Utter the words "group project" and you're likely to hear at least a few groans from your students. The reasons for their dislike of group work are many, but logistical difficulties of getting everyone together and lazy group members who don't pull their own weight are two of the biggest complaints.\n\nWith wikis, you're able to remove these two obstacles because wiki sites not only make collaboration a breeze, but they contain tracking tools that let instructors see who's contributing to the project, and when they're making those contributions.
three award-winning educational wikis on Wikispaces. These wikis have been used to interact with schools from around the world, share classroom activity, and turn online class notes into end-of-year exams. They're great examples of how wikis can be used to create engaging learning experiences.
Cloud computing is the delivery of scalable IT resources over the Internet, as opposed to hosting and operating those resources locally, such as on a college or university network. Those resources can include applications and services, as well as the infrastructure on which they operate. By deploying IT infrastructure and services over the network, an organization can purchase these resources on an as-needed basis and avoid the capital costs of software and hardware. With cloud computing, IT capacity can be adjusted quickly and easily to accommodate changes in demand. Cloud computing also allows IT providers to make IT costs transparent and thus match consumption of IT services to those who pay for such services. Operating in a cloud environment requires IT leaders and staff to develop different skills, such as managing contracts, overseeing integration between in-house and outsourced services, and mastering a different model of IT budgets.
Asst. Professor of Instructional Technology, Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment; Director, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University