The Fall 2006 issue of AAC&U's Peer Review examines a range of current issues concerning the role and use of technology in student learning and also addresses how these technologies can advance liberal education learning outcomes. Much of the issue is online, but several key articles are not--so you still need the paper copy!

The online articles include David Shi's "Technology and Integrative Learning: Enabling Serendipitous Connectivity across Courses," "Harnessing Technology to Improve Liberal Learning"--an interview with Steven Sachs, and Charles Hannon's "Service Learning in Information Technology Leadership." Jack Meacham offers a "Reality Check": "Questioning the Best Learning Technology," in which he confesses, "Yes, I continue to use a variety of technologies in my teaching, but less so than a few years ago, for often the students can best be stimulated by sharing a good story with a twist or sketching a simple table or diagram with chalk. The criterion for bringing technology into my courses should always be: will this enable me to pose questions that better engage my students, spark their curiosity, and push them to think critically and, ultimately, to learn?"

Seb Schmoller's latest Fortnightly Mailing includes a piece by Mark van Harmelen about the state of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) in the UK, focusing especially on a recent meeting at Manchester University sponsored by CETIS (Center for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards). The post focuses not only on emerging Web 2.0 tools but on client tools being developed by groups like CETIS.

Van Harmelan writes, "Importantly, and picking up on threads that have been emerging in the Blogosphere over the last two and a half years, PLEs are increasingly seen as a vehicle for self-directed and group-based learning, where individual learners construct their own agendas and learning programmes to satisfy their own learning goals. As such, the PLE revolution harbours two important threads, a change in learning style in institutions, and a spilling over of learning technology from institutions to non-institutional life."

The results from this somewhat biased study are promising in that it appears that students who utilize educational podcasts feel that they are helpful.

 But are recordings of lectures really podcasts?


 

Inside Higher Ed has run a nice piece entitled "Rallying Behind Open Access"  announcing an open letter written by a group of Provosts from some very high-end schools. The letter supports Senate Bill 2695, the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (FRPAA), which would require the on-line, open access publication of federally-funded research within six months of publication. The letter is worth reading, and sharing on campus as part of your scholarly communications education program.