CIT Infobits - May, 2006
Issue 95
ISSN 1521-9275
Is the Internet Weakening the Elites' Edge?
Designing the Future Physical University
Using Blogger to Get Started with E-Learning
Books vs. Blogs
The Role of Emotion in the Distance Education Experience
UNC-Chapel Hill Digital Publishing Program Wins Award
Recommended Reading
IS THE INTERNET WEAKENING THE ELITES' EDGE?
In a study of economics and finance faculty affiliated with the top 25 U.S. universities, E. Han Kim, Adair Morse, and Luigi Zingales looked at the changes on scholarly research brought about by the Internet. They sought answers to several questions: "How did these changes modify the nature of the production of academic research? Did local interaction become less important? If so, how does this decline affect the value added of elite universities and hence their competitive edge?" Their findings are published in the report "Are Elite Universities Losing Their Competitive Edge?" (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 12245, May 2006). The complete report is available online at http://papers.nber.org/papers/W12245.
Founded in 1920, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a "private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works." For more information, contact: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398 USA; tel: 617-868-3900; fax: 617-868-2742; email: info@nber.org; Web: http://www.nber.org/.
DESIGNING THE FUTURE PHYSICAL UNIVERSITY
"In discussions about the future of the university, little has been said about how these changes will affect its spatial layout, even though a university's physical characteristics must complement and strengthen its mission." In "Designing the University of the Future" (Planning for Higher Education, vol. 34, no. 2, 2005-2006, pp. 5-19) Rifca Hashimshony and Jacov Haina discuss several factors, including teaching and learning technology, that may define what the physical facilities of the university of the future will look like. The paper is online at http://www1.scup.org/PHE/FMPro?-db=PubData.fp5&-lay=ART&-format=read_inner.htm&-error=error.htm&ID=PUB-iNAUNaEFTRvZnwyAWs&-Find.
Planning for Higher Education is published by the Society for College and University Planning, 339 E. Liberty, Suite 300, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA; tell: 734-998-7832; fax: 734-998-6532; email: info@scup.org; Web: http://www.scup.org/.
See also:
"The Impact of Facilities on Recruitment and Retention of Students"
by David Cain and Gary L. Reynolds
Facilities Manager vol. 22, no. 2, March/April 2006
http://www.appa.org/FacilitiesManager/article.cfm?ItemNumber=2567&parentid=2542
or
http://www.appa.org/files/FMArticles/fm030406_f7_impact.pdf
According to a survey conducted by the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers: "Nearly three out of 10 students spurned a college because it lacked a facility they thought was important."
"Facilities Can Play Key Role in Students' Enrollment Decisions, Study Finds"
by Audrey Williams June
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2006
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/05/2006053002n.htm
(Online access requires a subscription to the Chronicle.)
USING BLOGGER TO GET STARTED WITH E-LEARNING
In "Using Blogger to Get Teachers Started with E-Learning" (Fortnightly Mailing, May 25, 2006), Keith Burnett discusses how "[s]imple class blogs can be used to post summaries of key points, exercises, links to Web pages of value, and to provide a sense of continuity and encourage engagement with the material." He includes a link to an online blogging tutorial and to examples of how some instructors are using blogs in their classes. The article is online at http://fm.schmoller.net/2006/05/using_blogger_t.html.
Fortnightly Mailing, focused on online learning, is published every two weeks by Seb Schmoller, an e-learning consultant. Current and back issues are available at http://www.schmoller.net/mailings/index.pl. For more information, contact: Seb Schmoller 312 Albert Road, Sheffield, S8 9RD, UK; tel: 0114 2586899; fax: 0709 2208443; email: seb@schmoller.net; Web: http://www.schmoller.net/.
BOOKS VS. BLOGS
"Why would I write a book and wait a year or more to see my writing in print, when I can blog and get my words out there immediately?" In "Books, Blogs & Style" (Cites & Insights, vol. 6, no. 7, May 2006), Walt Crawford, both a book author and a blogger, considers the different niches and purposes of the two communication media. The essay is online at http://cites.boisestate.edu/civ6i7.pdf.
Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large [ISSN 1534-0937], a free online journal of libraries, policy, technology, and media, is self-published monthly by Walt Crawford, a senior analyst at the Research Libraries Group, Inc. Current and back issues are available at on the Web at http://cites.boisestate.edu/. For more information contact: Walt Crawford, The Research Libraries Group, Inc., 2029 Stierlin Ct., Suite 100, Mountain View, CA 94043-4684 USA; tel: 650-691-2227; Web: http://waltcrawford.name/.
THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN THE DISTANCE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
"Presence, a sense of 'being there,' is critical to the success of designing, teaching, and learning at a distance using both synchronous and asynchronous (blended) technologies. Emotions, behavior, and cognition are components of the way presence is perceived and experienced and are essential for explaining the ways we consciously and unconsciously perceive and experience distance education." Rosemary Lehman, Distance Education Specialist Manager at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, explores the idea that understanding the part emotion plays in teaching and learning "can help instruct us in effective teaching, instructional design, and learning via technology." Her paper, "The Role of Emotion in Creating Instructor and Learner Presence in the Distance Education Experience" (Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning, vol. 2, no. 2, 2006), is available online at http://www.jcal.emory.edu/viewarticle.php?id=45.
Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning (JCAL) [ISSN: 1549-6953] is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published twice a year by Oxford College of Emory University. To access current and back issues go to http://www.jcal.emory.edu/. For more information, contact: Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning, c/o Prof. Ken Carter, Oxford College of Emory University, 100 Hamill Street, Oxford, GA 30054 USA; tel: 770-784-8439; fax: 770-784-8408; email: kenneth.carter@emory.edu.
UNC-CHAPEL HILL DIGITAL PUBLISHING PROGRAM WINS AWARD
[Editor's note: although I try to keep a non-partisan position in my role as Infobits editor, as an employee and alumna of UNC-Chapel Hill, it gives me great pleasure to share with readers news of this award at my institution.]
Last month the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library's "Documenting the American South" digital library collection won Gettysburg College's 2006 Electronic Lincoln Prize for significant contribution in new media to scholarship about Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War soldier, or a subject relating to the Civil War era. "Documenting the American South" was launched in 1996 to make available for study several fragile slave narratives. From that modest beginning, the collection now includes thousands of primary research resources related to southern history, literature, and culture: books, images, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, and recorded music and oral histories. For more about the program and to access the collection link to http://docsouth.unc.edu/.
RECOMMENDED READING
"Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to kotlas@email.unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column.
Infobits subscriber Tom Wason (tom@twason.com) has written a paper on developing metadata and taxonomy systems. Wason used this method on a US Air Force project, which he describes in the paper.
"Dr. Tom's Method of Multiples: A Concrete Taxonomy Development Method"
http://www.twason.com/Docs/MethodOfMultiples.pdf
Abstract:
"An effective metadata system can be established with the participation of multiple teams each with a different perspective, the subject matter expert (SME) teams. Each SME team is comprised of multiple members. The SME teams are given a carefully chosen concrete task that spans their different perspectives. As they work on the task in facilitated joint meetings, a taxonomy team records the comments of SME teams. The taxonomy team is comprised of multiple, independently tasked recorders. The intent is to define and capture metadata and taxonomy definitions from each of several different vantage points. Each recorder provides separate reports that are consolidated into a single report with resulting recommendations for metadata and taxonomies. These recommendations are then validated by an independent set of SME participants. A case study using this method is present
