Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE and Learning

Over the past decade, colleges and universities have increasingly turned to the web to increase student access, expand course offerings, and reach out to adult learners through online courses. The growth of distance and online education has been mirrored by a similar explosion in social software tools such as Facebook, Second Life, blogs, wikis, Flickr, and a host of Web 2.0 competitors that offer new ways for us to learn with and from each other. As our Web 2.0 toolbox grows, so do faculty and administrator concerns about control, privacy, assessment, and the effectiveness of these tools in the classroom.

In this seminar, Anderson will highlight an educational model for distance and online learning that leverages social software to help both learners and educators determine the most effective tool and granularity of application for their learning needs. He will also demonstrate a number of current and emerging tools and share practices that promise to help us learn from and with each other with an emphasis on social learning that includes groups, networks, and the collective.

Once relegated to the fringes of the games industry, virtual worlds such as Second Life are now viewed as a promising instructional platform. College instructors use this emerging technology to teach courses on topics ranging from architecture and anthropology to history, literature and computer programming, and a growing number of Fortune 500 companies conduct employee training in virtual worlds. In 2007 alone, educational institutions were responsible for the creation of more than 1,200 islands in Second Life.

While many educators are excited about the potential of virtual worlds, others are deeply wary. Some fear that virtual worlds are a faddish technology that actually degrades student learning. In this presentation, Professor Aaron Delwiche of Trinity University suggests that there are grounds for both enthusiasm and skepticism. Virtual worlds are certainly not an educational panacea, and they present many challenges for students, instructors, and administrators. When coupled with thoughtful strategies grounded in situated learning theory, however, these emerging technologies can be very powerful educational tools.

In a short 10 years, the Internet may not have "changed everything" as was predicted, but it certainly has impacted approaches to learning and learning facilitation. In this talk, Rob Abel, educational researcher and CEO of the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC), provides some insights on what we may have learned from the past 10 years and what it may mean for the next 10 years of learning technology and learning technology standards. Discussion topics will include IMS GLC's new focus on innovation, adoption, and, most important, learning impact. This talk will draw from the latest IMS GLC research in the satisfaction and use of learning technology in the U.S. higher education segment, indicating trends in digital content and learning platforms, and the most recent Learning Impact Awards.

The rise of the millenials has spawned new conversations about engagement and learning on today's college campuses. But what do these Net Gen learners really want? From the mouth of a confessed Net junkie, learn what makes these students tick, what ticks them off, and what faculty and administrators need to know to bridge the generational divide. Using anecdotes from her own life and the lives of her peers, Carie Windham will provide an overview of Net Gen characteristics and how those characteristics translate to the classroom, including the "Ten Commandments of Net Gen Teaching and Engagement."

Virtual simulations, role-playing in games, discussion boards, and shared spaces are among the growing kinds of options educators are using to foster student learning. Aside from the efficiency of delivery and students' generally positive response to technology-based instruction, how can we learn about the efficacy of teaching and learning through technology?

The population of adult learners—individuals who are over age 24 and have full-time jobs and family responsibilities—is large and growing. For example, one-third of California State University undergraduates are 25 or older, as are 55% of California's community college students. Nationally, adult learners comprise 45% of the college and university undergraduate population, and their numbers are expected to grow 20% by 2015. CAEL's Adult Learning Focused Institution (ALFI) Initiative focuses on helping adult learners overcome barriers and achieve the learning outcomes they want and need. Eight guiding principles that emerged from CAEL's ALFI benchmarking study will be discussed during the seminar, providing insights for how colleges and universities can ensure student success.

What are the information technology uses and skills of undergraduate students, how does their use of these technologies contribute to their undergraduate experience, and how does IT add to their learning? Answers to these questions are provided by 18,039 students at 63 higher education institutions in their responses to surveys for the 2005 ECAR study. Comparisons will also be made between ECAR 2004 and 2005 study results.