CIT Infobits - August, 2003
Issue 62
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.
Videogames -- The Next Educational "Killer App"?
Resources on Intellectual Property in Education
Why Students Don't Post
Blog Update
Innovations in Presentations
PowerPoint: Good or Evil?
Recommended Reading
VIDEOGAMES -- THE NEXT EDUCATIONAL "KILLER APP"?
In "Next-Generation: Educational Technology versus the Lecture" (EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 38, no. 4, July/August 2003, pp. 12-16, 18, 20-2), Joel Foreman, professor in George Mason University English Department, proposes a "fringe idea" with the potential to revolutionize the educational system. He believes that "large lecture courses may someday be replaced by the kind of immersive digital environments that have been popularized by the videogame industry. Viewed in this light the advanced videogame appears to be a next-generation educational technology waiting to take its place in academe."
Foreman illustrates his idea with a hypothetical Psychology 101 course that uses an immersive environment to engage students in "learning through performance." Using the videogame model, students would progress through several "levels" of the course as they build upon their knowledge of the material and meet the course's learning goals. The article is online at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0340.pdf.
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/.
RESOURCES ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN EDUCATION
Two recent issues of Web Tools Newsletter provide an array of links to intellectual property and copyright resources:
"Intellectual Property in Education"
July 28, 2003 issue
A look at the ideas involved in intellectual property rights and the implications for education.
http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/intellectual1.htm
"Copyright in Education"
August 4, 2003 issue
Continuing the topic, this issue focuses on the practical aspects of intellectual property rights in education, with particular attention to the impact of copyright laws and practices.
http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/copyright2.htm
Web Tools Newsletter is published weekly for educators by retired teacher Kevin Cox and maintained by the Education Development Office at the City University of Hong Kong. Each free issue pursues a particular topic related to Web-based teaching and learning. Subscription information and back issues are available at http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/.
"Why do some students resist participating in course discussion boards when they know their grade will suffer? How can students with polished social skills come across in online courses as uncooperative and unengaged, with short postings of little substance?" Tim Dotson (in "Why Johnny Won't Post," Converge Online, August 27, 2003) provides four categories for students' failures to post:
logistical (time constraints, difficulty using the tool)
personal (student inhibitions, "discussion board fatigue")
educational (inexperience with collaboration, inability to write for the Web)
instructor-related (lack of instructor involvement, lack of clear requirements for postings).
The article is online at http://www.centerdigitaled.com/converge/?pg=magstory&id=65480.
Converge Online is published by the Center for Digital Education, "a national research and advisory institute providing industry and education leaders with decision support, research and services to help them effectively incorporate new technologies in the 21st century." For more information, contact: The Center for Digital Education, 100 Blue Ravine Rd., Folsom, CA 95630 USA; tel: 916-932-1300; fax: 916-932-1470; Web: http://www.centerdigitaled.com/.
Past issues and subscription information are available at http://www.centerdigitaled.com/converge/.
Since Infobits first reported on them (in "Blogs: A New Tool for Online Education?" June 2002, http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/bitjun02.html#2), blogs have moved from the fringes to become a more mainstream tool for educators. In "Campus Communications & the Wisdom of Blogging" (Syllabus, vol. 17, no. 1, August 2003, pp. 22, 24-5), Sarah Roberts gives an overview of blogs in academe and discusses some new blogging systems. The article is available online at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7982.
Syllabus [ISSN 1089-5914] is published monthly by 101communications, LLC, 9121 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 USA; tel: 650-941-1765; fax: 650-941-1785; email: info@syllabus.com; Web: http://www.syllabus.com/.
Annual subscriptions are free to individuals who work in colleges, universities, and high schools in the U.S.; go to http://subscribe.101com.com/syllabus/ for more information.
"With the marriage of campus information technology and audiovisual departments, some schools have spawned innovative presentation setups and programs that truly enhance the level of learning, and take it beyond basic display mode." Campus presentation systems is the subject of the August 2003 University Business Special Feature: "Innovation Across the Campus." The article outlines how Loyola Law School, Miami-Dade College, the University of Michigan-Flint, and Wesleyan University are combining the latest technologies with innovative programs to provide a richer learning environment. The article is available at http://www.universitybusiness.com/page.cfm?id=330.
University Business [ISSN 1097-6671] is a publication for presidents and other senior officers at two- and four-year colleges and universities throughout the U.S. For more information contact: Professional Media Group LLC; 488 Main Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851 USA; tel: 203-663-0100; fax: 203-663-0149; Web: http://www.universitybusiness.com/.
In the latest issue of Wired (vol. 11, no. 9, September 2003), Edward Tufte, author of several works on information design, and artist and musician David Byrne square off on PowerPoint. In "PowerPoint Is Evil: Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely" (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html) Tufte argues that the "standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch." He laments that even schoolchildren are using it in lieu of essay writing.
The essay "Learning to Love PowerPoint" (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt1.html) describes Byrne's discovery of PowerPoint as a "metaprogram, one that organizes and presents stuff created in other applications." Although he started by making "presentations about presentations," he moved on to using the program to create pieces that ran as short films. Unlike Tufte, who believes that PowerPoint "routinely disrupts, dominates, and trivializes content," Byrne sees PowerPoint as an "artistic agent" that lets him manipulate his content more creatively and easily.
Wired [ISSN: 1059-1028] is published monthly by Wired Digital, Inc. For more information contact: Wired, PO Box 78470, San Francisco, CA 94107-8470 USA; email: editor@wiredmag.com; Web: http://www.wired.com/.
"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.
This month we have two recommendations:
"An Interview with a Futurist," by T. Mack. Futures Research Quarterly 19, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 61-9.
James L. Morrison, The Technology Source's Editor-in-Chief and Infobits subscriber, was interviewed after giving his speech, "The University is Dead! Long Live the University!" at the 2002 annual World Future Society conference. The interview is available at http://horizon.unc.edu/conferences/interview.asp.
Fortnightly Mailings
http://www.schmoller.net/mailings/index.html
Infobits subscriber Seb Schmoller publishes this electronic newsletter, which summarizes resources and news on online learning and the Internet. Schmoller is a freelance consultant and Executive Secretary of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). ALT is a UK professional and scholarly association that promotes good practice in the use of learning technologies in education and industry and facilitates collaboration between learning technology practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. For more information about ALT, go to http://www.alt.ac.uk/index.html.
