CIT Infobits - July, 2005
Issue 85
ISSN 1521-9275
About INFOBITS
Infobits is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ITS Teaching and Learning's Center for Instructional Technology. Each month the CIT's Information Resources Consultant monitors and selects from a number of information and instructional technology sources that come to her attention and provides brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators.
Creating Learning Space
Scholarly Web Searching
New Journal of Online Learning
Games Children Play
Spreadsheets in Education
Internet Literacy Test
Recommended Reading
"Designers have traditionally studied courtyards, plazas, and hallways for usage and flow patterns. Learning space designers must now consider the instructional implications of these spaces." The theme for the latest issue of EDUCAUSE Review (vol. 40, no. 4, July/August 2005) is learning space design. In addition to the articles, readers with Web connection can access an online-only section that includes "photos of various learning space design projects and podcast interviews with four learning space design experts." The complete issue is available online at http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm05/erm054.asp.
EDUCAUSE Review [ISSN 1527-6619], a bimonthly print magazine that explores developments in information technology and education, is published by EDUCAUSE, 1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 1010, Washington, DC 20036 USA; tel: 202-872-4200; fax: 202-872-4318; email: info@educause.edu; Web: http://www.educause.edu/. Articles from current and back issues of EDUCAUSE Review are available on the Web at http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/.
"Google Scholar" -- a Google service for scholars that allows searches to be limited to academic materials (including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, and technical reports) -- is not the only game in town. In "Scholarly Web Searching: Google Scholar and Scirus" (Online, vol. 29, no. 4, July/August 2005), Greg R. Notess provides an overview of Google Scholar and Elsevier's Scirus, another searching resource for scholars. Unlike Google Scholar, Scirus includes regular web pages as well as journal articles. Using some sample searches, he compares the two services' search capabilities and limitations, as well as the advantages of each to scholarly researchers. The article is available online at no charge at http://www.infotoday.com/online/jul05/OnTheNet.shtml.
Online [ISSN:0009-2258] is published bimonthly by Information Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055-8750 USA; tel: 609-654-6266; fax: 609-654-4309; email: custserv@infotoday.com; Web: http://www.infotoday.com/online/. A limited number of articles are freely available online to non-subscribers.
NEW JOURNAL OF ONLINE LEARNING
MERLOT has launched the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), a free, peer-reviewed, online journal designed to address the scholarly use of multimedia resources in education. Papers in the first issue (July 2005) include:
"The Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Enhancing Student Learning through Online Faculty Development" by Jon Mueller
"Physlets and Open Source Physics for Quantum Mechanics: Visualizing Quantum-mechanical Revivals" by Mario Belloni and Wolfgang Christian
"Learning Objects in Use: 'Lite' Assessment for Field Studies" by Vivian Schoner, Dawn Buzza, Kevin Harrigan, and Katrina Strampel
"Beyond the Valley of the Shadow: Taking Stock of the Virginia Center for Digital History" by Elsa A. Nystrom and Justin A. Nystrom
JOLT is available at http://jolt.merlot.org/.
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a free and open resource and community designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. Community members contribute online learning materials and peer reviews. Membership is free. For more information, go to http://www.merlot.org/.
Computer games as learning tools is emerging as a highly-debated topic. Here's a roundup of recent articles and resources that explore children's use of computer games and speculation of how games will "play out" in as educational tools.
"Meet the Gamers"
By Kurt Squire & Constance Steinkuehler
Library Journal.com, April 15, 2005 http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/ca516033.html
"In the past, librarians have often been perceived as gatekeepers, arbiters of access to information. The digital cultures now emerging (with the help of technologies such as games) suggest that the days for such an institutional role are numbered."
"Gaming for Librarians: An Introduction"
By Heather Wilson
VOYA, February 2005
http://pdfs.voya.com/VO/YA2/VOYA200502YA101.pdf
"[P]eople lament the fact that teens are playing video games and not reading. They are missing the point. Gaming often requires reading, problem-solving, and critical thinking."
"The Games Children Play"
30-minute video produced by School Matters
http://www.teachers.tv/strandProgramme.do?strandId=6&transmissionProgrammeId=155402&r=47043
Video advocating the use of games in education, featuring interviews with Henry Jenkins, director of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jim Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"Video Games and the Future of Learning"
By David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee
December 2004
http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/gappspaper1.pdf
"[W]e describe an approach to the design of learning environments that builds on the educational properties of games, but deeply grounds them within a theory of learning appropriate for an age marked by the power of new technologies. We argue that to understand the future of learning, we have to look beyond schools to the emerging arena of video games."
Instructors have often used the spreadsheet as a educational tool since these software packages' inception. The free, online journal, Spreadsheets in Education (eJSiE), provides a forum for a more formal exploration of use of the tool in instruction, with peer-reviewed papers that advance "understanding of the role that spreadsheets can play in constructivist educational contexts."
In addition to the journal, the eJSiE website includes a section, "In the Classroom," that provides practical classroom activity resources, including downloadable spreadsheet models. The journal and other resources is available at http://www.sie.bond.edu.au/.
Spreadsheets in Education (eJSiE) [ISSN 1448-6156] is published by the Faculty of Information Technology at Bond University, Queensland, Australia. For more information, contact: Dr Steve Sugden, eJSiE Editor-in-Chief, Bond University, Gold Coast Q 4229, Australia; tel: (07) 55953325; international tel: +617 55953325; email: ssugden@staff.bond.edu.au.
Educational Testing Service (ETS), the nonprofit organization responsible for the SAT, GRE, GMAT, and other standardized tests, has announced a new test, the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy Assessment. Using a series of scenarios and tasks, the ICT Literacy Assessment is designed to measure a student's "ability to use critical-thinking skills to solve problems within a technological environment." For more information go to http://www.ets.org/ictliteracy/index.html.
See also:
"Colleges Look to Test Internet IQ"
MSNBC, July 15, 2005
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8433332/
"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.
My Most Memorable Teacher (or Trainer)
Edited by Edward Masie
The Masie Center, 2005
http://www.masie.com/teacher/
The free ebook is a compilation of over 750 contributions from colleagues around the world. The book can be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes.
