Podcasts and ELI

Welcome to the premiere episode of EDUCAUSE Now!

EDUCAUSE Now is a monthly podcast, focusing on the intelligent use of information technology in higher education. Each episode features a variety of stories, interviews, and views that relate to IT in higher education. EDUCAUSE Now will also inform you about upcoming events, report on past events, and feature the movers and shakers in policy, teaching and learning, security, and a whole host of other important topics for our members. Let us know what you would like to hear at podcast@educause.edu.

This episode of EDUCAUSE Now features:

In this 37 minute podcast, we feature the opening plenary session from the ELI Fall 2007 Focus Session. The speaker is Craig Gibson, Associate University Librarian at George Mason University. His speech is entitled, "Prisms Around Student Learning: Information Literacy, IT Fluency, and Media Literacy"

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.

In this podcast of “ Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Learning Environments for Gen Z,” Gary R. Bertoline, distinguished professor of computer graphics and assistant dean at Purdue University, discusses the ways cyberinfrastructure is positioned to revolutionize learning as it has already revolutionized scientific research. He outlines how computation, visualization, storage, and high-speed networks can bring together the best of traditional pedagogy with new paradigms that reflect our times.

This podcast presents a panel discussion with four experts on immersive learning environments (ILEs), covering the operational aspects of implementing an ILE, including infrastructure, user support, and pedagogical and policy requirements. The panelists for this session, “The Bar May Not Be as High as You Expect: Considerations in Implementing an Immersive Learning Environment,” were:

In my final preconference interview before the ELI 2007 Annual Meeting, I talk with Bryan Alexander, Director of Research for the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE). Alexander is presenting the 3:00-4:00 PM featured session on Monday, January 22; his topic is "First-Generation Ubiquitous Computing: Social, Mobile, and Gamelike."

Our conversation starts with Alexander explaining what NITLE is and what it does, and how his role as research director allows him to explore emerging trends in teaching, learning, and technology. He then discusses some examples of how gaming, social software, and mobile technologies are converging to create the ubiquitous computing environment of which he speaks. Alexander also highlights the implications this developing environment holds for higher education, as well as the importance of gaining and maintaining historical perspective on these changes.

For more information about NITLE, please see http://www.nitle.org.

Continuing my preconference interview series for the 2007 ELI Annual Meeting, I spoke with Rachel Smith and Cyprien Lomas on Friday, January 12, about their upcoming featured session at the conference.

Smith is Director of Special Projects and Publications for the New Media Consortium (NMC), while Lomas serves as an ELI Scholar in Residence and Director of the Learning Centre in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. Their featured session will take place from 4:30-5:30 PM on Monday, January 22, and they will be joined in conducting the session by Larry Johnson, CEO of NMC, and Diana Obinger, EDUCAUSE Vice President and ELI Director.

In the interview, Smith provides some background on NMC while Lomas reviews the key aspects of the partnership between NMC and ELI around the development of the Horizon Report.  Smith and Lomas also explain the report's approach to highlighting emerging technologies likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, and creative expression. Finally, each of them discusses the finding from the 2007 Horizon Report they find the most compelling.

The 2007 Horizon Report will be released publicly at the 2007 ELI Annual Meeting.