Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and Interaction and Engagement

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.

Digital field assignments combine active-learning strategies with digital technologies to engage today's learners in team-based assignments in which students apply classroom concepts as they research real-world problems. This session will define the concept of digital field assignments, present case studies, and share best practices.

At LSU , student government is extremely active in a spectrum of campus issues, including IT. Like many universities, LSU has a technology fee, but unlike most, student oversight is required by state law. Far from finding this oppressive, students have become "angel investors," initiating investment and stimulating interest in emerging technologies.

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.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College system has implemented an Interactive Digital Center focused on digital content creation, visualization systems integration, simulation, and digital learning. This session will provide an overview of how the IDC is also focused on application development, training, integration, and deployment of visualization technologies.

The University of Rochester Libraries undertook a two-year study of undergraduate students, focusing on how they do research. Anthropological methodologies, such as cultural probes, were used to construct a holistic picture of the lives of undergraduates. The study results have informed how we make decisions and effected changes to align our efforts with the needs and expectations of Net Generation undergraduates.

Successful higher education e-learning environments exemplify clear alignment among seven factors: objectives, content, instructional design, learner tasks, instructor roles, technological affordances, and assessment. Objectives and assessment are commonly misaligned, but misalignments can be addressed using instructional designs focused on authentic tasks and assessments.

Many instructors are adopting clicker technology as a way to engage students during lecture. Usually, students are responsible for the purchase of their clickers. Hear how four universities standardized on a single clicker type, thereby saving students the cost of purchasing multiple products for classes that use clickers.

Trinity University's Coates Library adapted an immersive marketing campaign strategy known as an alternate reality game when designing the library's 2006 new student orientation. Objectives emphasized critical thinking skills, orientation to the online and physical environments, interactions with librarians, and entertaining engagement.

If you want students to use online discussions, how do you avoid initiating every thread or simply counting all their replies? By defining and rewarding substantive Q&A (and requiring an online "participation portfolio"). Students will take responsibility for discussions and reduce your burden in assessing them.