Research Question One

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PROCESS: Please enter your responses to the research question in the space below.

You may list as many items as you wish (and we hope you will!), but please list each item separately -- that is, if you say wish to list widget1, process2, and idea3 as important, please list each item as a separate bullet point (asterisk), as we will be rank ordering these later. Do not list them as a single paragraph, as that will hamper the process.

Please also add your name or initials after each item so that we can follow up with you if we need additional information or leads to examples, as I have done here [Larry]

Initials

If an item on your list is already listed here, just add your comment to the end of it, with your initials.

  • CWC = Cole W. Camplese
  • AMB = A. Michael Berman
  • CPL = Cyprien P Lomas

Research Question One

What would you list among the established technologies that learning-focused institutions should all be using broadly today to support or enhance teaching, learning, or creative expression?

NOTE: Because this question is about "established" technologies, answers should be easy to support with actual examples and pointers to demonstration projects.

  • Mobile phones. Virtually every student has one. Uses could include field research, data capture, live journalism. See http://vocesmoviles.net/ [LJ] The importance for people to appropriate and re-appropriate technology in citizen media projects. See example: http://abaporu.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/sao-paulo-motoboy-ethnographers-2-re-making-politics/ and using mobiles together with GPS and digital maps to interact with urban (and mostly rural in L. America). See example: http://mobile.mit.edu/en/elens [BD] Campus safety, alerts and announcements via cell phones. Example: http://www.gcsu.edu/alert/ [BC] I believe as we move through the passages of our lives we will carry our knowledge/data (eportfolio, medical records, pics)on our bodies. Mobile phones appear to be the device of choice- short term anyway.[SM] As convergent devices, mobile phones offer an array of tools that have high potential for application in various learning and creative venues. General use for recording visual observation though still images and video are typical features on most models of phones. Tapping into a native use and behavior that is already present, taking shots and sharing them with peers, can be applied to programs ranging from biology to art history. The same can be said for text messaging. These represent readily available tools for extending the classroom environment with minimal learning curve for the students. [DD] Tapping into use is one thing but if that use has a mindset of personal tool, not learning tool, then widespread adoption may take more time. Nokia had lifeblog (annotation of photos 6 year ago and it never took)[NN]They still have it and are improving it - might still take off :)[CPL]. IMHO, the next generation for this is the phone as a web appliance, the ability to use full web content on a mobile, or to enable mobile apps to participate fully on the web, not a stripped down version of the web [AL] I'm not sure that mobile phone is the right category - I think mobile phone is becoming a special case of "pocket-sized, connected device" - that's used primary for text and video, not voice. [AMB] I agree. The traditional concept of a mobile phone is limiting. However, for the most part, smart phones, which converge a number of technologies, are be coming more the norm. Even with the current generation of these devices, we are looking at devices whose primary function is becoming less of a phone and more for personal information. Text, photos, GPS, and other functions connect individuals. The basics of the tools can still be applied within the learning environment, and as creative outlets in an "as is" state. It just requires simplifying the use and applying the existing toolsets and availability of the devices to meet the outcomes. [DD] Market segmentation can complexify this. Cf the distinction between superphone, smartphone, and mobile phone [BNA] Here's another take on it: http://www.janchipchase.com/little-swtich-big-impact [AMB] According to a recent Nielsen study (http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/national/story.html?id=a8a90c20-c2e5-491e-a51a-4560670797c0), text messaging has overtaken voice as the primary mode of use for mobile phones. I doubt this is a surprise to any of us, but it should reenforce the potential as a native mode of application within the learning environment. [DD]
  • Wireless/ubiquitous computing: Students and faculty expect to connect to the network from anywhere on campus, whether in a classroom, cafe, or garden. At the same time, some instructors have banned laptops in the classroom to minimize distractions. [LMS] We need to put instructional strategies before technological implementation. Show faculty ways to use wireless productively and creativity. Learning spaces have expanded from formal to informal, physical to virtual. The foundation is the expectation of pervasive and ubiquitous connectivity.[SM] Wireless devices the free faculty from being fixed up front, would seem to be a key leverage point here. Do institutions push these? [NN] There's a huge difference between learning spaces (small, controlled spaces) and wireless cloud (general access). [BNA]
  • iPhone Stargazers Geek Out with Starmap
    http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13549_7-9988297-30.html?tag=mncol;title
    Applications for iPhone, like this one, that can turn the device into a research tool - Starmap puts Google Sky onto the iPhone, making it a portable astronomy reference. [RSS] or travel guides ,like this one, http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=wellington&sid=restaurants_coffee&p=91184&i=91184_1 using CC photos from Flickr, Google Maps and iPhone [BD]. Applications such as "karaoke" learning materials (text, voice, highlighted) are also being delivered as a format option for those on the move Universitat Oberta de Catalunya is generating this format http://macedonia.uoc.es/wordpressmu/myway [EDL] in general apps on iPhone could emerge big [AL]. Goes back to the concept of carrying your knowledge with you. I love Shazam http://www.shazam.com/music/web/home.html that identifies songs and links you to iTunes to purchase.[SM] Right now the iPhone seems like a special case but it's part of the continuum that starts with mobile phone above but is really always on, pocket communication and information retrieval device [AMB]. Do we include Android here, or break that platform out? [BNA]
  • Video Messaging: there has been an increase of the use of video by learners, to communicate with each other, replacing text chats in some instances, and email. Video messaging is a technology that can contribute to reducing the affective gap that is brought about by text-only technologies. See http://www.viditalk.com/site/ for a closer look at these technologies [EDL]I agree that this is the next wave [SM] micro-videoblogging e.g. http://www.12seconds.com - again convergence of threads in this Research Q of video messaging, microblogging and collaborative microblogging - but the convergence of these free maybe should be in a different horizon or perhaps a trend [NN] Interesting to try to understand why video is NOT used more than it is - there seems to be some fundamental resistance to it in a lot of quarters. [AMB] Check out Seesmic, for a sort of microblogging video message service. [BNA]
  • Podcasts: (a very established technology) for distributing content (course, campus info, etc) or as a reporting tool (student-generated content as assessment) Examples: http://www.educause.edu/eli/guideto/podcasting/13061 [JKL] Though very few people use in the defined subscription model. Broader topics as "web based audio"? [AL]
  • Collaborative environments such as electronic spaces like Google Docs and wikis will form the basis of ongoing group work, while new physical spaces that promote teams working together will become the norm. So I would hope to discuss how collaboration is supported by the cloud, physical spaces, and pedagogy. While not specifically a technology, it is a philosophy that is a driver to the 2.0 space we are all spending our time in -- in other words, people could be the killer app going forward. Just a thought. [CWC] Some suggestions for specific tools to support approaches to collaborative learning - http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/CollaborationTools/47200 [JKL] "Directed" wikis, like the one that generates the Horizon Report is a very efficient Collaborative Environment. A variation of this idea is used in classrooms by Professor Hank Chesbrough (U.C. Berkeley), author of the book "Open Innovation". In some of his classes, he asks questions to the class and compiles the responses, ending up with a class-produced lecture, an Open Innovation example. I call it "classourcing" (JPJ)
  • Classroom management systems: It's certainly an open question whether classroom management systems typically support *learning,* but most universities seem to have adopted them and in so doing made the process of *managing* courses more efficient, so that students can go online to find syllabi, classroom resources, assignments, their grades, and more. IMHO, we still need to figure out how/whether to use these systems to advance learning and creativity--perhaps by building in (or, better yet, plugging in) personalized learning, or the ability to create mashups and simulations, etc. [LMS] Must move away from the unwieldy, bloated, inflexible and obsolete application (aka Bb) to LMS as Web 2.0,open source, plug and play, customizable, service model (aka components of Google)[SM]
  • Personal Publishing and Personal Repositories are critical pieces to the future path of learning, teaching, and learning design. I could simplify these to be blogs, but we are finding that the term blog is carrying baggage within our Institution that may be limiting its adoption. The idea that faculty and students can instantly publish online in a tagged/categorized fashion without the need to understand the underlying technologies provides nearly unlimited affordances. These environments not only allow for easy publishing, but also create a new personal repository space that is easily searched and moved to new infrastructure over time. [CWC] Data portability, security and privacy are important points to consider. Gardner Campbell terms these "Personal Learning Environments" .. a turn of phrase I really like. A simple BlueHost-like hosting environment provides all the tools. Gardner showed this at SUNY CIT and suggests perhaps we give out these full featured publication environments (blogs, wikis, content management system, mage, Doc and Object Repositories etc.)to incoming freshman and see what they do with them as personal learning spaces. Is there a tie-in here with assessment (extension of e-portfolios)??? [See: "This ain’t yo mama’s e-portfolio.." http://bavatuesdays.com/this-aint-yo-mamas-e-portfolio-part-1/] (MAS) Clearly there's a thread here in blogs/repositories/microblogging/collaborative environments - all ways of mashing up knowledge and learning and all exist along continua in several dimensions - it would be very interesting to try to build this map. [AMB]
  • Personal Learning Environments: Should we continue to think of CMS/LMS as the primary means of organizing the online learning experience for university students? Recent dialog is considering the shift toward more flexible Personal Learning Environments that can include a multitude of tools and applications that the individual user finds best serves their learning styles and preferences. By working outside the limitations of Rather a CMS/LMS product and vendor, more open source learning tools can foster personal and social forms of learning and expression. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/erb/ERB0813.pdf & http://www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media11561.pdf [BC] See My Comments Above in "Personal Publishing and Personal Repositories" .. Perhaps we are discussing the same technologies under different titles [MAS] a whole list of definitions, diagrams to PLEs can be found on: http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams [BD] PLE as it may occur right now for students is freeform, not organized, and more an unconscious habit of mind, I would suggest. I think this on is early days and students are likely to develop something very different from what we have in mind at present. [NN]
  • Social Networking Websites: If classroom instructors used tools such as Facebook, MySpace and Ning http://www.ning.com/, as a specific tool for networking, collaboration, bulletin boards, enhancing learning it would help to develop a community and create otherwise hidden dialogs. Aside from helping traditional instructors and students connect with learning materials, in this era of expanding virtual learning and on-line degrees, using a virtual social networking spaces will prove to be a way of making students attending a virtual class-room feel like the classroom is a community, and develop relationships with their classmates online.

http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/facebook-changing-way-faculty-and.html
http://www.edumorphology.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/fb_classroom1.pdf
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17723199360 [CL] Perhaps the key to understand - linking Social Networking, Instant Messaging, and Microblogging - is the notion of presence [AMB] Also, how can social networks be used to help educational organizations have a running back-channel communication during their conferences using tools such as CrowdVine? The social network can certainly be developed prior and continue after the event but it is a great way to capture the interest and participation of an event. http://crowdvine.com/home [BC]

  • Data Driven Learning by Business Intelligence (BI): Widespread adoption and use of various forms of analytics are revolutionizing the way we all use the web, game online and conduct business. We can target an individual with a web advertisement based on their behaviors, profile and even the content of their writing. We can precisely match two players based on the details of their gaming performance. We can drive tremendous new efficiencies with data driven business process analysis. The world is demanding accountability and proof of learning. The technology for data driven education is being used effectively today in other areas and will be applied to learning as the infrastructure and various stakeholders in education see the great value of this technology. [DW]
  • Agile Learning Environments: The dramatic growth of low cost display technology and multi-touch interactions enables agile learning environments on a large scale. The previous constraints of physical space (i.e. rows of desks, static cork boards, white boards and physical artifacts will become obsolete by the use of simple virtual spaces that can be dynamically reconfigured to present any information or dynamic content. Just as the MS Surface Computer is enabling new types of interaction these virtual learning environments will allow new engaging participation in learning. [DW] The trick is to find tools that are really agile - so many technology tools for collaboration and learning that seem to have such process are dead-ends because they over-constrain the way people really work - e.g. "Smart Boards". [AMB]
  • Electronic Books : Being able to carry all learning materials in one small and light devise will benefit learners as they can use their time more efficiently. Moreover, these devices allow for note taking, and soon, for sharing.[EDL] With Success of Kindle the EBook has reached a critical adoption point. Kindle is loved .. and here comes something better. See Logic Reader at http://www.richardbanks.com/trends/?p=9642. [MAS] Stanza for iPhone! [Al] The only long-term advantage that I can see for a special-purpose reader - vs. a pocketable, connected, general-purpose device - is "better" DRM. But that may be what it takes to get publishers to embrace this mode of distribution. [AMB] Kindle to offer Textbooks? http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080825-amazon-may-enter-college-textbook-market-with-new-kindle.html [MAS]
  • Web 3.0 (Technology Review)
    http://www.technologyreview.com/special/web3/
    New technologies are changing the infrastructure of the Web, turning fragmented data sources into searchable wholes. Computers will gain the intelligence to understand, organize, and draw conclusions from online data. (this is the wrong place for this - "established technology" Web 3.0 is not [SWL]). I would include the use of semantic web for better search results in Web 3.0 and the use of affective computing technologies such as the ones being worked at MIT's Media Lab http://affect.media.mit.edu/[EDL] See: The Rarest Words : http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/23/therarestwords-intriguing-semantic-seo-project-from-russia/ and Suggestan: http://suggestan.com/[BD] Jeez, do we really need to call it Web 3.0? [AMB] There are at least three distinct strands under the header "Web 3.0", and none are established. I also like that Gartner analyst's jibe: call it web 2.1. [BNA]
  • Student Response Systems: These systems allow faculty to ask questions and electronically capture responses in large enrollment courses. The systems typically perform analysis on the fly so instant feedback can be generated. Report from PSU is available at http://tlt.its.psu.edu/about/reports/2007/StudentResponseSystemReport2007.pdf/at_download/file ... another form are live question tools that allow students to ask and rate questions live during class from a web interface. Berkman Center at Harvard has developed an open source tool. It can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/questions/chooser.php [CWC] Surely to serve student interests we have to incorporate this functionality into existing devices instead of the clumsy proprietary systems that are out there so far. [AMB] Definitely a winner in education these days, clearly established. [BNA]
  • Collaborative Documents- free wikis (WIkiSpaces, PBWiki, WetPaint) has approached maintream, but tools like Google Docs for group authoring may mark the end of the dreaded emaila ttachments [AL] Email attachments will disappear about the same time as the QWERTY keyboard - this methodology is deeply embedded in so many minds. [AMB] Lose the word "wiki", end markup, and you have the next gen. [BNA]
  • Embedded Media - YouTube was the first, but now many media storage/content creation sites offer the feature to embed same content into any web page; is this the ene around realization of "learning objects?" Embed Google, docs, spreadsheets, calendars, and the 50+ stort tools http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+ways [AL] Slideshare, Scribd. [BNA]
  • Desktop Video As visual assignments continue to find acceptance in a broad range of disciplines institutions are facing a growing demand for support services for student-produced video content.[BS] Student-produced video content is emerging into an art form in and of itself. YouTube has served as a catalyst for expression across the board on topics both superfluous and profound. While some schools are attempting to provide sanctioned areas for content, most students post independently. The nature of video is powerful as a tool of communication and instrument for social change. This aspect of the medium connects with students. An example of this is the Invisible Children film (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/about/). It illustrates the production aspect of student film making, as well as the influence of the end product. Person experiences with developing a short film competition have shown me first hand that video is not something for a select group of students. It has the ability to draw participation from different disciplines in group efforts, and as a general tool for communications, can be handled by virtually any student given the nature of the available technologies. [DD] Why upload when you can stream it live? Livecast: (http://www.comvu.com) [AMB].
  • High Definition Image Display' Institutional adoption of a maturing technology - the changeover from standard image projection to high def and multi-image projection. This has been around for a while, but expense and DRM at the cabling level are hampering adoption [LAS]
  • Learning AssessmentIt's here and we are going to blindsided by it! Read your institution's national accreditation documents Download .pdf documents "Two lenses on two reviews mar 03 .pdf and Standards at a glance sep 06 .pdf from the WASC site at http://www.wascsenior.org [SM] Sigh... unfortunately this figures to be more about compliance than learning. [AMB]
  • Online Learning - The concept of the online course is certainly nothing new. Great strides have been made to evolve from a point of regurgitating face-to-face course content, to engineering courses designed specifically to work within an online environment. The understanding must remain that the online course does not replace the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning paradigm, but represents a different and unique model that is applicable and appropriate to "some" courses and programs, but not all. Content created for these environments, from HTML documents through immersive experiences in Second Life, maximize the learning opportunities for both the traditional and non-traditional student. [DD] I would challenge the notion that other than a few niches online learning is not applicable and appropriate to nearly any course and program. The Academy of Art College in San Francisco offers all its programs via online learning, and their outcomes are equivalent to classroom learning. That is not to say that the student experience is the same - but they can document learning is taking place even in courses that you might think would be very difficult to teach online, from calligraphy to life drawing to animation to sculpture. I believe that in the not-to-distant future face-to-face higher education will be viewed as a luxury good for those in certain countries who are able to afford it, while online education will be the world-standard. [AMB]
  • Citizen Anything - This is an offshoot of blogs & personal publishing but Citizen Journalism encourages citizens to take ownership and responsibility for the news. Citizen Scientists take responsibility for generating, interpreting and reporting scientific data. The process encourages observation, critique, general literacy with disciplinary values as well as contribution.[CPL]
  • Analytics + Data Visualisation - Greater awareness with visually representing data from different sources. We currently see a small number of compelling examples amidst greater numbers of non compelling examples :). We will all get better at interpreting and representing data visually[CPL]
  • Interactive Class Wikis Syllabi should be interactive, with each student contributing something that either changes the direction of the course or expands upon the proposed perspective. [IBM]
  • Collaborative authoring environments Individual work is important, but we should also teach the collaborative behavior that enterprises are moving toward. We need histories of student contributions to group efforts. For example: who contributed what? How did a particular interpretation or argument come to exist? What ideas or hypotheses were found to be unworthy of pursuit or further consideration? [IBM]

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