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.

Student Criticisms of the Online Classroom
Educational Technology and Academic Labor
Teaching as a Clinical Profession
Business Technologies in the Classroom
EDUCAUSE 2002 Proceedings Papers
Recommended Reading

STUDENT CRITICISMS OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

In "Three Criticisms of the Online Classroom: An Examination of a Higher Education Online Course in Computer-Mediated Communication" (Learning Technology, October 2002;) Jennifer A. Minotti (Education Development Center, Inc.) describes the major complaints expressed by students in a graduate-level online course. These complaints clustered around three areas: (1) the course required a larger time commitment than the students had anticipated; (2) technical problems presented obstacles, especially in regards to accessing online materials; and (3) lack of interaction with and by the instructor. You can read the article online at http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/october2002/index.html#3

Learning Technology [ISSN 1438-0625] is published quarterly by the IEEE Computer Society Learning Technology Task Force (LTTF). It is available at no cost in HTML and PDF formats at http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND ACADEMIC LABOR

"Ultimately, the outcome of the struggle over educational technology will depend less on attitudes toward technology (neo-luddites versus technophiles) than on understanding the relation between new technologies and academic labor." So writes Larry Hanley (City College of New York) in the October 2002 issue of Workplace (vol. 5, no. 1). The issue's articles explore the theme "Technology, Democracy, and Academic Labor." Other articles include "Corporate Fantasy and the 'Brave New World of Digital Education'" by Michelle Rodino (University of Pittsburgh); "'If You're Not Mark Mullen, Click Here': Web-Based Courseware and the Pedagogy of Suspicion" by Mark Mullen (George Washington University); and "The Hegemony of Accountability in Schools and Universities" by Sandra Mathison and E. Wayne Ross (University of Louisville). You can read all the articles online at http://www.louisville.edu/journal/workplace/issue5p1/5p1.html

Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor is published by a "collective of 50 scholars in critical higher education" on a website hosted by the University of Louisville (Kentucky, USA). For more information and back issues, link to http://www.louisville.edu/journal/workplace/

TEACHING AS A CLINICAL PROFESSION

A September Carnegie Corporation of New York report ("Teaching as a Clinical Profession: A New Challenge for Education" by Michael deCourcy Hinds) urges reforming teacher education to make it into a "modern clinical profession." The report draws upon recommendations from the initiative that the foundation announced in April, called "Teachers for a New Era." Using the model of medical training programs, the initiative "seeks to transform schools of education into schools of modern clinical practice. . . . [C]olleges are asked to provide their graduates with clinical residency programs, which are a bit like the residency programs in medicine."

The report is available online at http://www.carnegie.org/pdf/teachered.pdf

For more information about the "Teachers for a New Era" initiative, go to http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/teachers.html

The Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." For more information, contact Carnegie Corporation of New York, 437 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022 USA; tel: 212-371-3200; fax: 212-754-4073; Web: http://www.carnegie.org/

See also:

"Building a Profession: Strengthening Teacher Preparation and Induction," the American Federation of Teachers' response to the Carnegie initiative
http://www.aft.org/higher_ed/downloadable/k16report.pdf

and

The October Volume 4, Issue 4 October-December 2002 issue of TechKnowLogia whose theme is "Technology and Teacher Education: Making the Connection"

http://www.techknowlogia.org/

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM

"Many education experts are calling for more use of technology in the classroom to ensure that today's students are better equipped as adults to enter the workforce. Many are also arguing that these changes shouldn't be made just for the sake of business, but for the kids themselves. After all, they are growing up in a digital world -- shouldn't their school experience reflect this?" In "Teaching with Technology" (Presentations, vol. 16, no. 10, October 2002, pp. 28-30, 32, 36), Julie Hill shows how classroom teachers around the U.S. are using the same technologies that companies use in the workplace. Educators quoted in the article emphasize that "one of the main obstacles to adding technology of any sort into the classroom experience is teacher training." You can read the article online at http://www.presentations.com/presentations/trends/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1761271

Presentations: Technology and Techniques for Effective Communication [ISSN 1041-9780] is published monthly by VNU Business Media, 50 S. Ninth St., Minneapolis, MN 55402 USA; tel: 612-333-0471; Web: http://www.presentations.com/

EDUCAUSE 2002 PROCEEDINGS PAPERS

Proceedings papers and post-conference materials from the EDUCAUSE 2002 conference, "Juggling Opportunities in Collaborative Environments," are now available online. A few of the many sessions available (either as text or audio files) include:

"Beyond Listservs: Building Online Support Communities that Really Work"

"Faculty as Students: Enhancing Student-Centered Learning Through Technology and Collaboration"

"Copyright Ownership and Digital Course Materials: Policy Characteristics and Best Practices"

"E-Learning Pedagogical Strategies: Understanding the Basics"

The complete list of conference sessions and links to those online is available at http://www.educause.edu/conference/e2002/postcon_resources.asp

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The current membership comprises more than 1,900 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 200 corporations, with 15,000 active members. EDUCAUSE has offices in Boulder, CO, and Washington, DC. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at http://www.educause.edu/.

Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill

Teaching and Learning

CIT Infobits - November, 2002

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