Teaching, Learning & Technology in Higher Education : Collaboration

Math/Science Online Poster Session in Second Life - June 11th 6pm SLT

jgvanides — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:52:00 GMT

Back by popular demand, next Thursday, June 11, 6:00 pm-7:00 pm SLT (6:00 pm-7:00 pm Pacific Time) is another virtual poster session in Second Life, this time focused on science & math Education...

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Twitter Made Easy - "The Twitter Book" by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein

jgvanides — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:22:00 GMT

Lately I've been skeptically musing over the academic and professional value of Twitter. What exactly is the educational value of a 140 character message? The Twitter Book has me convinced it's time to dive in...

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Join us for an Environmental Education Celebration of Earth Week!

jgvanides — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:19:00 GMT

ISTE and HP are collaborating on a special celebration of Earth Week on April 23rd. Would you like to participate in the virtual poster session...? ...(read more)

Join our NING group! - it's all about Teaching, Learning, and Technology in Higher Education

jgvanides — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:36:00 GMT

The International Society for Teachnology in Education has create a NING group for higher education faculty interested in collaborating on innovations in teaching, learning, and technology. Please come visit, or better yet, sign up for a free account and join the discussions! ...(read more)

Webcam Video Conferencing - Be a Presenter at the Conference They Won't Send You To

jgvanides — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:36:00 GMT

We're all experiencing the challenge of too many conferences plus not enough time and funds to get us there. But with free webcam video conferencing, we can still participate. Take, for example, the Vassar College presentation at the Educause Learning Initiative meeting last month......(read more)

HP Labs Innovation Research Program - Global Opportunity (deadline 2 March 2009)

jgvanides — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:46:00 GMT

HP is continuing its commitment to Open Innovation by making it possible for colleges, universities and research institutions around the world to participate in joint research with HP Labs... ...(read more)

Tablet PCs vs. Traditional Whiteboards for Active Learning - paper from CSU San Marcos

jgvanides — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:37:00 GMT

Edward Price, Chuck De Leone, and Robin Marion from California State University in San Marcos, have been using Tablet PCs from their HP Technology for Teaching grant to explore how they might compare to traditional whiteboards in support of students working in groups. With the help of Ubiquitous Presenter software, some interesting results are beginning to emerge......(read more)

Questions from a 2nd Life Newbie

jgvanides — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:33:00 GMT

Lately I've been laughing to myself. The joke goes something like this: A sociologist, an anthropologist, and an engineer walk into a virtual bar in 2nd Life. The bartender says, "_______". The only problem is I haven't decided on what the punch line is - yet......(read more)

York University - Using Tablet PCs to Enhance Collaboration & Improve Soft Skills for Business Students

jgvanides — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Jean Adams, an assistant professor from the Schulich School of Business , received an HP Technology for Teaching grant in 2007. She and her colleagues used the tablet pcs to redesign the "Managing Contemporary Enterprise" course. The improvement...(read more)

Great HiEd Resources from Educause

jgvanides — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:34:00 GMT

I'm in Seattle at the Educause Conference, and I'm reminded of the great resources provided by the Educause Learning Initiative community...

First, since I've posting Tablet PC tips lately, I thought I'd point out the ELI "7 Things You Should Know" series, which provides "...quick, no-jargon overviews of emerging technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts." They're quite practical if you're looking for a quick description of, "What it is", "How it works", "Where it is going", and "Why it matters to teaching and learning".

There are also the resources of Educause Connect for the technology in higher education community. There are blogs, job postings, podcasts (from the conference, too!), wikis, and a library of over 9700 interesting articles...

Enjoy!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Philanthropy
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied

Where are all the WIKI’s?

jgvanides — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:06:00 GMT

I may be a little slow out of the starting gate when it comes to Wiki technology, but I’m finally taking a close look at how they can be used. I’m impressed. But why aren’t there more being used in education?

I actually heard about Wiki technology a few years ago, but I was either asleep, not in a creative mood, or I simply missed the point. Then wikipedia came along (http://www.wikipedia.org/), and now millions of people know what a wiki is – or at least have been exposed to the idea of people collaborating together to build structured web content by directly editing webpages. If you’d like to know more about how they work, check out http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents.

Imagine – dozens, hundreds, thousands, or millions of people who know something (or think they do) building a website together. The parallels with how people learn are obvious to the Constructivists among us, as this can be an example of people “constructing knowledge” together. If you add some facilitation and coaching to a wiki world, it starts to look like some classrooms I’ve seen.

Now to my point: Where are all the classroom wiki’s?

Yes, I’ll admit that just because I’m not hearing about the massive use of wiki’s by educators around the world doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. So I am tossing out this challenge: Show me some examples where wiki’s are supporting learning in higher education. I am also interested in hearing your thoughts on why they work (or don’t) in a learning setting.

I’ll start with one: The Colorado School of Mines physics courses, which are taught in face-to-face classrooms but are supported by the Physiki that they built (http://ticc.mines.edu/csm/wiki/index.php/Main_Page). (I must also note that it is largely created and supported by the students themselves. Bravo!).

I look forward to your examples!

Jim Vanides, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Philanthropy
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied