Faculty Development News This Week:

29 August 2004

Conferences

--Wireless and Mobile Learning Technologies Conference

When: September 23-24, 2004
Where: Centennial Student Union Building
Minnesota State University, Mankato

This conference will provide information, experiences and ideas about wireless applications and appliances for teaching and learning within and outside the classroom. There is no conference fee; however, register at the website listed below if you plan to attend so as to assist conference planners. For more information, see the Conference Registration

--2005 League for Innovation Conference

Submit a proposal for the 2005 League for Innovation Conference, New York City, March 6-9. Deadline submission is September 17.

For more information, see Innovations Conference.

--“Weblogs in Higher Education: What You Need to Know to Get Started"

This is a Web conference on the use of blogs in higher education.

Date: October 5, 2004

For more information, see Weblog Conference.

Technology

--PDA/ Wireless Faculty Projects at Minnesota State University

Interested in finding out more about PDA and wireless educational applications?
Check out what faculty members at Minnesota State University are doing:

PDA /Wireless Projects

--PDA and Handheld Computing Resources on the Internet

This is a good resource for people interested in learning about PDAs.

PDA Resources on the Web

--"Why Whiteboards? Using Electronic Interactive Whiteboards in Classroom Instruction"

As you can probably guess, this article discusses the merits of interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

Why Whiteboards?

--”The Next Generation of Educational Engagement”

This article addresses the impact gaming will have in education. The author forecasts informal learning, learning environments using games, and augmented reality. Read the abstract:

Games are no longer just for fun; they offer potentially powerful learning environments. Today?s students have grown up with computer games. In addition, their constant exposure to the Internet and other digital media has shaped how they receive information and how they learn. There are many attributes of games that make them pedagogically sound learning environments. An increasing number of faculty are using games as enhancements to the traditional learning environment with encouraging results. While the interactivity and engagement of games are highly positive a number of questions remain about how games will be developed, deployed and accepted in higher education.

The Next Generation

--”In the Classroom, Web Logs are the new Bulletin Boards”

This article is from The New York Times, 19 August 2004.

In the Classroom

--The Information Society Journal

The Information Society (TIS) journal, published since 1981, is a key critical forum for leading edge analysis of the impacts, policies, system concepts, and methodologies related to information technologies and changes in society and culture. Some of the key information technologies include computers and telecommunications; the sites of social change include homelife, workplaces, schools, communities and diverse organizations, as well as new social forms in cyberspace. TIS is a refereed journal that publishes scholarly articles, position papers, debates, short communications and book reviews.

TIS

--"Wikis And Face-To-Face Events"

This article addresses the issues of community memory and group ownership in wiki user groups.

Wikis

Service Learning / Civic Engagement

--Community Service Learning Center

The link below is a good resource for civic engagement and service learning.

Community Service Learning Center

This is a 14-page PDF file.

--e-Service Journal

The e-Service Journal is "a multi-disciplinary journal aimed at publishing high-quality, original, innovative, peer-reviewed research about the design, delivery and impact of electronic services rendered using a variety of computing and communication technologies. The journal combines both private sector and public sector perspectives regarding electronic services and thus bridges e-business and e-government."

e-service Journal

--The Network Observer

The Network Observer(TNO) is a free on-line newsletter about networks and democracy edited by Phil Agre. It appeared monthly from January 1994 to July 1996.

NTO

--CivicSpaceLabs

This work in progress is "a grassroots organizing platform that empowers collective action inside communities and cohesively connects remote groups of supporters." This site could be used by grassroots organizations across a wide range of political opinions and social causes.

CivicSpaceLabs

This link courtesy
NeatNew&ExLibris.

Pedagogy

--New Journal: The Journal of Educators Online

The Journal of Educators Online (JEO) is "an online, double-blind, refereed journal by and for instructors, administrators, policy-makers, staff, students, and those interested in the development, delivery, and management of online courses in the arts, business, education, engineering, medicine, and sciences."

JEO

--"Blended Learning and Sense of Community: A Comparative Analysis with Tradtional and Fully Online Graduate Courses"

Although this article focuses on hybrid courses in graduate education, it offers a
useful perspective on blended learning pedagogy.

Blended Learning

--Learning Object Initiative

This practitioner-focused monograph, authored by Rachel Smith and produced with sponsorship from McGraw-Hill, provides straightforward suggestions and tips for authors of learning objects. Included topics are the range and types of learning objects, pedagogical and design considerations, as well as discussions of standards, metadata, interoperability, and reusability.

You can download the Guide for Authors (32-page PDF file)for free.

Learning Object Initiative

--Educators’ Corner

This is a free archive of high-technology entrepreneurship teaching resources, such as video clips, case studies, course outlines, and recommendations for ways to get involved in the community of entrepreneurship educators.

Educator's Corner

--Just-in-Time Teaching

"Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT for short) is a teaching and learning strategy based on the interaction between web-based study assignments and an active learner classroom. Students respond electronically to carefully constructed web-based assignments which are due shortly before class, and the instructor reads the student submissions "just-in-time" to adjust the classroom lesson to suit the students' needs. Thus, the heart of JiTT is the "feedback loop" formed by the students' outside-of-class preparation that fundamentally affects what happens during the subsequent in-class time together."

JiTT

Library

--Blog for Librarians

This blog is "for librarians and people interested in search engines, searching the net, design issues and general whitterings and rants."

Phil Bradley's Blog

--The Center for the Book

"One Book projects (community-wide reading programs), initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998, are being introduced across the U.S.A. and around the world. See below for a state-by-state listing of past and current "one book" projects.

The Center for the Book

Development

--"Economy Improves, but Economist Warns {Non-Profits} Must Adjust"

Read an excerpt from the article:

The current economic recovery promises to positively impact philanthropy, reports Richard H. Mattoon, senior economist for the Federal Reserved Bank of Chicago. Speaking at Benedictine University this spring, Mattoon also warned charities that although conditions are improving, they will need to adjust the way they approach businesses for support.

"{Non-profits} must make a better case for why people and companies should support them,” explained Mattoon, urging members of the West Suburban Philanthropic Network to emphasize accountability. “Resources are tighter, raising the bar on what companies can fund. Corporate givers want to see a measurable return on their investment.

Read the entire article:

Economy Improves

This link acquired from Academic Impressions, 26 August 2004.

Students

--Making College Work for Adults Who Work

This booklet is provided by Augsburg College. Download it for free.

Making College Work

This is a 16-page PDF file.

--Princeton Review College Rankings

The Princeton Review has created sixty-four rankings lists, organized into nine categories, based on student feedback. Plus, eight new schools have made the cut.

College Rankings

--U.S. News College Rankings 2005

This is a ranking of the nation's 217 liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News College Rankins 2005

--Encouraging Good Student Contact

This article is from Syllabus Magazine, 12 August 2004.

Good Student Contact

Tools

--Vivisimo Clustering Search Engines (Demos)

A number of governments and agencies, universities, corporations, and news
organizations are now using Vivisimo's clustering search technology
for their web sites. Check out the demos to see if you can use any of them
in your own work, or if this is a model that would suit your own web site.

Vivisimo Clustering

--Fagan Finder for URL Information

This utility is helpful for handling Web pages: finding information about pages, translating them, and finding related pages.

Fagan Finder

This link acquired courtesy
Phils Bradley's Blog.

--Search Engine Relationship Chart

Neat!

Search Engine Relationship Chart

--Personalized Online News Service: Findory

This is free, and so far, there are no ads.

Findory.com

Blog Grab Bag

--Bioscience Literacy

This is "a non-commercial, educational web site created to promote bioscience literacy... the web site provides articles by scientists, science educators, and science students on issues related to seven bioscience challenges: environment, biodiversity, genomics, biotechnology, evolution, new frontiers in science, and bioscience education." It also provides "original lessons and resources to enhance bioscience teaching." Scientific American named this one of the best biology sites for 2003.

Bioscience Literacy

This link acquired from Marlaine Block's
NeatNew&ExLibris.

--Global Language Monitor

This site "documents, analyzes, and tracks the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English." Its unique PQ Index tracks the rise and fall of "politically sensitive words and phrases in the media and on the Internet."

Global Language Monitor

This link courtesy
NeatNew&ExLibris.

--Mind, Culture, and Activity

The Mind, Culture, and Activity Homepage is an interactive forum for a community of interdisciplinary scholars who share an interest in the study of human mind in its cultural and historical contexts. The emphasis is "research that seeks to resolve methodological problems associated with the analysis of human and theoretical approaches that place culture and activity at the center of attempts to understand human nature." Participants come from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, cognitive science, education, linguistics, psychology and sociology.

Mind, Culture, and Activity

--United States Geological Survey Web Site

This is a federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and
living resources, natural hazards, and the environment.

U.S. Geological Survey Web Site

--Explore the Transatlantic Tunnel

Engineering marvel of the future?

This site allows you to explore a mock- up Transatlantic Tunnel. Beautiful renderings and easy-to-use, elegant interface.

Transatlantic Tunnel

--Virtual Chemistry Lab

The IrYdium Project is a virtual chemistry lab offered by
Carnegie Mellon University.

Irydium Project

--Economics Network

This site is a resource for economics scholars and the economics classroom.

Economics Network

--Interactive Language Map

The MLA has produced an interactive language map. You can look at a map of the U.S., then pick a language and click "update map" to have it re-plotted to show where that language is spoken in the U.S.

Interactive Language Map

--Magnetic Poetry Online

Poetry composition online.

Magnetic Poetry Online

Until next week!

Blog editor