College technology ‘catching up’ with students

October 7, 2009

Today’s college classrooms are high-tech marvels, with overhead projectors and grease pencils replaced by document cameras, handheld clickers and interactive white boards.

[Source: USA Today]


The Wired Campus – U. of Texas System Buys Land in Second Life – The Chronicle of Higher Education

September 16, 2009

The University of Texas system has purchased land in the online world Second Life, betting the investment will improve teaching and research at all of its institutions.

The university system, made up of nine universities and six health centers, doesn’t have concrete plans for how each school will use Second Life. It hopes that administrators, faculty members, researchers, and students will take advantage of the virtual real estate over the academic year.

via The Wired Campus – U. of Texas System Buys Land in Second Life – The Chronicle of Higher Education.


ELI Podcast of the Month: Robert Fox on Rethinking Learning Spaces at Georgia Institute of Technology

September 2, 2009

This podcast spotlights conversation from the 2009 EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference with Robert Fox, associate director for public and administrative services at Georgia Institute of Technology. He shares ideas and proven techniques to improve student learning spaces. Listen to more podcasts at the EDUCAUSE Resource Center, or follow EDUCAUSEPodcast on Twitter.

[Source: EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative]


Free Online Courses & Lectures from Great Universities (via Podcast and MP3) | Open Culture

July 24, 2009

Download free courses & lectures from some of the world’s leading universities, including Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Oxford, Harvard and others.

via Free Online Courses & Lectures from Great Universities (via Podcast and MP3) | Open Culture.


100 Awesome Open Courses for New Media Scholars | Online Universities.com

July 22, 2009

By Kathleen Baker

New Media Studies has become increasingly popular in as a college major with the ever faster implementation of new technologies in recent years. For those who are unfamiliar, New media studies explores the possibilities of new digital media in communication, education and other social, political and intellectual facets, though the field itself is quite open ended. These free open courseware offerings will serve those who are already studying new media, who have an interest in the subject, and even those who know nothing about it at all. Check out this list of 100 courses to learn more about the many facets of new media and gain a better understanding of the type of material it encompasses.

via 100 Awesome Open Courses for New Media Scholars | Online Universities.com.


A Professor’s Plea: Try Teaching ‘Naked’

July 20, 2009

José A. Bowen, a dean at Southern Methodist University, has challenged his colleagues to teach sans machines. Professors who strip high-tech gear out of their smart classrooms stand the best chance of keeping students engaged, he says.

Watch video

[Source: Chronicle of Higher Education]


Designing Learning Spaces for Instruction, not Control — Campus Technology

April 29, 2009

Never before has it been more viable for educators to put instruction front and center of learning space design than now. Never before has collaboration with students and peers and with the world been more possible than now. So why are our learning spaces still so reminiscent of the past? Why are these spaces still so constrained?

[Source: Campus Technology]


“Academics will fight over money and kill over space.”

April 17, 2009

Space is a serious, expensive business on college campuses. There is a saying: “Academics will fight over money and kill over space.”

Following a decade-long building boom, a crippling recession, a spike in energy prices (with further increases probable), and in some regions fierce competition for a shrinking pool of students, the stakes of managing campus space have never been higher. Students, it is often assumed, decide whether or not to attend a college on the basis of the quality and quantity of space. And many researchers expect to have their own offices or laboratories, or both.

[Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required)]