Archive for the ‘Learning Spaces’ Category

The folks at Best Colleges Online have created a list of 9 Ways Mobile is Moving into Academia. Mobile devices have made computing ubiquitous and colleges and universities are taking advantage of all that mobile has to offer in the areas of marketing, learning, mobile library access and more. Here are the first 5 ways discussed:

1. Expanding university apps and mobile web
2. Nomadic learning
3. Augmented reality learning scenarios
4. Mobile apps for education
5. Twitter feedback in class

via Stephen’s Lighthouse

The folks at It’s Not About the Books write about the Return of the Coffeehouse: How to turn your library into an ideas factory. This is a thought-provoking article about yet another innovative role libraries can play today.

“Throughout history libraries have been highly effective as what we might call idea storehouses. Universities and schools have been highly effective as idea communicators. But, particularly at a time when many are questioning the relevance of libraries (thinking in terms of the ‘storehouse’ model), might we develop libraries further as idea factories? The place you go to generate ideas in the first place?”

Social Media guru Chris Brogan writes Educators – Google Plus Is For You. This quick post discusses 4 different ways that Google+ can be used in education. Here are his recommendations:

1. Make a Class Circle
2. Share Lesson Plans
3. Seek and Respond To Comments
4. Start a Hangout

The folks at Educause have put together a new “7 Things” guide, this time describing 7 Things You Should Know About Service Design. Service design is a process that examines the relationship between those who use a service and the service environment. By focusing on and making improvements to the points at which users interact with other people or the environment, service design enables an organization to run smoothly, provide the best service to its users, and reduce the kind of situations that that can generate complaints.” As usual, the quick reference resource answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Photo by Jonathan Blanc

Stan Friedman at Library Journal offers coverage of Finding the Future: Inside NYPL’s All-Night Scavenger Hunt. This amazing event gathered 500 gamers to “connect to the future through the riches of the past via the tools of today”.

“They came wearing bowties and fancy hats, skinny jeans and peasant blouses. They came armed with smartphones, tablets, and laptops. On the evening of Friday, May 20, 500 young adults gathered at the New York Public Library (NYPL) to do what no one had done before: spend the entire night in one of the city’s great public spaces, indulging in an ambitious, interactive game that would test their collaborative abilities while introducing them to the library’s vast holdings.”

Sarah Kessler at Mashable reports on 6 Companies Aiming to Digitize the Textbook Industry. Each of these companies is making strides in the e-textbook arena, and is utilizing unique strategies to attract customers. Here are the top three from the list:

1. CourseSmart
2. CafeScribe
3. VitalSource

Jolie O’Dell at Mashable rounds up some great online courses, webcasts, forums, and tutorials in 4 Free Ways to Learn to Code Online. If you’ve been considering learning a programming language but don’t know where to start, this is a post you won’t want to miss. I’ll be heading to Mozilla’s School of Webcraft to check out their jQuery courses, and maybe a few more!

The folks at Educause have published another of their helpful emerging technologies briefs entitled 7 Things You Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons.

“The learning commons, sometimes called an “information commons,” has evolved from a combination library and computer lab into a full-service learning, research, and project space. As a place where students can meet, talk, study, and use “borrowed” equipment, the learning commons brings together the functions of libraries, labs, lounges, and seminar areas in a single community gathering place. The cost of a learning commons can be an obstacle, but for institutions that invest in a sophisticated learning commons, the new and expanded partnerships across disciplines facilitate and promote greater levels of collaboration. The commons invites students to devise their own approaches to their work and to transfer what they learn in one course to the work they do for another.”

As usual the resource answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Gwyneth A. Jones, Teacher-Librarian at the Murray Hill Middle School, aka The Daring Librarian has created an exciting QR Code Quest: a Library Scavenger Hunt. This innovative use of QR (quick-response) barcodes was created as a library learning experience for 35 middle-schoolers in an ESOL program. What a great idea!

The librarians at the Miller Library at McPherson College have developed a graphic novel titled Library of the Living Dead, a zombie-themed guide to using their library resources. This is an exciting and innovative idea for teaching patrons about library services and resources!

The folks at Educause have put together a new “7 Things” guide, this time describing 7 Things You Should Know About iPad Apps for Learning . As usual, the quick reference resource answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Keith Webster, University Librarian and Director of Learning Services at the University of Queensland, Australia, writes for Educause Review about The Library Space as Learning Space. In this article he discusses a series of studies done at the University of Queensland Library investigating the use of their library space. As a result of these studies they report twelve key findings:

1. Most respondents visited the library to undertake individual study-related activities, and they accomplished this.
2. Respondents also visited the library to undertake social or group learning activities.
3. In all but a few instances, respondents did less of what they had intended to do.
4. In all but a few instances, respondents did more “other” things than they had intended to do.
5. Most respondents chose to work in the library because it is conveniently located and provides good study spaces.
6. All respondents put location, atmosphere, study space, and finding what they need above social reasons (e.g., group meetings for visiting the library.
7. Most respondents visited the library after they had been at home or at a class.
8. Most respondents planned to stay in the library for between thirty minutes and two hours.
9. Respondents were regular library visitors.
10. Students spent most of their time in the library using computers and quiet study spaces.
11. Students also used e-mail, the Internet, and Facebook, met and chatted with friends, ate, and borrowed books.
12. Students wanted the library to provide more computers and more quiet areas.

Dr. Norm Friesen, Canada Research Chair in E–Learning Practices at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, provides an alternative take on education and social media in Education and the social Web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative in this month’s issue of First Monday.

“In recent years, new socially-oriented Web technologies have been portrayed as placing the learner at the centre of networks of knowledge and expertise, potentially leading to new forms of learning and education. In this paper, I argue that commercial social networks are much less about circulating knowledge than they are about connecting users (“eyeballs”) with advertisers; it is not the autonomous individual learner, but collective corporate interests that occupy the centre of these networks. Looking first at Facebook, Twitter, Digg and similar services, I argue their business model restricts their information design in ways that detract from learner control and educational use. I also argue more generally that the predominant “culture” and corresponding types of content on services like those provided Google similarly privileges advertising interests at the expense of users. Just as commercialism has rendered television beyond the reach of education, commercial pressures threaten to seriously limit the potential of the social Web for education and learning.”

The folks at the University of Phoenix Blog have gathered the Top 10 “Big Ideas” in Education. This succinct article discusses the most innovative trends having an impact on education today. Here are the ten ideas examined in the full post:

1. Teaching to Understand, Not Just to Memorize
2. Students Grading Teachers
3. Free Education
4. Supplemental Courses
5. Shifting Routines
6. Sleeping In
7. Educating the Individual
8. Studying Smarter
9. Considering Brain Function
10. Encouraging Creativity

Dona Collins at Technorati writes about The Rise of Online Colleges and Online Education. This useful article discusses:

• Popularity of Online Degrees
• Online Colleges vs. Traditional Colleges
• The Benefits of Online Classes
• What to Expect From Online Classes