20.609 new on WWW: Global Islands Project; TL Infobits for April from Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty <willard.mcc on 2007-05-04 (Humanist Archives Vol. 20 )

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 06:48:51 +0100

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 20, No. 609.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
  www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/cch/research/publications/humanist.html
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

[1] From: { brad brace } <bbrace_at_eskimo.com> (31)
Subject: many gigs

[2] From: "Carolyn Kotlas" <kotlas_at_email.unc.edu> (203)
Subject: TL Infobits -- April 2007

--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
         Date: Thu, 03 May 2007 06:22:45 +0100
         From: { brad brace } <bbrace_at_eskimo.com>
         Subject: many gigs

Many headed monsters -- unless, of course, there's no such thing as
chance, in which case Brad - for all his age and sensitivity - was nothing
less than a time-bomb, ticking softly away until his appointed time; in
which case, we should either - optimistically - get up and cheer, because
if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning, and are
spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a _why, or
else, of course, we might - as pessimists - give up right here and now,
understanding the futility of thought, decisions, action, since nothing we
think makes any difference anyway; things will be as they will. Where,
then, is optimism? In fate or in chaos? It was only a matter of time...

http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_1.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_2.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_3.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_4.0

Global Islands Project -- ongoing series of multi-media pdf-books -- a
pastoral, pictorial and phonic elicitation of island parameters...

http://www.bbrace.net/id.html
http://bbrace.laughingsquid.net/id.html

bbs: brad brace sound
http://69.64.229.114:8000
http://www.bbrace.net/undisclosed.html

--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
         Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 06:34:47 +0100
         From: "Carolyn Kotlas" <kotlas_at_email.unc.edu>
         Subject: TL Infobits -- April 2007

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_at_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_at_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.

......................................................................