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 Humanist List has had quite a bit of talk lately about the phenomenal growth of Wikipedia as a favorite source for citation in student papers. Alan Liu weighs in this week (Humanist 20.084) with a draft policy statement on student use of Wikipedia. He's looking for response and suggestions; at some point, he writes, he's hoping for a one-paragraph version that could easily drop into a course syllabus. With claims like "Students should be aware that Wikipedia is a dynamic, constantly mutating resource," Liu's statement opens up interesting room for discussion about  the nature of information in general. Predictably, there's already a healthy debate in response to Liu's proposed guidelines, including an interesting post from Bob Cummings, currently conducting dissertation research at Georgia on Wickipedia use in the college classroom.

Tomorrow's Professor, the excellent mailing list  sponsored by the Stanford University Center for Teaching and Learning  considers this week a variety of learning activities that can be done with laptops in the classroom. The post excerpts Chapter 1: "Laptops in the Class: What Are They Good For? What Can You Do with Them?" from Barbara E. Weaver and Linda B. Nilson's New Directions for Teaching and Learning no. 101: Enhancing Learning with Laptops in the Classroom (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). The authors state "The real question requires more elaboration: What can we do with laptops in class that (1) has genuine learning value for students (is interactive, participatory, experiential, or hands-on) and (2) cannot be done as well or at all without a laptop, at least not in class? In fact, many of the laptop activities suggested here could be done as homework on any kind of Internet linked computer. So why not just assign computer activities to be done out of class and forget about laptops?" They answer their question with 8 solid suggestions for types of activities that effectively use laptops in the classroom.

Language Learning Technology International (LLTI) is a listserv created and moderated by Otmar Foelsche of Dartmouth College. LLTI has become the principal means of information exchange among those interested in language learning technology. All contributions are archived. Highlights of the discussions appear regularly in the IALLT Journal. (from IALLT website)

The NITLE News is published by the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, which seeks to make effective use of technology to enhance teaching, learning, scholarship, and information management in liberal arts education. The newsletter highlights some of the work being done in the three regional technology centers sponsored by NITLE.

Primary Source is a monthly mailing list published by the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the newsletter highlights grant deadlines and announcements, new publications, funded IMLS projects, and other issues in the world of libraries and museums.  

The University Web Developers' Mailing List aims to provide a discussion forum for people responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining a higher education web site. The list sponsors talk about technical web development and site design, administrative policies at various institutions, training and conference information, useful support tools, etc.

CIT Infobits is an electronic service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ITS Center for Instructional Technology. The Center's staff offers monthly, nicely annotated citations for journal and magzine stories about information and instructional technology. The June 2005 issue index offers a good indication of their focus:

• Personal Digital Libraries
• eLearning and the Structure of Higher Education Institutions
• Principles for Supporting Cyber-Faculty
• Clickers in the Classroom
• Update on Videoconferencing Options
• Recommended Reading

Edupage a free e-mail briefing published three times each week by Educause. "Where other EDUCAUSE publications focus primarily on information technology in higher education, Edupage offers synopses of a more general nature, which are extracted from the mainstream media."