EDUCAUSE | Interaction and Engagement

Collaboration Tools

ckeller — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:21:16 -0500

Students use technology in natural ways that allow them to do what they want: communicate with anyone they want, in the time and space that suits them best. Easily accessible and user-friendly, collaboration tools allow students to explore, share, engage, and connect with people and content in meaningful ways that help them learn. By relying on the familiar ways students use these tools, faculty can enable new forms of communication and engagement in the classroom, permitting extensions and variations of the informal interactions already occurring in classrooms and hallways, and creating new frontiers for collaboration across geographic boundaries.

New ELI 7 Things... Brief Explores Wii

pkurkowski — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:26:51 -0500

The Wii is a video game system that uses a wireless controller capable of sensing position and motion, allowing users to interact with the game applications through physical movements. The controller has captured the interest of academic researchers and hackers, who have used the technology to create applications such as a collaborative choreography tool and an inexpensive, interactive whiteboard.

The 7 Things You Should Know About Wii, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Wii technology is used as an input device in virtual worlds and as a training tool that allows learners to perform physical tasks in a digital, risk-free environment.

Browse the complete 7 Things You Should Know About… monthly series.

Overcoming the Fear of Gaming: A Strategy for Incorporating Games into Teaching and Learning

ckeller — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:27:59 -0500

The effective use of games in academia requires a critical approach to the medium and a willingness to let go of the learning process and harness its outcomes.

7 Things You Should Know About Second Life

gdobbin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:07:39 -0500

Second Life is a virtual world with tens of millions of square meters of virtual lands, more than 13 million “residents,” and a thriving economy. Large numbers of colleges and universities—or, in some cases, individual departments or faculty—are active in Second Life, not only for academic purposes but also for campus visits, recruiting activities for prospective students, and fundraising. Second Life lets educators easily build and modify learning spaces to test how different strategies for a physical space affect learning, and a similar approach can be taken toward educational activities in those spaces.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

7 Things You Should Know About Multi-Touch Interfaces

gdobbin — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:36:25 -0500

Multi-touch interfaces are input devices that recognize two or more simultaneous touches, allowing one or more users to interact with computer applications through various gestures created by fingers on a surface. Some devices also recognize differences in pressure and temperature. Multi-touch technology introduces users to swipes, pinches, rotations, and other actions that allow for richer, more immediate interaction with digital content. Multi-touch devices and supporting applications offer diverse ways of visualizing information to improve understanding, and they facilitate new ways to foster collaborative creation, permitting several users to work simultaneously on a single screen.

Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds

elilly — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:03:10 -0500

Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. Recent technical advances in multiplayer, user-created virtual worlds have significantly expanded the capabilities of user interaction and development within these simulated worlds. This ability to develop and interact with your own simulated world offers many new and exciting educational possibilities. This article explores the technical capabilities and educational potential of these new worlds. Additionally, it presents and illustrates a model, which uses interaction combinations, to identify course content and topics having educational applications in virtual worlds.

Interactivity in Library Presentations Using a Personal Response System

elilly — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:09:40 -0500

In order to evaluate student opinion as well as the impact on students of an active learning methodology of two face-to-face presentation styles, during a 50-minute session of library research skills, participants attended either a traditional presentation or a modified one, incorporating the use of the PRS. The Personal Response System is a wireless technology in which students, equipped with clickers, respond to a variety of questions posed by the librarian in the course of the presentation. Both types of sessions, offered by the same librarian, included the same research skills content. Created for the purpose of evaluating various aspects of the library presentation, a questionnaire completed by all students was analyzed. In the evaluation, the PRS group not only indicated a greater enjoyment of the session but found the presenter to be well organized. The authors also discuss aspects of using clickers versus employing a traditional classroom setting.

Emerging technologies for learning

ckeller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:46:24 -0500

'Emerging technologies for learning' aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.

A Proposed Redesign of Overhead Presentations: Moving from Verbal to Visual

drupal — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:18:56 -0500

This session will demonstrate how a redesign in overhead slides can create presentations that foster a more learner-centric rather than teacher-centric model. A change in emphasis from verbal to visual promotes active learning and increases comprehension, encourages deductive reasoning, and improves retention.

Authentic Critical Reflection: Critique_It in Second Life

drupal — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:24:36 -0500

Critique_It is an online virtual classroom critique system originally developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Croquet and ported to Second Life. The critique is a rudimentary instructional methodology in the arts that can be applied to most other disciplines. Critique_It provides an environment for simulating authentic learning strategies and allowing the possibility for feedback from peers and experts from outside the campus.

Using Computer-Simulated Case-Based Scenarios to Improve Learning

drupal — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:24:36 -0500

An online virtual case-based management system was developed to provide an interactive learning portal using simulated case scenarios, collaborative learning, decision support, and real-time assessment of student motivation and decision skills. Learn how to dynamically create and implement online case scenarios using virtual characters, speech, and other media-rich content.

Authentic Learning in History and Social Sciences: How "Real" Can We Make the Classroom Experience?

drupal — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:24:36 -0500

How can we bring authentic learning, with real-world outcomes and assessments, into the history/social science classroom? This session will discuss the presenter's efforts to design and teach digital history seminars in partnership with museum professionals at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Monticello.

Making Learning Real: Turning Sim City into "Sim Science"!

drupal — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:24:35 -0500

Current theories suggest that learning is facilitated when embedded in the context in which it will be used, but the constraints of the traditional classroom make implementing this difficult to impossible. This session will focus on exploring how new technologies such as virtual environments can situate learning in a "real" virtual context, motivate students while helping them develop scientific habits of mind, and support teachers in leading complex scientific inquiries.

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes with Tablet PCs

drupal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:14:59 -0500

Tablet PCs used in undergraduate field courses in archaeology and ecology have transformed the way we teach field-mapping and data-collection concepts. Curriculum redesign and assessment strategies were applied to two unique classes, introducing tablet PCs, an emerging mobile technology, with the goal of improving how spatial data are handled, viewed, and collected.

Engage Students in a Ubiquitous Computing Environment Using DyKnow

drupal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:14:57 -0500

How do you actively engage students when they all have laptops in class? Among other techniques, engagement is achieved through focused activities by using collaborative note-taking, student response tools, and content replay. This poster will illustrate uses of DyKnow to help students and faculty achieve this goal.

Does Your Campus Need a Second Life?

drupal — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:19:44 -0600

Our presentation will detail one university's experience with employing Second Life, from the initial interest and awareness stage through implementing an upper-level undergraduate course with multidisciplinary, multiuniversity, and multinational characteristics made possible through the Second Life's Web 2.0 multiuser virtual environment.

Students Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Podcasting in Teaching and Learning

drupal — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:30:34 -0600

Realizing the learning opportunity in students' involvement in their learning process through the use of podcasting, a study was conducted at the University of Southern Mississippi to determine students' knowledge and attitudes of podcasting use in teaching and learning before the campus-wide implementation. The results of the study will be presented.

Promoting Active Learning with Mobile and Wireless Technologies

drupal — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:59:04 -0600

Electronic response systems and web-based educational software systems use response pads, PDAs, laptops, and tablet PCs to encourage active learning. This overview will describe available mobile and wireless technologies; identify their capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses; and offer examples of how they are used to enhance and assess student engagement and learning.

A comparison and evaluation of personal response systems in introductory computer programming

ckeller — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:59:13 -0600

This 2006 paper on classroom reponse systems was presented at the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois. This paper asks the question: Does the use of PRS increase student engagement during class and improve student understanding of course material?

Citizen Journalists at ELI 2008

ckeller — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:55:06 -0600

Citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which everyday people contribute to information or commentary about news events. The practice epitomizes the belief that the experiences of people personally involved with an issue present a different -- and often more complete -- picture of events than can be derived from the perspective of an outsider.

At the ELI Annual Meeting in San Antonio, ELI put this innovation into practice, arming a team of five "citizen journalists" with video cameras to capture important themes that emerged during the event. The team -- Gardner Campbell, Cyprien Lomas, Patricia McGee, Deborah Keyek-Franssen, and Liv Gjestvang -- shot footage from the event as well as participant interviews. This final video summary, created with the help of Instructional Technology graduate students from the University of Texas-San Antonio, was presented on the final day of the meeting.

Student Content Showcase

drupal — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:45:05 -0600

How would students answer the question, "What would your ideal education look like?" See for yourself in the student content showcase, produced in collaboration with Apple. Five Apple student representatives will informally respond to the question through short videos they have created, which they will present in the Rio Grande West Ballroom at various points in the program.

These "video poster sessions" will give you the chance to discuss with them their views on teaching and learning as well as the technical and creative processes behind their videos. This is a great opportunity to talk with students about their expectations for Learning 2.0 while learning some techniques and tips for creating your own videos.

In addition to conducting the showcase, these students will also capture and present their conference experience. Links to their videos, podcasts, blogs, etc., will be added to the ELI Web site as they become available, adding a student voice to our citizen journalism activity.

7 Things You Should Know About Flickr

ckeller — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:50:19 -0600

Flickr is a photo-sharing website where anyone can upload and tag photos, browse others' photos, and add comments and annotations. Users can create photo sets and collections to manage content and participate in topical groups to cultivate a sense of community. Although Flickr is ostensibly for photos, the site might more aptly be described as a venue for sharing experiences and building relationships. The site provides the tools, but the value derives from the contributions of the user community -- photos, comments, ratings, and organization -- and the connections that the site facilitates between individuals. In this way, Flickr embodies what has come to be known as Web 2.0 technology.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.
In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

More on Meaningful Math, Relevant Science: Engaging Adult Online Learners

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:53 -0600

Development of rigorous, relevant, problem-based interactive math and science courses for online adult learners resulted in an enhanced team development process, a portfolio of reusable learning objects, and puzzling research results from project evaluation. This session will present the project from the perspectives of development teams, an instructional technologist, and outcomes research.

Learning Studios: Engaging Millennial Students in a New Classroom Environment

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:53 -0600

Today's millennial Hispanics are part of a generational wave of young students likely to be more disengaged in traditional learning environments. Discover how a new generation of learning classrooms can increase millennial students' engagement at your college and learn about faculty's perceptions of this new environment.

A Blended Faculty Community of Inquiry: Linking Leadership, Course Redesign, and Evaluation

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:53 -0600

This session will demonstrate and discuss the importance of linking leadership, course redesign, and evaluation in order to improve the quality of the student learning experience in higher education.

Digital Story Making: Understanding the Learner's Perspective

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:52 -0600

Digital storytelling assignments involve students in firsthand multimedia authorship. But what does the story-making experience feel like from the learner's perspective? What can students tell us about the impact of these types of assignments on their learning? Student interviews about their story-making experiences provide insight into the gestalt of digital storytelling.

Technology-Empowered Collaborative and Learning

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:51 -0600

We will present learning outcomes from Science and Culture, an interdisciplinary course in a wireless laptop classroom. In-class activities involve pushing content out to individual laptops. Students process this content in groups and publish their results globally. This teaching technique, which greatly increases student engagement, will be demonstrated during this session.

Technology and the Conative Learning Domain in Undergraduate Education

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:51 -0600

Although many instructors teach to higher-order cognitive, affective, and psychomotor outcomes and to specific objectives derived from their disciplines, they ignore critical conative outcomes. Fortunately, technology has potential to foster engaged learning and authentic assessment that address the full range of cognitive, conative, affective, and psychomotor outcomes in undergraduate education.

An Inflection Point

ckeller — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:51:08 -0600

The following is an excerpt from an interview conducted by Gerry Bayne, EDUCAUSE multimedia
producer, at the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 2007 Spring Task Force Meeting. The full podcast is available at <http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/
aninterviewwithmarcs/27041>.

Marc Smith's research focuses on computer-mediated collective action: the ways group dynamics change when they take place in and through social cyberspaces. Many “groups” in cyberspace produce public goods and organize themselves in the form of a commons. Smith's goal is to visualize these social cyberspaces, mapping and measuring their structure, dynamics and life cycles.

7 Things You Should Know About Skype

ckeller — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:45:39 -0600

Skype is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application that lets users make free phone calls between Skype-equipped computers and inexpensive calls between Skype computers and landline or cell phones. Skype functions on a P2P model rather than as a centralized application, and it offers features such as voicemail, call forwarding, conference calling, and video chat. In most circumstances, Skype provides access to voice and video communication for a fraction of what other options cost. It allows more frequent contact between colleagues, collaborators, and friends and permits connections with those not likely to be in touch through conventional phone systems.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

Social Software in Higher Education: Isolated Accidents or the Start of Something Big?

drupal — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:39:00 -0600

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.

Teaching and Learning Experiences in a User-Created Virtual World

drupal — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:49:43 -0600

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.

Students as "Angel Investors": Technology-Fee Projects Drive Campus IT Innovation

drupal — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:49:43 -0600

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.

Digital Field Assignments: Course Projects for the Net Generation

drupal — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:49:43 -0600

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.

Technological Impact: Interactive Digital Centers as Digital Content Providers

drupal — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:24:34 -0600

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.

Understanding and Engaging the Net Generation

drupal — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:04:34 -0600

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.

Managing Online Discussions Through a "Participation Portfolio"

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:41 -0500

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.

Immersive Marketing for Libraries: Alternate Reality Games and Library Orientations

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:40 -0500

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.

Authentic Tasks and Assessments: The Keys to Effective E-Learning in Higher Education

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:37 -0500

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.

Clicker Pickers: Four Universities' Perspectives on Standardizing on a Classroom Response System

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:35 -0500

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.

Transforming Earth Sciences via Next-Generation Internet Linkages Between the Oceans and Classrooms, Laboratories, and Living Rooms

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:33 -0500

New technologies and infrastructure that extend bandwidth and power to the seafloor are being developed within the Ocean Observatories Initiative of the National Science Foundation. A major component of this effort involving construction of major cabled subsea networks is focusing on science and education programs that will make use of this unprecedented interactive access to study the northeast Pacific Ocean. The last frontier on Earth—the deep sea—will be accessible to a global community of scientists, educators, decision makers, and learners of all ages. New technologies will enable new approaches to studies of ocean and earth processes that, for example, regulate global climate, absorb greenhouse gases, generate earthquakes and tsunamis, support major fish stocks, harbor life in the extreme environments of sea floor volcanoes, and form vast mineral resources.

Engineering Informatics for Bio-Inspired Robots

ckeller — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:59:58 -0500

Engineering Informatics for Bio-Inspired Robots is an NSF-funded project trying to break down barriers to collaboration between engineering and computer science departments. Faculty members participating in the project are teaching the next generation of engineers and computer scientists to produce intelligent design by reaching across disciplines. The goal is to ensure that students are better prepared to tackle the multidisciplinary demands of the engineering and computing industries. As part of the project, participating institutions are leveraging cyberinfrastructure to share expertise, store research results, and advocate for multidisciplinary instruction, demonstrating the power of inter-institutional cooperation for teaching and learning.

The nanoHUB: Community and Collaboration

ckeller — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:22:54 -0500

nanoHUB is an online portal for nanotechnology researchers, instructors, and students created by Purdue University and the National Science Foundation. It uses cyberinfrastructure to provide access to scientific tools for research, demonstration, and collaboration, as well as instructional materials. Users can run experiments, review research, or download lectures. nanoHUB is a virtual toolkit as well as a community where students and faculty contribute to the science of nanotechnology.

Why Today’s Students Value Authentic Learning

ckeller — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:13:02 -0500

Authentic learning engages students in the multidisciplinary problem solving and critical thinking researchers and experts use every day. While the concept isn't new, it is receiving renewed attention as advances in technology enable access to a greater range of real and virtual environments. Authentic learning activities depend on student buy-in and enthusiasm for success. This paper explores student attitudes toward authentic learning, highlighting its benefits as well as potential concerns.

CyberBridges—An Authentic Learning Case Study

ckeller — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:53:12 -0500

CyberBridges trains graduate students how to use cyberinfrastructure (CI) -- a combination of computing systems, applications, and virtual organizations. Supported by NSF, CyberBridges hinges on the hypothesis that technical training of graduate students will not only lead to more rapid scientific discovery but will also trigger greater CI adoption in academic departments. Students are trained in networking and grid computing and then integrate what they have learned into their research to develop innovative tools or approaches. Due to the success of the initial program, CyberBridges has gone "global," involving students in China, Hong Kong, and Brazil.

Strategies to Engage Online Students and Reduce Attrition Rates

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:06:19 -0500

Attrition continues to be a major issue in higher education. Attrition rates for classes taught through distance education are 10 - 20% higher than classes taught in a face-to-face setting. Educators should engage students early and often, using different learning strategies customized to the class content and the students' pre-existing knowledge. The goal for the professor is to develop relationships with the students such that they feel comfortable in the environment. The professor should facilitate learner-learner integration and collaboration so that they will learn from one another and expand their knowledge base together. Through an integrative literature review, this article presents key concepts in online learning and a review of different methods of engaging students with the goals of enhancing the learning process and reducing attrition rates.

The Role of Play and Preparing for a Changing Student Population

drupal — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:42:58 -0500

Students are arriving on campus with a set of expectations and behaviors that differ from those of previous generations, including the faculty, who are faced with engaging them in the process of learning. Students' experience with new kinds of games and media has shaped their view of what learning is and how it occurs. This conversation will explore the changing way that young people approach playing, learning, and working and will examine how the concept of play can build bridges between traditional and emerging student populations.

Wharton's Learning Lab: A Visual Tour

mpasiewicz — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:31:40 -0500

A selection of information regarding learning simulations developed by Wharton's Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab.

Active Learning and Technology: Designing Change for Faculty, Students, and Institutions

ckeller — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:29:08 -0500

Transformational faculty-development efforts must involve systematic, goal-directed, sustained activities that are integral to the daily work of academic community members.

Prisms Around Student Learning: Information Literacy, IT Fluency, and Media Literacy

drupal — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:19:04 -0500

The family of literacies now promoted in higher education (information literacy, IT fluency, and media and visual literacies) continues to multiply. These educational agendas call for more pervasive collaboration among all stakeholders (faculty, administrators, librarians, technologists, student life staff, assessment specialists, and others) because of conceptual and programmatic linkages and convergences among them. The blending of these literacies can become a catalyst that taps into student learning and engagement at a deep level and effects cultural change within and across institutions.