From: James L. Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
Below is a description of the July/August 2001 issue of The
Technology Source, a free, refereed Web periodical at
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=issue&id=43
Please forward this announcement to colleagues who are
interested in using information technology tools more
effectively in their work.
As always, we seek illuminating articles that will assist
educators as they face the challenge of integrating
information technology tools in teaching and in managing
educational organizations. Please review our call for
manuscripts at http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/call.asp and send me
a note if you would like to contribute such an article.
Jim
--
James L. Morrison [log in to unmask]
Professor of Educational Leadership CB 3500 Peabody Hall
Editor, The Technology Source UNC-Chapel Hill
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Editor Emeritus, On the Horizon Phone: 919 962-2517
http://www.camfordpublishing.com Fax: 919 962-1693
IN THIS ISSUE:
Darrell Butler leads off this issue with an account of
faculty and staff development at the grassroots level. At
Ball State University, a small cadre of professors is
spearheading the integration of information technology into
teaching and learning. Organized not by administrative
initiatives but by a common interest in technology's role in
teaching and learning, members of this unique group represent
disciplines across campus and meet regularly to discuss the
theoretical issues and practical applications of technology
in education. Butler's article provides the background for
the three case studies in this issue, all of which were
written by members of Ball State's faculty technology group.
(See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=904)
In the first case study, an education professor describes her
use of the Web to showcase creative student ideas and archive
them for general use by the wider academic community. Susan
Tancock, who teaches a course on literary methods for
preservice teachers, always encouraged her students to
develop and share best practices in literacy education. Until
recently, she recorded these practices in a single, limited
location: a traditional notebook accessible only during class
and computer lab hours. As she designed her first course Web
site, Tancock realized the potential for an electronic
repository that would give preservice and practicing teachers
alike immediate, 24-hour access to a wealth of education
resources. Read on to find out how she transformed that
standard notebook into an online database and how her
students augment it each semester--not only though the
generation of ideas but also through hands-on construction of
their own Web pages. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=885)
In the second case study, William Bauer not only gives TS
readers a look at the use of Internet technology in music
education, he also provides a good summary of how computer
technology can enhance learning in the traditional, face-to-
face classroom. Bauer has carefully integrated some of the
Internet's most common and useful tools in his courses in
music education, yielding a well-reasoned balance between
traditional and computer-based teaching practices--a
refresher for those seeking to improve their classroom
teaching. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=884)
In the third case study, Darrell Butler describes how he uses
computer technology when he teaches large lecture classes.
Butler has formulated an innovative strategy: he assigns
students personal learning projects, providing a means to
employ student-centered pedagogies in an instructor-centered
course. As a result, computer technology can help students
with many aspects of the projects and it reduces Butler's
workload. See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=864)
James Morrison's interview with Jeanne Meister is an
excellent commentary on the state of corporate e-learning--
its advantages, its challenges, and its future. Corporate
universities, educational organizations that develop the
competencies of employees, suppliers, and even customers, are
innovative, flexible, and increasingly important, Meister
argues. She highlights a number of their best practices--
including the "apportionment" of learning, learner control of
curricula, and the combination of synchronous and
asynchronous components--and points to a future in which
corporate universities will increase their ties to
traditional universities, leverage their knowledge to
customers, and become involved in elementary and high school
education. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=888)
Thomas A. Marino has the following commentary for instructors
considering developing information technology tools for
teaching and learning: look before you leap. Marino points
out that a number of pitfalls await those who head down this
path, from scarce hardware, software, and funding to a lack
of support from administration, faculty, and students.
Ultimately, Marino believes that IT tools help students
learn, but the choice to use these tools involves a number of
risks--especially for untenured faculty members--that Marino
carefully points out in his insightful essay. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=888)
Robert Burnside's commentary on the state of e-learning and
corporate and university education is bound to raise some
eyebrows. Burnside, the research director of Corporate
University Xchange, argues that corporations, technology
providers, and traditional and online universities should
bury the hatchet and agree to work together to provide the
education and training needs of today's working adult
learners. Citing examples of successful collaboration,
Burnside notes that "our current best hope is to seek
collaboration among partners who once viewed each other as
competitors, but who can gain much by working together." (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=882)
Peshe Kuriloff suspects that the "one size fits all" approach
to e-learning employed by course management systems actually
hinders effective teaching. Course management systems, argues
Kuriloff, threaten the unity and individual identity of
custom-designed course materials, contain embedded
assumptions about pedagogy to which instructors must conform,
and constrain innovation. In sum, "they present a threat to
future innovations in teaching and learning." Kuriloff's
penetrating commentary is another chapter in the debate over
these systems. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=899)
Internet users frustrated with the performance of
conventional search engines might want to check out the tools
described by Rich Cummins: "searchbots" that return specific,
useful hits for Internet queries. Unlike regular search
engines, searchbots--downloadable programs available for free
or a modest fee--search within defined parameters and in
specific sections of the Web. Most also summarize the results
of a search in a Web page or bibliography that can be saved
along with the search string. All in all, says Cummins, this
more advanced way of searching saves researchers and casual
surfers alike time and energy. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=895)
Shared courseware, made available by publishers for use in
online courses, is not a topic of much conversation in the
academic community. Stephen Downes thinks it should be. In
this issue, he focuses the Technology Source Spotlight on
XanEdu.com, one of the leaders in custom online content
development, XanEdu, provides full-text books and articles,
ready for publishing in online course packs. As Downes points
out, "XanEdu solves one of the problems facing online
learning: the capacity to provide articles and resources to
online students." However, he also notes that fees are
charged to students and paid to publishers, an arrangement
that leaves him wondering about where authors stand. For more
about the pros and cons of this arrangement, read on. (See
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp?show=article&id=887)
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