The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Clickers Are Showing Up Everywhere

In recent years, college students have been bringing clickers to lecture halls, where professors require their use for attendance, instant polls and multiple-choice tests. But clickers can now be found in some surprising corners of American life, too, as churches, fire departments, cruise ships and health care providers discover uses for them, essentially spreading the phenomenon of online crowdsourcing to off-line crowds. Fans of the devices say they are efficient, eco-friendly and techno-tickling, allowing audiences to mimic TV game-show contestants. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/us/clickers-offer-instant-interactions-in-more-venues.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120331

Blackboard Moves Into Open Source Space With Two Big Acquisitions

Blackboard Inc. announced a major investment in open source today with news that it has acquired Moodlerooms and NetSpot, two leading providers of open source online learning solutions to the education industry. Both organizations will continue to operate independently to support their clients. Moodlerooms and NetSpot are official Moodle Partners, and each will continue their current programs to support clients with no changes to their leadership or their support and service models. In addition, each team will also become part of Blackboard's new Education Open Source Servicesgroup, dedicated to supporting the use and development of open source learning technologies globally. Read more at:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/26/4367794/blackboard-acquires-moodlerooms.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/26/4367794/blackboard-acquires-moodlerooms.html#storylink=cpy

 

Higher Education Needs Content Strategies For Instructional Materials

Instructional content in higher education used to be a simple matter: the Instructor selected textbooks, maybe put together a set of badly photocopied readings, and added his or her own course notes. But as "digital" washes over higher education, the issue of instructional content has become increasingly complex. Options now include ebooks, OER, self-publishing, LMS-based content, digital textbook supplements, freemium textbooks, digital course packs, print-on-demand, library subscription services, custom-publishing, and the still complex nature of Internet copyright laws. It is time for a more coordinated, institutional approach to managing instructional content. Read more at:
http://todayscampus.com/article/Content_Strategy

Integrating Technology Into The Community College Classroom

Santa Monica College is engaging students in new ways with the help of a digital learning studio that the southern California-based community college rolled out last fall. SMC classrooms have traditionally been equipped with projectors, speakers, Internet access, document cameras, and DVD players that allow instructors to push media out to students. Unfortunately the setup wasn't a two-way street and didn't allow for much interaction between students and technology. The studio includes multiple screens with advanced touch technology, special education software, a Smart Response system with 24 clickers, and eight iPads. Read more at:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/01/04/rethinking-the-community-college-classroom-experience.aspx

Nature's Digital College Textbook May Take E-TextbooksTo The Next Level

When a college textbook, “Principles of Biology,” comes out from the Nature Publishing Group in January, one place it won’t be is on the shelves of school bookstores. That’s because the book was designed to be digital-only. Students will pay not for a printed edition at a bookstore, but for permanent access on the Internet ($49). This isn’t your usual technical tome. The pages have some pizazz: they are replete with punchy, interactive electronic features — from dynamic illustrations to short quizzes meant to involve students rather than letting them plod, glassy-eyed, from one section to the next. Audio and video clips are woven into the text. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/business/online-textbooks-aim-to-make-science-leap-from-the-page.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

EDUCAUSE Will Merge EDUCAUSE Quarterly Into EDUCAUSE Review Online

This is the final issue of EQ as a separate journal. Launching in May 2012,EDUCAUSE Review Online will combine the existing EDUCAUSE Review, EQ, andEDUCAUSE Now!, our podcast series, to create a one-stop location for all of our articles and community news, with timely information releasing on a continual basis. Here is the link to the latest issue of EQ:
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EQVolume342011/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/242663

With The Advent Of The Web The Need For Textbooks Diminishes

In the world most of the faculty grew up in, education started with the textbook. The more innovative faculty used photocopies from other books, copies of articles, and their own notes to supplement their teaching. With the advent of the Web, faculty introduced Web links, usually posted on their Web pages, as supplementary materials, perhaps appropriate in a world with manageable amounts of information. With the fast pace of technology, and the accompanying need to stay up to date with the latest developments in our fields, today, the roles have flipped. Instead of the textbook being the primary tool used for learning with the lecture as a vehicle, and Web or hard copy references used as a supplementary source of knowledge; the Web is now the primary source of current and relevant knowledge and the book and the lecture becoming secondary. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-in-digital-era-lectures-and-textbooks-are-secondary/2011/12/13/gIQAhBWprO_blog.html?wprss=college-inc

Faculty Are Turning Video Games Into Learning Tools

Around the country, pockets of faculty have been adding games to their courses as a way to stimulate learning. At Boston College, nursing students conduct forensics at a virtual crime scene. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a game called Melody Mixer teaches students how to read and compose music. Students at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., play World of Warcraft, a multiplayer online game, in a course on intelligence studies. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-11-29/video-games-college-learning/51478224/1

Consumer Technology Shifting From Optional To Required Tools For College Courses

It wasn’t the type of requirement college freshman Megan Rheingans expected to find on her syllabus. Not a study guide, textbook or fancy calculator. Mandatory: an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. Several colleges, including Central Michigan University where Rheingans attends, are using the latest tech tools as a counterpart to traditional textbooks. Rheingans, an elementary education major, uses her new iPod Touch for her introduction to education class where an Apple application takes attendance and helps spur classroom discussions. Read more at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/11/post_251.html

B-Schools Look To Consumer Technology To Connect Their Students

While specialized education tools have long played an important role in the classroom, some of the most commonly used gadgets and Web sites have become teaching tools of choice at business schools like Essec and elsewhere. Facebook is increasingly used to foster a sense of community for business school classes that meet just a few times a semester; Twitter is used as a way for students to be heard in big halls, letting them ask questions during lectures without having to raise their hand or voice; and videoconferencing software is used at many business schools as a tool for communication between far-flung networks of professors and experts. Experts at Essec and elsewhere say that out-of-the-box consumer applications and gadgets are extremely valuable in the hands of business students. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/world/europe/a-scholarly-role-for-consumer-technology.html?ref=technology