowledge” is constructed by negotiating compromises among various points of view. This raises numerous questions: How do we in higher education help students understand the differences between facts, opinions, and values—and how do we help them appreciate the interrelationships that create “meaning”?

"During the past year, rich Internet applications (RIAs) -- have started to take off in the Web
2.0 space, gaining traction in a number of different areas, including education."Rich Internet application" refers to a development metaphor that allows a much higher level of expressiveness, so that the overall user experience is improved. Most RIAs incorporate audio or visual elements to make the experience
all the more engaging."

The building blocks provided by the Open Educational Resources movement, along with e-Science and e-Humanities and the resources of the Web 2.0, are creating the conditions for the emergence of new kinds of open participatory learning ecosystems that will support active, passion-based learning: Learning 2.0.

The author writes about a new kind of IT leadership..."one that must surrender a modicum of control. Call it "open-source leadership." IT leaders must accommodate the contributions of the community rather than control them. They must learn to be supporters and enablers, not obstructionists. They must learn to cede some authority in this evolving world."

Given the demands of teaching, service, and research, faculty are today expected to embrace learning technologies along with everything else, challenging the institution to help them make sense of what works and how to work it.

This is the entire issue of EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 42, Number 5, September/October, 2007.

What are mashups? How can they be used effectively in higher education teaching and learning? And what are the implications of this content/data reuse for IT and other campus administrators and policy-makers?

"How much longer can colleges and universities continue to rely on packet-shaping as the fundamental way of dealing with bandwidth-intensive applications? From a purely technical point of view, the answer is, of course: Indefinitely...."

The author makes the case for implementing web 2.0 features into course management systems (CMS).

With directed effort, some ingenuity, and a future-focused vision, colleges and universities should be able to identify and leverage existing technologies with which to build aspects of "future" campus learning spaces—today.