Technology Enabled Teaching November 2, 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
VIEWPOINT
NEWS & PRODUCT UPDATES
CASE STUDY
TECH NOTES
READER RESPONSE
Sponsors
Viewpoint
What to Tell Your Campus About the Blackboard-WebCT Merger
By Steve Acker
What interesting times at Educause, one week after the
announced Blackboard-WebCT merger. Most of those involved
in running a course management system, any course management
system, were reading tea leaves, seeking assurances,
reflecting on the plane ride home about what to report to
campus. And somewhat ironically, those with the courage of
their convictions would have that opinion, any opinion,
reinforced in some conversation held along those interminable
halls of the Orlando Convention Center.
News & Product Updates
‘Killer Maps’ Touted for Political Science and Geography Studies
Wade Rush in the October 2005 issue of MIT’s Technology
Review describes “Killer maps,” the outcome of competition
among Google, Yahoo, and Mapquest. One significant innovation
is the new possibilities of user’s overlaying their own data
on the base maps provided by such services. Applications in
political science and geography are among the most obvious
educational uses, but many other uses can be envisioned.
Read more
Cornell Looks at How People Interact with Computers and Information Systems
Olivia Oran describes Cornell University’s Information
Sciences program that emerged from an interdisciplinary
core in 2002. The program looks at the way information
systems affect society’s culture, economy, law, government
and research. The major focuses on how people interact with
computers and information systems, how these systems are
designed and the effects of these systems on the world.
Read more
New Study Finds Campuses Going Wireless But Faculty Backlash Predicted
Early glimmers from the results of the 2005 Campus Computing Survey
are now available. The full survey will be released on Dec. 10.
Wireless is one emphasized area, with nearly two-thirds of campuses
describing strategic planning activities and more than a quarter
offering wireless currently on campus. With success comes concerns,
and faculty backlash on some campuses is occurring.
Read more
Case Study
Elluminate: A Resource for Building Community
within the Ohio Learning Network
By Cable T. Green
Ohio Learning Network
The Ohio Learning Network is charged by the Ohio Board of
Regents with assisting colleges and universities to prepare
for the knowledge economy. As such, OLN works closely and
cooperatively with Ohio’s public and private institutions
of higher education to meet this mission. A common course
catalog (OhioLearns!) to help Ohioans locate online courses,
E 4 ME, an innovative online course to give new learners a
taste of eLearning, shared WebCT, Blackboard, and open source
infrastructure to provide efficient hosting services, professional
development communities, student services through regional
coordinator outreach, grant programs, and an annual conference
are among the services established by OLN to meet this mission.
To provide this basket of services requires a lot of participation
from Ohio institutions and substantial facilitation from Columbus-based
OLN. And, while Columbus is located almost in the exact center of the
state, many of the member institutions are at least two hours away by car.
Faced with the need to meet regularly to implement its many projects,
and challenged by the busy schedules and increasingly costly travel
of the multiple committee members, we’ve begun to “walk the walk” of
eLearning by convening an increasing number of our meetings as
electronic conferences.
Tech Notes
Focusing on Administration for Distance Education
Jolene Schauer and colleagues focus on the administrative
concerns regarding distance education to complement the
often-discussed faculty issues in this realm. Using a
modified Delphi approach with follow-up interviews, her
research team identified six administrator concerns:
faculty commitment and skill development, technology
integration and support, incorporation of distance
education into the departmental focus, financial
issues, student engagement and support, quality
control for courses and documentation of outcomes,
developing policies and governances for course and
delivery processes, and compliance with regulations
and legal matters.
Reader Response
From the Reader Response Forum
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina share experiences, lessons learned,
and your opinions on disaster planning and recovery.