Endicott College EDL762

This blog focuses on the current lessons learned through the trends and emphasis on using video games, sometimes known as the "edutainment" movement in higher education. The author is a technology blogger for The Chronicle of Higher Education and describes how faculty can use technology to incorporate many of these lessons. One example includes: games can be used to teach problem-solving and collaborative learning. Another point of advice is similar to how video games keep track of scores; giving frequent and detailed feedback to students is important. The author cautions faculty to test online courses before going live and incorporate user design. Other suggestions include using stories and interactive games as a way to engage students, but also warns that not every course subject works as a game, and that deep learning with assessment should always be considered in implementation. This is a helpful snapshot of how to incorporate aspects of video-games for faculty who may be less familiar with edutainment strategies.

This article reviews current research to explore how pedagogy has or has not changed. The author points out that most studies fail to contribute to knowledge about learning or teaching through technology specifically. This researcher believes that if professional development for faculty includes technological, pedagogical and content knowledge, (referred to as TPACK) grounded in a constructivist paradigm, it will lead to academic growth in those areas. The author argues that educators need to be mindful of various student learning needs and offer a range of learning opportunities to allow them to succeed. The author is a faculty member at Swinburne University of Australia, and states that academic lecturers who themselves were not students in a technologically rich learning environment, or who did not learn online, will continue to struggle in the 21st century where mobile learning, blended learning and online learning will become more prevalent. This article would be helpful for faculty development administrators who are looking for effective ways to incorporate technology conversation into topics related to effective pedagogy.

This focus paper describes in detail the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that was launched at Graz University of Technology in 2010. The context of Web 2.0 and how current learners are using technology is explained. The author demonstrates how browser-based widgets were used to change the appearance of multiple personal desktops, creating a "ubiquitous" personal learning environment (UPLE) that can be used in the future, similar to the appearance of apps on a smartphone device. This article describes how spaces help learners to organize their learning resources via widgets, making connections to how they operate in their natural learning environments outside of the academic realm. Based on the article, using technologies which mimic those that students already use seems important for faculty and administrators to consider when deciding how to best approach implementing personal learning environments. The author is a Doctoral student in the Social Learning, Information Technology Services at Graz University of Technology in Austria.

This article summarizes the requirements for an authentic version of a personalized learning environment, making the case that no existing system currently meets the multidimensional needs of learners. As a solution, the author proposes a new model that will meet this need, defining culture, attitude, personality, and behavior as necessary dimensions to consider in a learner-based model. The new model suggests a method to select, discover, and adapt the content considering all of the factors assessed by a "learner's profile", which looks at the relationships between these factors. This new model would be important to consider in implementing new Learning Management Systems into curriculum and working with faculty as they are using new technologies with their students. The author is a Computer Science faculty member at the University of Applied Sciences in Worms, Germany.

This article explores virtual learning communities as an effective teaching method. Several stages, processes, and structures are explained in detail for the reader to understand how to gauge the learner's academic progress if they are implementing a virtual learning community within an academic course. The characteristics that define these academic communities are reviewed, setting them apart from other teaching strategies. Potential research designs and questions are also suggested as ways to further understand how the learning dynamic involved in this type of pedagogy occurs and how faculty can help to facilitate it. This article is useful as a tool for both faculty and administrators looking for ways to strategically incorporate technology through course design as a part of large-scale efforts to engage learners. The author is a faculty member from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, in Mexico and writes from a practitioner-based lens.

This article explains the need for e-portfolios, how they can be used as a tool, and several examples from colleges who have successfully implemented them with students. The author makes connections to the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) survey, suggesting that e-portfolios may be associated with high-impact practices to improve engagement and retention. This new way of documenting evidence of learning and learning outcomes considers students as able to exercise their voice in presenting and representing their learning, with a focus on reflective learning. The author argues that since pedagogy and curriculums are changing, the way we assess students should also change to reflect this shift. This article would be most helpful for faculty and faculty development centers looking for concrete ways to implement and maximize the use of e-portfolios. The author is Vice President for Quality and Assessment at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC & U) and writes from an assessment perspective.

The authors of this study are two faculty members from New Zealand who sought to improve the standard of writing for their students in their first-year courses for undecided students. They describe at length how they used similar ways to improve the students' literacy skills. The faculty focused specifically on discipline-specific writing skills by engaging the students in their digital literacy skills through course assignments and group projects. This research would be helpful to use as a guideline for faculty teaching in undergraduate disciplines who are interested in learning how best engage students by tapping into their technology skills and familiarity with using online resources. The authors point to a need for supporting the unique journey students experience through their online social interactions as well as designing the online course assignments based on an initial assessment of student learning profiles.

This article offers a theoretical perspective from authors at the University of Queensland in Australia to explain the complex nature of why faculty in higher education struggle with incorporating new technology and innovative teaching strategies into their existing coursework. First, the authors review current literature about emerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) capabilities. They also introduce Latane's (1981) Dynamic Social Impact Theory, which they have updated to introduce the special case of Dynamic Impact of Social Connectivity (DISC) theory and how it applies to this phenomenon of higher education academics engaging with ICTs. The authors conclude that higher education curricula must change sufficiently and sustainably to embrace emerging ICT capabilities, in order to maximize faculty connectivity and collaboration. This article would be helpful for administrators who assist faculty in further developing their teaching and familiarity with technology in their courses.

This article describes the growth and implications of e-learning programs for adults. It covers the historical context and economic background needed in order to understand the sudden expansion in distance learning programs, focusing on access and convenience as the main incentives for students enrolling at rapid rates since 2007. Statistics and charts in the article help to demonstrate how this growth occurred. Characteristics of quality adult learner programs and determinants of success are also reviewed. Barriers to access and participation, such as time and space, financial aid support, and institutional policies and services are explained in detail for the reader. This article is helpful for faculty to understand how to place emerging technologies within the context of the adult learner population. The author is a professor of adult and community college at North Carolina State University and her research seems focused on the engagement and participation patterns of adult learners.

The New Media Consortium is an international research project developed by practitioners and educational technology visionaries, established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large influence over the next five years, both in education and globally. It is important to note that a previous Horizon Report (2009) has been frequently mentioned in other articles and websites related to current educational technology trends. In the 2012 report, the one year or less prediction focuses on mobile apps and tablet computing being the most prevalent, with increased utilization by college students. The two to three year forecast includes game-based learning and learning analytics, explaining that the ability to tailor educational activities as content becomes easier to manipulate with the benefit of education becoming more open to change. In four to five years, the authors emphasize gesture-based computing and the "internet of things" or objects producing their own information will both have a significant impact on education. The group expects that educational trends influenced by these technologies will be collaborative learning, working in teams, and a shift towards more challenge-based and active learning. This article provides a helpful summary reflecting the expected realities in higher education and in the larger society, acting as a guide for educators to follow technology trends, challenges, and relevance for teaching and learning.

This article covers the challenges faced by institutions who offer online courses and seek accreditation. The authors from American Public University System in West Virginia share a successful example of how their fully online institution addressed this issue by implementing an open source warehouse and semantic engine to analyze content and materials, while aligning learning activities to goals and objectives across all of the courses in their School of Business. The results shared by the authors indicate a detailed and accurate way of mapping the knowledge base to formed goals and objectives. The article demonstrates that using this technique allows for connections between goals and objectives and course content. For online colleges, this technique provides administrators the ability to quickly assess materials and effectively plan in advance for staffing and development needs. This article would be beneficial for administrators of online programs and faculty to assess learning outcomes as an automated process which might allow for more transparency within an institution.

This research study was carried out by Julia Matuga of Bowling Green University in Ohio, to discover the relationship between self-regulation, goal orientation, and academic achievement of high school students enrolled in online college courses? Many United States secondary schools require their students to take at least one university online course before graduation and to capitalize on funding opportunities, many universities offer high school students access to their online courses. For this study, 43 high achieving high school students applied and were selected to take one online science course at Bowling Green University. The students were examined to record any changes in motivation, goal orientation and self-regulation while they took the online courses. Data collection methods used for the study were pre and post-tests, students application essays, focus group meetings, self-evaluations at the end of the courses and a Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) given at the beginning and the end of the program. 42 students completed the program and all but two of them passed the online course. From the results, they were classified into high achieving, average, and low achieving students. The results revealed that low achieving students recorded the highest self-regulatory scores while the scores for high and average-achieving students fell. The high achieving students had the highest motivation subscale mean scores before and after taking the online courses. The study concluded that while the question of how online learning environment impacts motivation, self-regulation and student achievement is still being investigated, the study is still recommended as a model for higher education online programs seeking to attract high school students. As online programs gain popularity, student learning will need to be supported and this study might offer a foundation for future research.

This is a research project undertaken by Crispin Dale and John Pymm from the University of Wolvehampton in the United Kingdom, to explore the use of the iPod as a technological learning tool. The iPod is defined as a portable media player designed by Apple Company originally as an audio player, but subsequently updated to include video, social media, games and many other applications. The authors mention that the iPod was categorized by Berry (2006 cited in Dale & Pymm, 2009) as disruptive technology that challenged conventional education practices. The podagogy project was conducted in the University of Wolvehampton performing arts courses. The term 'podagogy' is defined as a portmanteau term used to define the iPod's dual usefulness as a podcast and technological tool. Using three different projects requiring students' use of the iPod to retrieve information and create knowledge, students were expected to deliver outcomes showing a range of skills that included creative and performance skills, interpretive skills, research and assimilation skills and synthesis of complex theories and information. Five themes that emerged from the project were * Flexible learning. Students had the freedom of time and space to reflect on their own work away from the classroom and the teacher. * Creative learning. Students were empowered to think more creatively about their work. * Sensory learning. Students learned through sound and kinesthetically. * Personalized learning. Students felt a sense of satisfaction at being able to upload their own personal works. * Collaborative learning. Students worked with others on dance, drama and podcasts for the iPod. The aim of this article is to demonstrate to educators, the use of the iPod as an effective technological tool that can enhance student learning and participation because the students of the present era are greatly influenced by technological shifts and trends.

In this interview conducted by Maya Baratz of ABC News, John Katzman and Jeremy Johnson, both founders of 2TOR, share their vision for their company and what they believe online education will look like in the future. 2TOR was created to transform schools by helping them build online quality programs on a grand scale. 2TOR uses a learning management system that looks more like Facebook than it does blackboard because the founders wanted to incorporate into academia, the best practices of social media such as interactive discussions, and the development of a network of peers, thereby re-creating a campus learning program online. Katzman cautions that schools that cannot guarantee an online program of the same quality as their campus- based ones should refrain from doing so. He does clarify however, that while undergraduate campus experience cannot be re-created online, and online programs are presently best suited to graduate studies, the escalating cost of education means that several years from now, technology will offer a cheaper alternative. Students do not have to take all their courses online. They can take semesters, similar to the way study abroad programs are conducted. Their version of the classroom of the future is a self-paced combination of web based work and classroom discussions. Teachers therefore need to be equipped to utilize technology to achieve more learning by incorporating the attributes of social media. Katzman and Johnson believe that nothing online is small and good for very long. Institutions need to build scale as well as quality to remain competitive. The intended audiences of 2TOR's message are all higher education institutions that wish to remain competitive in the future.

This article explores the gap between expectations of faculty and students by focusing on defining the online "student". The author looks at practitioner interviews to identify "ways of talking" about students and Annemarie Mol's (2002; 1999) concept of enactment to understand who students are and how they behave in the interactive spaces of online learning. The author's argument is that understanding the category of "student" in multiple ways offers faculty a way to approach the "potentially disorienting spaces" (Bayne and Ross, 2007) of online teaching practices. Online learning presents a different environment of interaction and engagement for teaching and this article states that in order to be effective, teaching online students requires new strategies for engagement. Some of the strategies outline developing a community of learners, treating students as customers, and considering students in the context of their digital generation. This article is helpful for those who are teaching an online course or considering how to design an online offering. The author is a curriculum and academic developer for LaTrobe University in Australia.

This article explains how one institution, Abilene Christian University (ACU) has focused on mobile phones and how they are successfully changing the classroom and data collection efforts. This is one example of how the traditional teaching and learning model is becoming more collaborative and interactive, now that instructors and students have equal and flexible access to information. ACU does regular self-reporting surveys of students and teachers to assess their opinions and evaluations. Based on the data collected since using devices in their courses, students are participating more during class and communication between faculty and students has increased. This article also describes how this institution has incorporated "mobile learning fellows", faculty who are given time to work on and evaluate a mobile learning project of their choice. The author is the Senior Editor of Network World magazine and this information would be helpful for faculty and administrators in information technology or instructional technology, in order to successfully implement curriculum onto mobile devices.

This article describes the value of having a "service lens" in strategic implementation of technology in higher education. The authors view higher education as a co-created set of activities and experiences, having value only in their use over time, which is a shift from traditional thinking. They share that this strategy requires a belief in service systems existing in order to serve consumers, employers, and society at large. A service lens puts the consumer (the student) at the center of improvement and innovation initiatives, considering the consumer's experience to be a foundation for looking at how to make important changes in higher education. The authors argue that service blueprinting can be used to transform a traditional course to an online course while enhancing efficient delivery of content, the student experience, and student learning outcomes. Several examples are shared from the authors' institution, Arizona State University, with evidence pointing to an increase in student success, achievable learning outcomes, and reducing cost. This article would be most helpful for faculty and staff looking to take a strategic approach in making decisions about technology based on the student experience.

Interesting ideas about structuring education differently

This blog covers the content outlined in Salman Khan's book, The One World Schoolhouse. Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy (currently a free, easily accessible, and widely popular online collection of video lectures) envisions a college where students spend their time on internships instead of in classrooms and professors operate as professional mentors on real-world projects, helping to solve problems collaboratively. Students learn by pacing themselves and define their own personal learning environment. The information outlined in the blog and the topic of the book seems significant with regards to how curriculum will continue to evolve, particularly since MOOCs modeled similar to Khan Academy are predicted to have an enormous impact on higher education. From reading this blog, it points to the idea that the success of free and open online courses is difficult to ignore. This technology blog author appears to be following upcoming trends and ideas in technology and the greater impact on colleges and universities.

This video is about VGo, a groundbreaking technological innovation. The voice Chrissy Dimarco, states that the future of higher education rests on technology, technology that provides new opportunities for learning. The VGo is an ultra modern invention that allows a person to maintain a presence in another location. Unlike web conferencing devices, the VGo is a robotic device with a mobility component that allows the user move around and interact with people. Unlike video conferencing, it is not dependent on all participants being logged unto computers. VGo is a versatile device that is used in various industries such as health care, business, manufacturing and education. In education, it is employed as a remote controlled teaching/learning device. In the video the author highlights its use as a learning tool for homebound students. One student is already a beneficiary of the learning opportunity provided by the Vgo. Lyndon Bate, a high school student suffers from a kidney disease and compromised immune problems. With the aid of Vgo, he can participate in classroom and social interactions. The crux of the video is to showcase how technology can change the face of education and affect the lives of many and is intended specifically for education stakeholders.

Jon Mott writes this article to advocate the adoption of an Open Learning Network (OLN) as a way to merge the best features of the Learning Management Systems (LMS) and the Personal Learning Environments (PLE). Even though the use of LMS is prevalent in higher education institutions, LMSs have been come under increasing criticism for being too teacher-centric, inflexible, and not fostering a communicative and sharing learning environment. Consequently many students turn to other social media and communicative tools. Educators have touted the PLE as a platform to operate alongside the LMS, in order to provide the student-centered component that is missing from the LMS. Some institutions, teachers and students have created their own PLNs to incorporate the portability, flexibility, adaptability and openness, which the LMNs do not provide. Mott however points out that the PLEs have security shortcomings, and the most provident solution is to combine the best of both platforms to create an Open Learning Network (OLN) that is flexible, can incorporate new technologies that were not in existence when LMSs became operational, and strikes a balance between the institutional goals and the essential components of the cloud by keeping private data as secure as possible, and storing the rest in the cloud. Mott provides an illustrated framework, showing how an OLN can be created successfully, and adds that Brigham Young University in Hawaii is in the process of creating one. Mott concludes that institutions and educators need not be conflicted over the dilemma of having to choose either an LMS or a PLE. The best course is to help students become digitally fluent and the OLN provides an ideal tool that rejects the "tyranny of OR" and prefers the "genius of AND". This article is most probably directed at educational communities experiencing challenges with their LMNs and seeking alternative programs.