Techne

Reflections on Teaching and Learning with Technology

Geospatial Conversations

Author: Giovanni Maria Cassini 1790

When push comes to shove, it’s awfully good to know you have a GIS buddy to watch your back. For several years now, the NITLE GIS e-mail list has linked educators in common conversation to better exchange information, share resources, and mull over such heady topics as spatial literacy and the role of spatial technologies in the liberal arts curriculum.

As I write, there are over 250 subscribers to the GIS-list who come from NITLE Network colleges and universities, non-Network institutions, and related organizations. This number will surely grow as spatial studies gain importance in non-traditional disciplines (e.g., History, English, Global Studies) and interactive online mapping technologies evolve.

To understand where we are today and what we might yet become as a community, perhaps a birds-eye view would be helpful….

Read the rest of this post »

Posted on March 3, 2010 at 3:13 pm by Sean Connin · Permalink · Leave a comment
In: Collaboration, Science, Technology · Tagged with: , , ,

Technology and Learning Disconnect

What do you think of when you hear the words “technology for teaching and learning”? Conditioned by my work at NITLE, I think of web 2.0 technologies–social, collaborative, in the cloud and out of the classroom.  The reception of a recent presentation with my colleague Nancy Millichap at the 2010 AACU annual conference, reminded me that I might hold a minority view. Read the rest of this post »

Posted on February 26, 2010 at 4:37 pm by Rebecca Davis · Permalink · Leave a comment
In: Pedagogy, Technology · Tagged with: , ,

Faculty Innovation in – and Beyond – the Classroom

Gabriela Torres, Wheaton College, Shares Ideas via Videoconference

Innovative faculty at NITLE colleges are sharing their ideas about using technology in their teaching with other faculty who have similar interests. To do so, they are using these interactive videoconferences to share their practices, notably those in the “Special Topics in Digital Teaching” series. (In January, Rebecca Davis and I offered a breakout at the AAC&U Annual Conference on this topic. Our presentation was called “Virtually Anywhere:  Sharing Effective Practices for Innovation in Liberal Education.”)

By sharing knowledge and insights, liberal arts colleges can embrace and take advantage of the current dramatic changes in technologies and the information environment. Yesterday afternoon, for instance, Michael Taylor, assistant professor of political science and director of the Center for Mobile Research and Social Change at Seton Hall University, discussed the uses of smartphones in the classroom across multiple disciplines (see “Teaching with Mobile Devices: Smartphones“). Taylor presented the use of mobile devices in student projects including digital storytelling, mapping, polling, and in-field data collection. Twenty-three participants from 20 campuses participated in the session, enabling Professor Taylor to share a sense of his and his campus’ innovative work with interested others from across the country. The participants were able to learn about other parts of the Seton Hall community as well, since innovations like Professor Taylor’s call for partnerships across the campus, involve professional staff from different areas such as technologists and librarians, and demand coordination at the administrative level if they are to succeed.

NITLE is always looking for ways to support this kind of sharing and cross-fertilization between liberal arts colleges and their diverse faculties. From virtual videoconferences to the upcoming NITLE Summit for campus leaders, we seek to provide venues for discussion and platforms for developing collaborative partnerships. Your ideas about how NITLE can best nurture creative exchange between practitioners of liberal education are welcome. (And, of course, those in the NITLE Network are welcome and encouraged to register for the Summit. Early registration ends tomorrow!)

Open Content By Any Other Name

Open Content - adopted from http://tinyurl.com/ybp2rg3 under a Creative Commons License.

How do you recognize Open Content (OC) on the Internet when you see it? Those of you seeking to re-purpose videos, images, text, and other creative works for classroom instruction may already understand the nuances inherent in this seemingly straightforward question. For example, The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) suggest that “A piece of knowledge is open if you are free to use, reuse, and redistribute it”.  That description appeals to my native desire for simplicity but does overlook the 11 conditions that OKF uses to define OC. Read the rest of this post »

Posted on February 25, 2010 at 8:12 am by Sean Connin · Permalink · Leave a comment
In: Pedagogy, Technology, Uncategorized · Tagged with: ,

How does the education app market grow?

How many educational apps are there for the iPhone and Touch? Our latest NITLE prediction market proposition ponders this piece of the mobile learning puzzle.

It asks, more precisely, “By March 15, how many education apps will there be for the iPhone/Touch?”  To get a daily answer, we are testing out the uquery service.

Our next proposition might turn to an Apple competitor, the Android mobile device platform, to see how educational apps are faring there.

Posted on February 23, 2010 at 10:44 pm by Bryan Alexander · Permalink · Leave a comment
In: Technology · Tagged with: , , , ,