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The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, based in London, "investigates the benefits that learning brings to the individual and to society as a whole."

An interesting article discussing the benefits of higher education to society (and how to measure them). This flips the current trend in the discussion of higher education and its benefits from an individual to a more global focus.

"The benefits to a Wikipedia assignment are extensive. Asking students to interact with the largest reference work in the world creates a unique educational experience: namely, a Wikipedia assignment provides a real-life application of the skills and knowledge students develop in the classroom. Asking students to participate in a Wikipedia project challenges them to examine and refine the ways in which they interact with digital resources. Students must develop their media literacy as they assess the reliability of online sources, their online etiquette as they interact with editors around the globe, and their critical thinking skills as they identify articles that need improvement. When students edit articles, they must produce material that is relavant to Wikipedia and consumed by actual readers beyond their classroom. They are confronted with immediate feedback to their work and must learn how to collaborate with writers around the globe. "

"Moving from a disposable research essay to a Wikipedia essay carries several benefits: Students gain a sense of confidence in their knowledge by contributing to a source that they know and use. Students trade the audience of one instructor for a broad readership (one of the students this semester revised an article on Japan's military Unit 731 that got more than 70,000 views in just December) Students improve their digital literacy through a better understanding of Wikis a medium. Students learn about source authority, especially the increasingly common semi-anonymous and anonymous web sources which so often fill their bibliographies. Instructors trade a stack of homogenous research papers for a variety of formatted essays. Essays are subject to open-review on the web."

There are many gems in this brief piece, including the benefits of giving faculty the chance to fail, as well as a bit of an introduction to the tools Hypothes.is and Scalar.

"Discussions are an important component of many forms of online student interaction. For students to benefit from an online discussion, it is important for teachers to generate relevant topics, effectively moderate student activity and participate regularly. This episode will highlight several strategies to help you manage online discussions more effectively, and make them more beneficial for your students."

"Self-determination lies at the heart of Aboriginal pedagogy. Aboriginal people do want to share their knowledges with other Australians. It is, however, critical to recognise that there is an expectation of reciprocity in such an activity. The sharing of knowledges should be to the mutual benefit of all concerned. Those knowledges that are secret and sacred must remain so."

"Professors who wish to engage students during large lectures face an uphill battle. Not only is it a logistical impossibility for 200+ students to actively participate in a 90 minute lecture, but the downward sloping cone-shape of a lecture hall induces a one-to-many conversation. This problem is compounded by the recent budget cuts that have squeezed ever more students into each room. Fortunately, educators (including myself) have found that Twitter is an effective way to broaden participation in lecture. Additionally, the ubiquity of laptops and smartphones have made the integration of Twitter a virtually bureaucracy-free endeavor. This post describes the two main benefits professors find when using Twitter in lecture."

I do think that the author's conclusion about it being a great way to deal with growing class sizes due to budget cuts is simplistic and misses the point about it being a great way to engage students, period. Be sure to watch the video.

"Some professors are using Twitter in innovative-and effective-ways that benefit students. Here are five unique ways Twitter is enhancing education:"

"While classroom teaching and management strategies are well documented, the online learning environment presents different challenges and benefits. Teaching in an online environment requires a special set of teaching skills since many of the strategies and tactics associated with best teaching practices are somewhat constrained by the primarily text-based environment. The VOCAL approach summarizes the key characteristics that a master instructor utilizes to be effective in an online environment. VOCAL is an acronym for Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical and Leader-by-example. The ability of the teacher to effectively infuse these characteristics into their instructional practice - to BE VOCAL - will promote a supportive, challenging, constructive, rigorous and effective instructional environment. Instructors who practice a VOCAL approach will have more productive learning environments, fewer management problems and more positive learning experiences with their students."

A very interesting and informative piece by David Wiley about some of the real issues and benefits around open textbooks. Definitely worth a read.