Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences, Social Computing, and Instructional Technologies

Blogs, wikis, and networking tools appear to gain widespread acceptance. How are higher education professionals using social software tools in their practice? Is there any convergence with what students using them bring to the institution? We will invite participation to explore these questions and determine if there are international differentiators.

What information technologies are used by undergraduates? How does IT contribute to their academic experiences and learning? What has changed since 2005? ECAR presents key findings from the fourth annual survey of undergraduates, with responses from 27,846 students at 103 higher education institutions. Plans for 2008 will also be discussed.

Second Life is a user-created virtual world simultaneously played by thousands of people around the world. In this session, we’ll share our experiences of teaching in Second Life. Using the interaction combinations integration model we developed as a framework, we will describe our projects, outcomes, and recommendations.

Today’s students favor visuals and social computing tools, while instructors want to foster the development of deep, expert knowledge. Using concept maps connects student desires and instructor objectives. INHOLLAND University of Professional Education and the University of British Columbia have innovatively linked concept maps, rich media, and Web-based content.

At INHOLLAND University students learn in a visual and social online environment, using concept maps to engage in argumentation, writing, reflection, and brainstorming. Combinations of concept maps and rich media with a learning management system, wikis, and blogs help students create a unique yet structured viewpoint that retains a bird’s-eye view of complex ideas and concepts.

Instructors and staff from INHOLLAND, SURFdiensten, and UBC will discuss the process of choosing, implementing, and piloting a new concept mapping tool; demonstrate 10-plus practices and templates; and present tools in a hands-on manner.

Throughout the world, people use different forms of digital workbenches for p2p (person to person) publishing and for knowledge seeking, sharing, and co-creation via different forms of social software. These uses of technology reflect social and individual competencies necessary for productive functioning in a knowledge economy. What are the implications of these competencies for higher education and the ways that technology is used for learning?