Blogs and wikis in the classroom
Elaine Plybon, Dallas Educational Technology Examiner

Over the last few years, more and more educators have begun using blogs and wikis in the classroom. This article will discuss what blogs and wikis are, some of their uses in the classroom, and provide resources for teachers who are hoping to begin using blogs and/or wikis this year.

Blogs
Blogs, short for “web logs” have become popular through all social circles. Blogs give an author or authors an opportunity to share information with large groups of people via the web in a very easy-to-use format. Readers of articles are able to post comments to them, which makes each blog a dynamic work-in-progress. Often used as a distribution point for information, news, and updates, many companies, newspapers, and individuals have experienced benefits from starting a blog.

In the classroom, blogs can be used as a place for students to talk about what they have learned, discuss perspectives on a news item, or provide information to individuals who have an interest in the class. There are multiple sources for free blogs. Visit the “For more information” section of this article to find a few.

Wikis
Wikis are another dynamic tool for use in the classroom. Wiki means “quickly” in Hawaiian. Whether that is how they were named or if it is an acronym for “What I Know Is”, using wikis is a way to create webpages without having any knowledge of the software programming languages required to write web pages. Wikis can be edited by several people, making them a useful tool for collaborative projects. Wikis also give students an opportunity to reveal what they have learned, begin conversations about topics they are researching, and display projects or other products from the classroom. Wikis are very easy to edit. Usually it only takes clicking an “Edit” button and a user will be given the opportunity to add their own content in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) format. One example of a very popular wiki is Wikipedia.

True for both blogs and wikis:
Adding graphics and files for download are fairly easy. Teachers can use either format as a source of information for parents, including homework assignments, classroom calendars, and contact information. It is also very important when using blogs or wikis that students be reminded about following copyright laws at all times. The temptation to use images and other information they find on the internet can be difficult to overcome in a copy-and-paste society.

There are some classrooms that use both blogs and wikis. However, in my opinion a teacher should determine which one is right for his/her own classroom use. In my science classroom, for example, we will use a wiki this year to showcase what we’ve learned, create a word wall, and work on group projects. Other classrooms might lend themselves more towards a blog – as a place for students to comment on each other’s ideas and information.

It is important, as with any technology in the classroom, to make sure that what is used is relevant and the right tool for each classroom. Deciding to teach students how to use every technology tool just because it is a cool tool and has a use in some classrooms is not good practice. A teacher must thoughtfully consider what each classroom needs and give students the information they need to be able to use the tool efficiently and effectively.

Read the full article at the link below…

Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-12200-Dallas-Educational-T…

Digital Storytelling: A Meaningful Technology-Integrated Approach for Engaged Student Learning
Alaa Sadik

Although research emphasizes the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum, the use of technology can only be effective if teachers themselves possess the expertise to use technology in a meaningful way in the classroom. The aim of this study was to assist Egyptian teachers in developing teaching and learning through the application of a particular digital technology. Students were encouraged to work through the process of producing their own digital stories using MS Photo Story, while being introduced to desktop production and editing tools. They also presented, published and shared their own stories with other students in the class. Quantitative and qualitative instruments, including digital story evaluation rubric, integration of technology observation instruments and interviews for evaluating the effectiveness of digital storytelling into learning were implemented to examine the extent to which students were engaged in authentic learning tasks using digital storytelling. The findings from the analysis of students-produced stories revealed that overall, students did well in their projects and their stories met many of the pedagogical and technical attributes of digital stories. The findings from classroom observations and interviews revealed that despite problems observed and reported by teachers, they believed that the digital storytelling projects could increase students’ understanding of curricular content and they were willing to transform their pedagogy and curriculum to include digital storytelling.

Link: http://uwashington.worldcat.org/oclc/424916307

Master Planners: Faculty Development
David Starrett and Michael Rodgers

The advent of the World Wide Web stimulated unprecedented technology spending by universities worldwide. Unfortunately, poorly-coordinated combinations of grants, gifts, and politically-motivated government funding led to fragmented technology implementation. Costly hardware and software installations may have provided good feelings and marketing hooks to attract students to “cutting-edge” learning environments, but beneath the high-tech glitter were some ugly realities: the technology was poorly integrated into existing teaching and learning practices, there was little coordination with institutional goals and values, and faculty generally lacked the skills to use the technology effectively.

The fragmentation led to intramural installations of incompatible systems, or multiple systems that required inefficient retraining of students using the systems in different departments on campus. Strategically, fragmented implementations prevented institution-wide realization of Web-based technology’s promise to enhance access to university education, especially at the undergraduate level. To many, technology was a solution looking for a problem.

With expensive but rapidly aging technology in place, some institutions saw the incongruity between lavish technological resources and minimal faculty skills as the chief obstacle to realizing improvements to teaching and learning through technology. Numerous development models were implemented to close the faculty skills gap and ultimately to validate the investment in technology for teaching and learning.

Indicators, such as the number of online courses and programs now being offered, show that the faculty did benefit from the efforts. However, some faculty continue to look askance at technology, citing the lack of agreement on how technology use should count in tenure and promotion decisions, unresolved intellectual property issues, the still-steep learning curve for teaching with technology, and a general lack of faith that online instruction is “as good as” face-to-face instruction. Perhaps the most powerful driver of efforts to assess technology’s impact on teaching and learning is the need to respond to these concerns.

Read the full article at the Campus Technology link below…

Link: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2003/10/Master-Planners-Faculty-Development.aspx

Getting the Grants: Boost Your Chances!
John Moore

Grants help fill the funding gap at a time when dollars from government coffers—and even some private sources—have dwindled. In the information technology arena, a number of tech companies offer grants that can help advance university research and instructional programs. That’s the good news. Now for the bad news: Competition abounds and only a handful of grant seekers obtain funding.

Read the full article at the Campus Technology link below to learn how you can increase your chances of acquiring a grent…

Link: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2006/03/Getting-th…

We pulled out a table from an article in the  Campus Technology magazine that showed some statistics relating to distance education. The top 3 stats are particularly interesting.

High on Distance Learning, Low on One-to-One

Source: CDW-G 21st Century Campus Study

Link: http://www.campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/03/01/Technology-and-the-Community-College.aspx

2008 Surveys on Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Final Report
Catalyst / University of Washington

RESOURCES

2008 Surveys on Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Final Report
2008 Survey on Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Faculty
2008 Survey on Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Teaching Assistants
2008 Survey on Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Students
2008 Survey Data Summary: Faculty
2008 Survey Data Summary: Teaching Assistants
2008 Survey Data Summary: Students

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In order for the University of Washington (UW) to provide essential technology resources and services that meet the changing needs of the UW community, it is vital to gather reliable information about evolving trends. To this end Learning & Scholarly Technologies partnered with other UW Technology units, UW Libraries, UW Teaching Academy, the Office of Information Management, the Faculty Council on Educational Technology, the School of Medicine, and the Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) to survey faculty, teaching assistants (TAs), and students in spring 2008 about their technology use and needs. This is our third triennial survey on this topic.

The data we share in this report reveal the complexities of technology and support needs at the UW, going beyond the personal anecdotes which can often dominate technology discussions. This report will be valuable to anyone who wishes to increase their understanding of technology use and users’ needs. We summarize key findings below.

• Uniformity of Current Technology Use – We specifically designed the survey to help us capture differences in technology use. We found that technology use was much more uniform than we had anticipated: a few technologies were widely used across contexts and goals, while others were seldom used.
• The Need for Infrastructure Improvements – The highest priorities for faculty, TAs, and students involved infrastructure. Improvements to classroom equipment and wireless access were at the top of the list for all populations. Students also prioritized enhancements to campus computer labs.
• Point-of-Need Support – Faculty, TAs, and students all relied on sources of support that were available at the point of need. They first looked to knowledgeable peers for support then to online resources. These sources of support were among the most consistently used by all respondents and the sources rated as the most helpful.
• Integrated and Flexible Online Technology – Faculty and TAs desired greater integration of online tools and aggregation of information about available tools and resources. Technologies supported centrally at the UW need to integrate easily with each other, as well as with other online tools or department-created solutions—since there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to meeting faculty, TAs, and students’ technology needs.
• Unique Needs of Faculty, TAs, and Students – There were specific areas where faculty, TAs, and students had unique needs and support challenges. The main challenge going forward in supporting faculty in their use of learning and scholarly technologies is how to help them better understand their options and opportunities with the technologies available to them. For TAs, it is important to support them while they are at the UW, while simultaneously helping them develop technological knowledge that can transfer to other settings. The main challenge in student support involves understanding how they are using technologies, particularly emerging ones, to support their learning.

The data we share in the final report both confirm and challenge conventional beliefs about technology use. Our discussion reveals the complexities of technology and support needs at the UW, going beyond the personal anecdotes which can often dominate technology discussions. We briefly outline the history of the surveys, describe our methods, share key findings, and discuss the implications of this data for the UW. We not only compare faculty, TA, and students’ responses across all three surveys, but also explore differences in technology use based on discipline, technological expertise, demographics, and experience. In our conclusion, we identify unmet needs, highlight trends in the data that go against conventional wisdom, and point out needs for centralized or departmental services. This report will be valuable to anyone who wishes to increase their understanding of technology use and users’ needs.

Link: http://catalyst.washington.edu/research_development/research_projects/LSTsurvey.html

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2009 are:

1. Mobiles (i.e., mobile devices)
2. Cloud computing
3. Geo-everything (i.e., geo-tagging)
4. The personal web
5. Semantic-aware applications
6. Smart objects

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/163616

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2008 are:

1. Grassroots Video
2. Collaboration Webs
3. Mobile Broadband
4. Data Mashups
5. Collective Intelligence
6. Social Operating Systems

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/162471

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2007 are:

1. User-Created Content
2. Social Networking
3. Mobile Phones
4. Virtual Worlds
5. New Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication
6. Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming&lt

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/154465

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2006 are:

1. Social computing
2. Personal broadcasting
3. Cell-phone-accessible educational content and services
4. Educational gaming
5. Augmented reality and enhanced visualization
6. Context-aware environments and devices

Link: http://www.educause.edu/node/154127