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The primary audience for this book is college faculty and graduate students interested in quality teaching in blended learning environments. The secondary audience is education technology professionals, instructional designers, teaching and learning developers, and instructional aides - all those involved in the design and development of the media and materials for blended learning.

"This past year, Davidson College introduced "A Domain of One's Own" to a portion of the student body through faculty willing to use it in their teaching. I saw two styles of 'Domains' rise out of the initiative. The first type of 'Domain' took audience into account, considering the implications of public scholarship, representation, and student agency. The second, in many ways, mirrored the traditional pedagogical structure by assigning papers or short answer assignments to be posted online through blogs. This is not necessarily bad, but also doesn't necessarily empower. The problems with the second approach can be wrapped up into two key questions beginning with: Why post an assignment online if…"

Also related to the distinction between having an eportfolio program and creating a domain of one's own; very different creatures that sometimes get discussed as if they're the same thing.

"Another way to look at Wikipedia's influence: Wikipedia reaches almost one-third of the total mobile population each month, according to Knight's analysis, which used data from the audience-tracking firm Nielsen. "

"My research focuses on the development of AI tools to augment user creativity, especially in casual or playful audiences. I specialize in designing and implementing systems that assist users in quickly moving through the possibility space of a creative problem, a genre I call Casual Creators. These systems which have included a design tool for 3D printable necklaces, music visualizations animations, laser-cut robots, and gameplay for a game to crowdsource network security."

"Apple CEO Steve Jobs is well known for his electrifying presentations. Communications coach Carmine Gallo discusses the various techniques Jobs uses to captivate and inspire his audience - techniques that can easily be applied to your next presentation. For more tips on presenting like Jobs, read our Crash Course."

"Despite our best efforts, presentations can sometimes turn into one-way communication- us talking and students passively listening. You may be stationed at the front of the classroom, perhaps using PowerPoint slides or showing a video on a screen, while the class follows along silently in their seats. Or, any discussion that is generated might be dominated by the verbal few, with quieter students too intimidated to jump in. Also, when you look at the multiple studies that indicate the brevity of a student's attention span, ranging from two to ten minutes, a lengthy presentation can lose the audience it was designed to teach."

Ah, this is so interesting. Over lunch I announced that I love how Twitter is being used in OLE. I can see integrating it in a similar way that OLE is: As a way to announce that assignments (or makes) are complete. Given that 'ah hah' moment with me, and this article, it's pretty clear that there's a lot you can do with it, on many levels. Knowing your audience and making sure it meshes with the parameters and goals of the course are key.

"They were so busy hating Twitter they didn't realize how much they were learning or how much they were thinking critically."

This is actually an interesting historical account of how language evolves in the digital age.

Oh. My. (Palm to face.) A few weeks ago I gave the following in class assignment; take 5 minutes to interview your partner to find out what they did this weekend. Be specific. After the two minutes I said, "Ok - now you have 30-60 seconds to sell us their weekend. Pretend we are an audience of people looking for the perfect weekend. Sell us their weekend." Guess how many weekends were FILLED with 'Netflix and chill". Now guess how many times I nodded in agreement recalling documentary marathon after documentary marathon. One of these things is not like the other!