TL INFOBITS April 2007 No. 10 ISSN: 1931-3144 About INFOBITS INFOBITS is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ITS Teaching and Learning division. Each month the ITS-TL'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. NOTE: You can read the Web version of this issue at http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/bitapr07.php. You can read all back issues of Infobits at http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/. ...................................................................... Web 2.O Projects in Education NSF Report on Cyberinfrastructure Vision The Promise of Blended Learning Future Assumptions about Academic Libraries Studies on Wikipedia Use New Journal on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Using Virtual Worlds in Education Resource Guide Recommended Reading ...................................................................... WEB 2.O PROJECTS IN EDUCATION "What distinguishes the Web 2.0 phenomenon from earlier online educational tools is its connective nature. Key aspects of the movement include web architecture that encourages user contributions, the continuous updates of software and data, and the freedom to share and edit content. Essentially, anyone with an internet connection can consume and remix data while collaborating with others." In "Working the Web" (UNIVERSITY BUSINESS, April 2007) Chelan David surveys the use of Web 2.0 tools in academe. Examples he discusses include Harvard's "H20" collaboration project, Stanford's use of iTunes U, UC Berkeley's use of Google Video, and Wikipedia's School and University Projects web page. The article is available at http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=729&p=4#0. University Business [ISSN 1097-6671] is a publication for presidents and other senior officers at two- and four-year colleges and universities throughout the U.S. For more information contact: Professional Media Group LLC; 488 Main Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851 USA; tel: 203-663-0100; fax: 203-663-0149; Web: http://www.universitybusiness.com/. ...................................................................... NSF REPORT ON CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE VISION "In 2005, four multi-disciplinary, cross-foundational teams were created and charged with drafting a vision for cyberinfrastructure in four overlapping and complementary areas: 1) High Performance Computing; 2) Data, Data Analysis, and Visualization; 3) Cyber Services and Virtual Organizations; and 4) Learning and Workforce Development." In March 2007, the National Science Foundation published CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE VISION FOR 21ST CENTURY DISCOVERY, which describes the "various challenges and opportunities in the complementary areas that make up cyberinfrastructure . . . [and] also includes attention to the educational and workforce initiatives necessary for both the creation and effective use of cyberinfrastructure." The paper is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf0728/nsf0728.pdf. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense . . . ." NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally-supported basic research conducted by U.S. colleges and universities and a major funding source in fields such as mathematics, computer science, and the social sciences. For more information, go to http://www.nsf.gov/. ...................................................................... THE PROMISE OF BLENDED LEARNING "[B]lended [or hybrid] course offerings (i.e., those that combine the elements of an online course with those of face-to-face instruction) have grown dramatically in American higher education in recent years. There is a belief among some that blended courses hold at least as much promise as fully online ones. . . . It is becoming clear that blended learning is generally not part of an institutional transition strategy from face-to-face to fully online courses, but rather a discrete option which institutions choose on its own merits." The authors of the March 2007 Sloan-C report "Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States" analyzed survey data from studies of blended learning to determine how these courses might fit into an institution's long-term strategic goals. Among the questions addressed in the report are: "Are blended courses more prevalent than fully online courses?" "Do blended courses hold more promise than fully online courses?" "Are blended courses a stepping stone for institutions on the way to fully online courses?" "What is the consumer experience and perception of online and blended delivery options?" The report is available online at http://www.sloan-c.org/info/04/dl.asp. For more on Sloan-C's coverage of the topic, see the "Sloan-C Blended Learning" website at http://www.blendedteaching.org/. It includes discussion forums, chapters from the book BLENDED LEARNING: RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES, and videos of the Sloan-C Online Seminar Series "Blended Learning: What the Research Says." Sloan-C is a consortium of institutions and organizations committed "to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines." Sloan-C is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For more information go to http://www.aln.org/. See also: BLENDED LEARNING GUIDE By Laura Staley, et. al. Dublin, OH: OCLC, March 2007 http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=13893 "The Blended Learning Guide features tools, tips and best practices aimed at trainers and instructors who are looking to effectively incorporate live in-person instruction with a variety of virtual training tools such as web conferencing, wikis and self-paced tutorials. The guide also includes case studies from a variety of libraries that have created engaging and successful staff training programs using blended learning modes." ....................................................................... FUTURE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ACADEMIC LIBRARIES In 2006 the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Executive Committee asked the ACRL Research Committee to determine "ten assumptions about the future that would have a significant impact on academic libraries and librarians." A long list of possibilities was shortened to ten, which were then presented at the March 2007 ACRL 13th National Conference. The results are listed in ranked order in "Top Ten Assumptions for the Future of Academic Libraries and Librarians: A Report from the ACRL Research Committee" (by James L. Mullins, Frank R. Allen, and Jon R. Hufford, C&RL NEWS, v. 68, no. 4, April 2007). None of the assumptions reflect wild futuristic speculation. Rather, they reflect the continuing importance of research library collections in academe. The article is available at http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2007/april07/tenassumptions.htm. You can also listen to a podcast with one of the authors at http://blogs.ala.org/acrlpodcast.php?title=ever_wonder_what_the_future_holds. ACRL, a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching, and research. For more information, contact Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795 USA; tel: 800-545-2433; fax: 312-280-2520; email: acrl@ala.org; Web: http://www.ala.org/acrl/. ...................................................................... STUDIES ON WIKIPEDIA USE The April 2007 issue of FIRST MONDAY features papers addressing aspects of Wikipedia, the online, user-contributed encyclopedia. In "Assessing the Value of Cooperation in Wikipedia" Dennis M. Wilkinson and Bernardo A. Huberman look at article edits to "demonstrate a crucial correlation between article quality and number of edits, which validates Wikipedia as a successful collaborative effort." Anselm Spoerri ("Visualizing the Overlap between the 100 Most Visited Pages on Wikipedia for September 2006 to January 2007") uses data visualization tools to show that a much smaller percentage of the popular Wikipedia pages is related to typical encyclopedic topics, such as geography, history, or politics. In "What is Popular on Wikipedia and Why?" he discusses the relationship between search engines, such as Google, and the most-visited Wikipedia pages. The issue is available online at http://www.firstmonday.org/. First Monday [ISSN 1396-0466] is an online, peer-reviewed journal whose aim is to publish original articles about the Internet and the global information infrastructure. It is published in cooperation with the University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. For more information, contact: First Monday, c/o Edward Valauskas, Chief Editor, PO Box 87636, Chicago IL 60680-0636 USA; email: ejv@uic.edu; Web: http://firstmonday.dk/. ...................................................................... NEW JOURNAL ON SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING & LEARNING is a new open, peer-reviewed, international electronic journal published by the Georgia Southern University Center for Excellence in Teaching. Articles in the first issue include: "PowerPoint Presentation Handouts and College Student Learning Outcomes" By Illene Noppe, et al. "Effects of Information Distribution Strategies on Student Performance and Satisfaction in a Web-Based Course Management System" By Margaret Lohman "What Motivates Students to Provide Feedback to Teachers About Teaching and Learning? An Expectancy Theory Perspective" By Jay Caulfield "Theory: The Elephant in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Room" By Pat Hutchings International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (IJ-SoTL) [ISSN: 1931-4744] is published twice a year by the Center for Excellence in Teaching, P.O. Box 8143, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460 USA; tel: 912-681-0049; fax: 912-681-0099; email: aaltany@georgiasouthern.edu; Web: http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/. ...................................................................... USING VIRTUAL WORLDS IN EDUCATION RESOURCE GUIDE The UNC-Chapel Hill Information Technology Services Teaching and Learning division has a new resource guide, "Second Life in Education: Selected Resources." It is available online at http://its.unc.edu/tl/guides/2ndlife.php. ...................................................................... RECOMMENDED READING "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 carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column. "Is Online Learning for Loners?" By Jennifer Mulrean MSN ENCARTA http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=OnlineLearningForLoners The audience for this brief article is students who are considering taking an online course. ...................................................................... To Subscribe TL INFOBITS is published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Information Technology Services Teaching and Learning division. ITS-TL supports the interests of faculty members at UNC-Chapel Hill who are using technology in their instruction and research. 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