Mobile Devices..

Several sessions of the segment were devoted to the use of mobile devices as resources for learning. Without a second thought, this was my favorite part of the conference. In general, participants agreed that mobile devices should be seen as an integral resource for learning. Faculty has a role to sensitize the younger generation to the need of new technologies and, perhaps, use it as a potential hook for the digitally literate to attract the less endowed to engage in the educational process.
All was not fluid when it got to discussions on the use of social networking resources outside of the universities' course management systems. Can professors require students to sign up for facebook accounts, for example, to do some term project? Is it fair to a student who, understandably, has some privacy concerns? Is a penalty for this student justified simply because the professor stated the requirement in the syllabus. Will the student have to drop the class if no compromise is reached. The discussion got very heated with each side sticking its side. Obviously this is something for us to ponder over as we design courses in the future.

Japanese F- LECCS

F-LECCS ... say it after me ... slowly ... Fukui LEarning Community Consortium, consists of 7 Japanese universities, cooperating with one another to build what they call a "virtual university environment" on a computer network, using open source software such as Social Networking Software (SNS), Learning Management System (LMS) and e-Portfolio. This open platform allows all users to access resources across the universties - intercollegiate learning communities. In these days of budget cuts I wonder why universities in the L- & UPs cannot do the same. The results are amazing. They have 6,000 registrants in 303 SNS communities, 114,000 articles (about 175/day). The LMS has 177 courses. Obvious advantages - limited learning resourses in each university are leveraged through sharing. Note that this is not a merger but rather a moderate coalition. None of the universities loses identity, discretion or freedom.

Ten Years of streaming audio and video

Nothing new here. It oulines the experience in the production of audio and video learning contents - technical problems, budget constraints, slow adoption by instructors and other glitches in Georgia Perimemet College. Well, we have those everywhere, and Max Graves has told me a lot from my CTIP workshop. I am headed to this Japanese presentation - F- LECCS - to see what's happening on the international scene.

ELI Day two

Gee! this is a very crowded day - nearly sixty four presentations. Many of the day's presentations are focused on Open Educational Resource and Learning Analytics. Looks like these are major tranformation times for all levels of education. New technologies are emerging to enhance (or disrupt) old systems. Technologies have advanced beyond online deliveries to interractive learning experiences. This early morning general session is on Shapiung the Future of Education. The Hall is full and many are standing. Not surprising. Prof. David Wiley is known to many as an educational revolutionary who preaches about a world in which students listen to lectures online or on all types of mobile devices - all for free. Science laboratories are virtual and digital textbooks are free. He introduced the concept of 4-Rs - reusing, revising, remixing and redistribution of educational materials. Virtual institutions like Western Gorvernors University are already pushing this with "success". Well, success - at least for now - is measured only by the interest shown by it's "students". Wiley believes OER, when combined with Learning Analytics can create new oportunities for continuous quality improvement in education.

Question time lead to the discussion on the the next level embarked on by University of People. Ooops, I am hearing this for the first time. Tuition-free online university? Students learn from peers online or wherever they can get the material from. Yes, the university has course a catalogue no classes are required. Students, when they feel they are ready, take examinations based the required course materials. Uof People, when licensed, can grant degrees to graduation students. I hope my future doctor does not see this.

EDUCAUSE Social Media

After a full day of information overload starting with a 7:30 breakfast (I am never up by 7:30 am), I nearly gave up this session on the use of social media - Facebook, Twitter, and all the lesser known ones - for teaching. Participants are almost divided about this particularly when it requires a student to open a say, Facebook account. The argument is so heated it is almost getting out of control. I am enjoying this. Privacy concerns, university policies, bla, bla, bla. Thank God this is the last session of the day. The topic has completely moved away from the Educause media itself.

"Crowdsourcing" a Textbook

Imagine a world without books ... well, that is not far away. The Huffington Post reports Borders, the one time superstore of textbooks will be filing for bankruptcy as soon as this week. It's stock closed today at $0.23 per share. How about a world without a textbook. Okay not really, let's say without paper textbooks? Professors at North Carolina State University are experimenting the concept of student-authored wiki textbooks. The professor posts the topic and the students contribute through managed wikis, blogs, et all the ceteras. So far, thay have one "textbook" with 40 sections writtn by more than 120 students.

Educause Annual Meeting, Washington DC, 2011

It's been a very busy day. We started this morning with open educational resources (OER) a concept in which educational resources may be freely shared, revised and/or redistributed -wikipedia style - to create an environment for students and faculty to edit resources. Believed to increase iterative improvements in learning outcomes for student. Penn State University has a project on this.