CIT Infobits - February 2005
ISSN 1521-9275
Scholarly Communications Convocation
Library of Congress's Digital Future Series
Encouraging Faculty Adoption of Technology for Teaching
What Leads to Achieving Success in Distance Education?
Making the Case for a Wiki
Recommended Reading
SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS CONVOCATION
In January, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Faculty Council sponsored a convocation, "Scholarly Communications in a Digital World." The goal of the university-wide convocation was to:
-- consider key issues affecting the changing nature of scholarship, publication, and access to scholarly resources in the digital age;
-- explore the vantage of academic leaders, faculty from diverse disciplines, librarians, and information technologists;
-- identify possible broad-based strategies for UNC-Chapel Hill and other distinguished research universities; and
-- instigate action at a time when major financial, technological, legal, institutional, and intellectual issues provide significant opportunities for constructive and visionary leadership.
Prior to the convocation, several faculty submitted white papers on general scholarly communication issues or on scholarly communication in their discipline. Convocation attendees came prepared to discuss the issues raised by the papers and to make recommendations for dealing current and future scholarly publishing concerns. Outcomes from the convocation include a report to the Faculty Council and ongoing committees that will tackle issues such as institutional repositories for scholarly materials.
Materials related to the convocation, including all the white papers, are available online at http://www.unc.edu/scholcomdig/.
The Convocation planning committee is interested in hearing from other institutions that have held similar events on scholarly communication issues. Please share your experiences with the committee by sending comments to Carolyn Kotlas (kotlas@email.unc.edu).
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS'S DIGITAL FUTURE SERIES
From November 2004 until the end of March 2005, the U.S. Library of Congress is sponsoring a speaker series that examines "how the digital age is changing the most basic ways information is organized and classified. The goal is to educate the public on . . . what the digital age means to their lives." Each event includes an expert speaking on a topic, a panel discussion, and a question and answer session. C-SPAN is televising the series and archiving it on the Web.
Past speakers have included Brewster Kahle, Digital Librarian, Director and Co-founder of the Internet Archive; Juan Pablo Paz, a quantum physicist from Buenos Aires; and David M. Levy, professor at the Information School of the University of Washington.
Upcoming sessions will include:
Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of
the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, speaking on copyright
issues
Thursday, March 3 at 6:30 p.m. ET
Edward L. Ayers, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences at the University of Virginia, addressing "the implications
for the creation and distribution of knowledge in today's digital
environment"
Monday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. ET
Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaking on "From the Library of
Information to the Library of Things"
Monday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. ET
The series is archived at http://www.c-span.org/congress/digitalfuture.asp.
C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Its mission is to "provide public access to the political process." For more information, go to http://www.c-span.org/.
ENCOURAGING FACULTY ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING
"Some universities, some faculty, and even some students have increased their personal wealth by asserting ownership of the intellectual property created at the university. For many faculty, however, this new entrepreneurial orientation runs deeply counter to traditions of education and public service. Past campus debates about aspects of this cultural shift have created an environment of distrust and rancor." In a recent article Brian C. Donohue and Linda Howe-Steiger express their belief that this distrust has "spilled over into faculty attitudes toward the use of digital technologies for teaching" causing faculty to reject these technologies. This situation can be remedied if institutions "create incentives for faculty that balance public service goals with professional and entrepreneurial rewards, clarify ownership and usage rights of intellectual property generated by and for teaching, and generate additional funding for curriculum development at universities (possibly through tax credits)." They expand upon how to accomplish this in "Faculty and Administrators Collaborating for E-Learning Courseware" (EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 1, 2005, pp. 20-32). The article is available online, at no cost, at http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm05/eqm0513.asp.
EDUCAUSE Quarterly, The IT Practitioner's Journal [ISSN 1528-5324] is published by EDUCAUSE, 4772 Walnut Street, Suite 206, Boulder, CO 80301-2538 USA. Current and past issues are available online at http://www.educause.edu/eq/.
WHAT LEADS TO ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION?
"Achieving Success in Internet-Supported Learning in Higher Education," released February 1, 2005, reports on the study of distance education conducted by the Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness (A-HEC). A-HEC surveyed 21 colleges and universities to "uncover best practices in achieving success with the use of the Internet in higher education." Some of the questions asked by the study included:
"Why do institutions move online? Are there particular conditions under which e-Learning will be successful?"
"What is the role of leadership and by whom? What level of investment or commitment is necessary for success?"
"How do institutions evaluate and measure success?"
"What are the most important and successful factors for student support and faculty support?"
"Where do institutions get stuck? What are the key challenges?"
The complete report is available online, at no cost, at http://www.a-hec.org/e-learning_study.html.
The "core focus" of the nonprofit Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness (A-HEC) "is on communicating how higher education leaders are creating positive change by crystallizing their mission, offering more effective academic programs, defining their role in society, and putting in place balanced accountability measures." For more information, go to http://www.a-hec.org/. Individual membership in A-HEC is free.
The Wiki.org site defines a Wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." It is a "piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly." Some uses of Wikis in education include collaborative writing projects, discussion forums, project spaces/libraries, and interdisciplinary projects.
In "Making the Case for a Wiki" (Ariadne, issue 42, January 2005) Emma Tonkin explains what a Wiki is and how to choose and deploy a Wiki implementation. The article is available online at http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/.
Ariadne is published every three months by the UK Office for Library and Information Networking (UKOLN). Its purpose is "to report on information service developments and information networking issues worldwide, keeping the busy practitioner abreast of current digital library initiatives." For more information, contact: Richard Waller, Editor; email: ariadne@ukoln.ac.uk; Web: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/.
"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.
"Offering Courses Online Can Save Colleges Money, 2 Texas Studies Find" by Dan Carnevale The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 51, issue 26, p. A34, March 4, 2005
Chronicle subscribers can read the article on line at: http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i26/26a03402.htm
"It costs less to deliver college courses online, on average, than to teach them in a traditional face-to-face environment, according to two studies conducted by the University of Texas System."
"The cost to deliver undergraduate and graduate courses on a traditional campus came to $132 per credit hour in 2002 and $123 in 2003, on average (excluding the Brownsville campus, which reports its expenses differently). Delivering a course online through UT Telecampus cost $102 per credit hour in 2002 and $88 in 2003."
The study was conducted by Robert Robinson, UT Telecampus associate director, who plans to conduct a similar study each year.
