Need to publish something on the web quickly? Got e-mail? Then, check out Posterous! It is “the dead simple place to post everything.”

Link: http://posterous.com

Ustream is an interactive web streaming platform that lets users broadcast their own channels on the Ustream network or on a third-party website such as MySpace or Facebook. Ustream offers a platform for users to host events, promote their own shows, or set up interactive conversations with participants across the globe. Ustream’s broadcasting model offers an attractive new way for Internet broadcasters to connect with audiences, allowing dialogue between users and opportunities to build connections across the globe. Ustream gives faculty free, easy-to-use options for streaming video to geographically disparate audiences, and the service also introduces new frontiers for authentic assessment in the classroom.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/163294

In a two part series, Campus Technology looks into using chat as an instructional tool in education:

Using Chat To Move the Thinking Process Forward
Ruth Reynard

In the first installment, chat is discussed in general terms and its abilities for the use of mixed media and synchronous interaction are emphasized.

Link: http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/68502/

Designing a Working Space for Chat

The second installment looks at some of the major concepts in using chat effectively in the process of moving the thinking process forward, like building ideas, constructing media, and establishing which elements are critical to making the environment dynamic and relevant to the student.

Link: http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/68632/

Interaction and engagement are often limited by class size and human dynamics (a few students may dominate the conversation while most avoid interaction). Interaction and engagement, both important learning principles, can be facilitated with clickers. Clickers can also facilitate discipline-specific discussions, small work-group cooperation, and student-student interactions. Clickers—plus well-designed questions—provide an easy-to-implement mechanism for enhancing interaction. Clicker technology enables more effective, more efficient, and more engaging education.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/156805

Twitter is an online application that is part blog, part social networking site, and part cell phone/IM tool. It is designed to let users describe what they are doing or thinking at a given moment in 140 characters or less. As a tool for students and faculty to compare thoughts on a topic, Twitter could be used academically to foster interaction and support metacognition.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/161801

You can also check out John Unger’s blog post, titled “Twitter Tools, Tweaks and Theories,” for more information on complimentary applications, websites, and usage of Twitter.

Link: http://www.typepadhacks.org/2008/03/twitter-tools-t.html

Short and Sweet: Technology Shrinks the Lecture
Jeffrey Young

An article from The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses how to optimize the effectiveness of online (and in-class) lectures by fragmenting them into smaller sections.

Link: http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i41/41a00901.htm

Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy
George Lorenzo and Charles Dziuban

Net Gen students may know the Internet, but they are not necessarily “net savvy.” Exposed to huge quantities and multiple formats of information online, they are constantly challenged to sort valid from inaccurate information. Moreover, students are creating information, not just consuming it. This paper explores the challenges students face online in effectively finding information, using technology, and thinking critically.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/library/ELI3006

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.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/162373

7 Things You Should Know About Facebook

Information literacy—the ability to negotiate the opportunities and risks of the Internet age—is increasingly important. Facebook, a leading social networking site, highlights the information literacy challenges college students face. The site allows individuals to create profiles that include almost anything they want to post and dynamically links their information to others with similar information. While Facebook allows for easy, spontaneous networking, students may not recognize the potential consequences of submitting personal information to a public forum.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/156820

7 Things You Should Know About Facebook II

Since ELI’s first brief on Facebook, the social networking site originally developed for college and university students has become available to anyone. It now offers new ways of organizing social networks as well as extensive new features and access to other Web applications. Users can now manage online identities and engage other users much more easily. They also enjoy privacy policies that give them unprecedented control over how their personal information is handled on the site.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/156828