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The Bureau of Educational Technology is committed to providing educators, administrators, policy makers, and taxpayers with research and data regarding technology in Pennsylvania.  As such, several major studies and surveys have been conducted over the last 5 years.  The data collected through these studies is designed to assist individuals learn about how technology is used for teaching and learning; and how the various Bureau of Educational Technology grant programs have impacted intended beneficiaries

he way Brainify tries to set itself apart, however, is in its exclusivity, Mr. Goldberg said. Unlike general-interest sites like Delicious, Diigo.com, and Ma.gnolia.com, Brainify restricts membership to those with college e-mail addresses. And rather than link to fried-chicken recipes or the latest YouTube hit, users are likelier to bookmark animated illustrations of particle physics or explications of John Donne’s poetry.

“To artificially limit the size of the community, it artificially limits the use of the product,” said Mr. Scheinfeldt, who is also a history professor at George Mason.

Limiting access to those with college e-mail accounts could create a “walled garden,” excluding those not traditionally considered to be part of academe, said Melanie McBride, a new-media consultant who teaches part time at Centennial College, in Toronto.

There is a temptation with using a tool like the wiki for teachers to simply introduce the tool and ask the students to use it, and then watch to see what happens. That usually occurs because teachers themselves are unfamiliar with the actual potential of the tool to the process of teaching and learning. While knowledge around this is still growing, we do know from teaching in general that students respond poorly to badly designed assignments with no real purpose articulated as to their connection with the learning outcomes or direct benefit to the student's overall learning experience.