The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Five Higher Ed Tech Trends To Watch In 2010

There aren't too many corners of higher education that technology hasn't infiltrated. From admissions to financial aid to the classroom and everything in between, nearly all aspects of college are being handled in some way by the applications, hardware, and gadgets that help institutions work more efficiently. Don't expect much of that to change in 2010 as more technology is developed and introduced to the higher education market. Read more at:
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/12/09/5-Higher-Ed-Tech-Trends-To-Watch-in-2010.aspx?Page=1

Give Every Student An iPhone

How do you educate a generation of students eternally distracted by the internet, cellphones and video games? Easy. You enable them by handing out free iPhones — and then integrating the gadget into your curriculum. That’s the idea Abilene Christian University has to refresh classroom learning. Located in Texas, the private university just finished its first year of a pilot program, in which 1,000 freshman students had the choice between a free iPhone or an iPod Touch. The verdict? It’s working quite well. 2,100 Abilene students, or 48 percent of the population, are now equipped with a free iPhone. Fully 97 percent of the faculty population has iPhones, too. The iPhone is aiding Abilene in giving students the information they need. Read more at:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/iphone-university-abilene/

Meet The Boss Of Blackboard

From a profile of Michael Chasen, CEO of Blackboard: I had just finished my first year of law school in 1996. Greg was developing the technology consulting practice at KPMG and offered me a job. I took a year’s leave of absence and thought I would save enough money to pay for the rest of law school. At the end of the year, I decided not to return to law school. Matthew and I had also decided to leave KPMG and start an e-learning business, which we called Blackboard. Campuses nationwide were beginning to connect to the Internet but had no way to put courses online. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/jobs/15boss.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Big Bucks For Clicker Research

A University at Buffalo science professor has received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the use of electronic audience-response devices in science classrooms.Clyde Herreid, co-director of UB’s National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, will head up a study focused on the impact of “clickers” while teaching science. Read more at:
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2009/11/09/daily29.html

Students To Faculty: We're Not Impressed By Your Use Of Technology

According to new research released Monday, only 38 percent of students indicated that their instructors "understand technology and fully integrate it into their classes." Students also rated that lack of understanding as "the biggest obstacle to classroom technology integration." Despite this, 74 percent of higher education instructors polled indicated that they "incorporate technology into every class or nearly every class," and 67 percent said they were "satisfied with their technology professional development. Read more at:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/11/03/students-unimpressed-with-faculty-use-of-ed-tech.aspx

Latest "7 Things" Focuses On Google Wave

The lasted addition to the "7 Things You Should Know" series from Educause takes a closer look at Google Wave: Wave offers a compelling platform for personal learning environments because it provides a single location for collecting information from diverse sources while accommodating a variety of formats. By embedding mini-applications and other components, Wave makes interactive coursework a possibility for nontechnical students, moving larger numbers of students away from purely text-based assignments and into multimedia composition. Read more at:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7055.pdf

Learning Technology Is Catching Up With Students

Today's college classrooms are high-tech marvels, with overhead projectors and grease pencils replaced by document cameras, handheld clickers and interactive white boards. "A lot of this is us catching up with the students and what they're bringing to us," says Michael Reuter, 42, director of technology operations at Central Michigan. Faculty, for the most part, see technology as a way to better connect to students in their interactive, multitasking, apps-ready world. Worries about cheating and distracted students using Facebook, Twitter or instant messaging instead of listening to lessons, however, may be overblown. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-05-college-technology_N.htm?csp=34

No Slowdown In Effort To Create Hi-Tech Classrooms

Across Michigan, colleges and universities are investing millions to connect with a tech-savvy student body. Today's college classrooms are high-tech marvels -- overhead projectors and grease pencils replaced by document cameras, handheld clickers, and interactive whiteboards. And faculty -- most of them -- see technology as a way to better connect to students in their interactive, multitasking, apps-ready world. Read more at:
http://www.freep.com/article/20090915/NEWS06/909150393/1322/Millions-spent-to-upgrade-college-classrooms

Latest 7 Things You Should Know Covers Telepresence

The latest addition to the EDUCAUSE "7 Things You Should Know" series covers telepresence. Telepresence refers to the application of complex video technologies to give geographically separated participants a sense of being together in the same location. These systems use high-definition cameras feeding to life-size, HD displays with high-fidelity acoustics that, in many cases, localize sound to image, simulating the effect of each voice coming from the video display for each participant. Costs can be an obstacle, but as these systems become more affordable, they have the potential to open new kinds of shared instruction and provide a legitimate alternative to in-person meetings. Read more at:
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutTelep/179124

Increased Use Of Video Creates Technology Challenge

A new survey of faculty and librarians from academic institutions nationwide shows that the educational use of video is accelerating rapidly, but there are significant technological, legal and other barriers emerging on campuses. The conclusions are summarized in a recently published white paper, "Video Use and Higher Education: Options for the Future," Read more at:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/09/prweb2860234.htm