Thursday, June 30, 2011

Higher Ed Ready for Compassionate Pioneers? Sharing Instructional Resources?

Donated Corneal Transplant - 2 Stitches Showing








A "compassionate pioneer" is someone who has demonstrated commitments to BOTH exploring new educational and technological options AND helping colleagues - at least some of the time. 


Can the culture of colleges, universities, and academic disciplines support the development and use of shared instructional resources? - This still imiportant question taken from Observations Section of "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article


See also Exemplar:  Tom Creed,  "Many Swords, Many Stones"  


More from Observations 2000 about Compassionate Pioneers

Extend, Coordinate, and/or Outsource Academic Support Services - Harder Today than Y2K!

#vwwt2000 Predctn13

PREDICTION #13 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?
Extend, Coordinate, and/or Outsource Academic Support Services

More colleges and universities will form local centers and/or related institutional Web-based directories, forums, and services to coordinate the work of existing academic support services, encourage the development of new combinations of those services, and make it easier for faculty and students to find and use those services. More institutions will also “outsource” some technology and other academic support services and/or develop inter-institutional collaborations for more cost-effective delivery of those services. Other new commercial services may provide “academic” support services directly to faculty members or students – with or without the involvement of the colleges or universities in which those learners and teachers do their work. This may be a new role for textbook publishers and other companies in education-related industries.

- 13th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

New Faculty Responsibilities, Increasing Workload for All

#vwwt2000 PREDICTION #12 OF 20 from year 2000 
Still likely?
New Faculty Responsibilities, Increasing Workload for All
See also: Overloaditorium


More faculty members will decide that their professional responsibilities include keeping current with the knowledge accumulating in their fields, pedagogical options, and supportive technology applications. The workload for faculty, academic support professionals, and academic administrators will continue to increase. 

[In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the VARIETY of portable/mobile digital devices that would be in common use by 2011.]



See also:

“I’ve got to go home; I really need to get some work done."
and see:  Overloaditorium
Our Motto: If working 24 hours a day isn't enough, you have to work nights. 
- James Moss, 1985, USNA
Our Challenge: TMI/TMO/TLT/TL$
Too Much Information / Too Many Options / Too Little Time / Too Little Money!
- Steven W. Gilbert, Founding President, TLT Group
You don't have time for this! Or anything else! ...but...:

and see:   "Overload Syndrome"

- 12th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

[STILL] Unrecognized Revolution in Higher Education

The unrecognized revolution in higher education is the growing use of word-processing, presentation graphics (PowerPoint), electronic mail, and the World Wide Web IN CONJUNCTION WITH TRADITIONALLY SCHEDULED AND STRUCTURED COURSES. [See Kenneth C. Green’s data about growth in course-related use of email and the Web in higher education in the last 5 years.]  Many of the faculty themselves and the reporters who observe them have not noticed the significance of these changes.  

An observer looking in the windows of most classrooms at most colleges and universities doesn’t see anything very different from a few decades ago.  The communication between faculty and students via Email outside of class doesn’t show.  The increasingly common practice of putting some course-related information on the Web for student access doesn’t show.  The frequent student use of the Web to reach that information or to do assigned research doesn’t show.

Something like half of all courses in colleges and universities in the United States already involve some Email communication among students and faculty.  Many faculty members report two major changes:  First, the volume of correspondence in the form of Email they exchange with colleagues and students has dramatically increased – and so has their workload.  Second, they are also receiving course-related communications from students AFTER a course has ended.  [Note:  Less data is available about the widespread but un-publicized adoption of technology applications in academic departments where those applications have become essential for doing the work of the discipline;  e.g., accounting, architecture, music, geography, health sciences.]

Many faculty members, beginning to use Email and the Web in these ways, would answer “No” if asked if they use information technology in their teaching.  They don’t initially perceive these changes as significant.  But they are.

- from Observations Section of "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

“I’ve got to go home; I really need to get some work done.”

Overloaded, Overconnected, and Disconnected  #VWWT2000 
Many work harder and fall farther behind.   Also see:  New Faculty Responsibilities, Increasing Workload for All (Prediction #12 from Y2K)  tlt.gs/obsover












Information overload is dramatically increasing.  So is work overload.  Having almost constant access to new varieties of communication tools means being almost constantly accessible to a growing flood of messages and information – personal, impersonal, and semi-personal.  Many people are finding they can’t get their work done in the office.  (“I’ve got to go home;  I really need to get some work done.”)  The overload has many people both “overconnected and disconnected”.  They are recipients of more information than ever before.  They don’t know how to manage and digest it.  They don’t have much time or energy left for meaningful personal relations.  [See the “human moment” in Connect by Edward Hallowell.]


Most faculty seem to have adjusted to the acceleration in knowledge growth in their fields, and so have most of the related support professionals.  However, neither the faculty nor those who are responsible for supporting their teaching can keep up with the new acceleration in growth of instructional options.  Many feel increasingly obliged to identify and understand their pedagogical and technological options and to make thoughtful choices among them.  Many work harder and fall farther behind.  Expectations outstrip resources.  The signs of stress are abundant.

Creativity & achievement of excellence using new media for communications, educ, & the arts can‘t be accelerated or guaranteed.


The dramatic revolution in education, claimed or hoped for by many, never arrives.  But a less visible transformation is [STILL] well underway.  

Patience and Gratitude for Progress, But No “Moore’s Law for Learning"

We must be patient.  Human creativity and the achievement of excellence in the use of new media for communications, education, and the arts cannot be accelerated or guaranteed. After almost a century of movie-making, only a few new films each year offer genuinely new approaches to using that medium.  And only a few are truly satisfying for those who made them and those who view them.  We must be grateful to those who keep trying and for their occasional success.  [Also, look at the low success rate for new books, TV series, …]

OVERVIEW OF OBSERVATIONS FROM Y2K - Apply in 2011!?



Accelerating Change, Demand, Access, and Challenge  tlt.gs/accelchange



Wikineet
The demand for higher education is increasing – for more of it, and for more kinds of it.  More colleges and universities are breaking ground for new buildings than are closing.  New technology applications, that appear to have great educational potential, arrive from industry at an accelerating pace.  While distance education isn’t catching on nearly as fast, widely, or cost-effectively as the zealots claimed and the technophobes feared, the majority of faculty, students, and administrators are rapidly embracing fundamental technology tools for communication and information management.  An unprecedented foundation for educational change is being laid, but with no clear picture of the edifice that will arise from it. 

Meanwhile, the “digital divide” is widening.  Children of the poor have dramatically less access to computers and new information resources in their schools or colleges than the wealthy – just when more careers require information technology skills.  Dozens [hundreds?  thousands?] of colleges are now requiring or providing computers for all students, faculty, and staff;  and these institutions are exploring the educational potential of “ubiquitous computing.”  However, on many other college and university campuses, the information technology resources available to faculty and students vary markedly between departments or divisions (with schools of education often among those with the smallest budgets per student for these tools).  Many undergraduates who cannot afford their own computers have family and job obligations that make it inconvenient to use publicly available labs.  Even with borrowing computers from friends and getting permission to use computers in the workplace for educational purposes, students who may need it most have less frequent, less comfortable access.

The economics of higher education are shifting in unpredictable ways.  The clear old line between students’ paying tuition for courses and paying fees for course-related learning materials (books, etc.) is rapidly blurring.  More faculty members are assigning instructional materials that students can find on the Web, more students resist buying required textbooks, and more students are comfortable going to the Web instead of to the library for reserved readings.  Consequently, new financial relationships are developing among students, faculty, publishers, bookstores, libraries, and colleges.  The publishers and bookstore managers are especially eager to understand or create viable new business models.  Some of these might give a more significant role to faculty members who develop course-related “online” materials and find new ways of collecting fees from students or their colleges/universities.


Verbatim Prediction from 2000 Applies in 2011: Shifting Relations Among Courses, Textbooks, Web, Money, Libraries #vwwt2000

The economics of higher education are [STILL!] shifting in unpredictable ways.   


The clear old line between students’ paying tuition for courses and paying fees for course-related learning materials (books, etc.) is  [STILL!] rapidly blurring.  


 [STILL!] More faculty members are assigning instructional materials that students can find on the Web, more students resist buying required textbooks, and more students are comfortable going to the Web instead of to the library for reserved readings.  


Consequently, new financial relationships are  [STILL!] developing among students, faculty, publishers, bookstores, libraries, and colleges.  The publishers and bookstore managers are  [STILL!] especially eager to understand or create viable new business models.  Some of these might give a more significant role to faculty members who develop course-related “online” materials and find new ways of collecting fees from students or their colleges/universities.


- from Observations Section of "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Widening Expectation-Resource Gap

Widening Gap - Book
But demand for support services less "respectable"? #vwwt2000 Predctn11


Due to cuts in budget, full-time staff, increasing workloads?

PREDICTION #11 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?

11.Widening Expectation-Resource Gap

At most educational institutions, the gap between expectations and resources will continue to widen (with respect to the improvement of teaching and learning with technology). The need for academic support services will continue to grow faster than the supply. The competition from industry to hire technical support professionals will become more intense.

Both learners and teachers will need the services of librarians more frequently and extensively so long as sources of information continue to proliferate. Demand will continue to increase for the services of faculty development professionals, instructional design specialists, and other pedagogical experts (as a consequence of the increasing number of faculty members who want to use new applications of technology in their teaching).

Collaboration vs. Support Service Crisis [Oldie But Goodie] tlt.gs/SSvcCrisis

     

At most colleges and universities the supply of resources available to help faculty improve teaching and learning with technology is simply inadequate to meet rising expectations.  In addition, these resources are usually not well-coordinated – wasteful duplication is too common.  The usual lack of coordination and collaboration among different parts of most educational institutions compounds the impact of the shortage of support service professionals and undermines the college’s or university’s capacity to adopt and adapt valuable new combinations of technology, pedagogy, and educational purpose.  These combinations can only be developed and used effectively if the essential expertise and resources controlled by the “Constituencies for Change” [see below] can be focused TOGETHER on improving teaching and learning. 

Attractive new technology applications keep arriving faster than colleges and universities can integrate them.  As Mark Milliron suggested in a presentation in October, 1999 at the League for Innovation in the Community College annual technology conference:  every six months, with the arrival of the next exciting application or the next significant update to the standard suite of office tools, everyone is a novice once again.  Most novices ask lots of predictable questions which can be easily and quickly answered. 

As faculty become more experienced users of technology, many of them need less help with new “introductory” questions.  However, these veterans are likely to see how they might use it to achieve more sophisticated, educationally attractive goals.  Their questions and support needs become more complex and require more expert, possibly lengthy assistance.

The variety of technology tools and applications used at most colleges and universities also exacerbates technical support problems.  In many other industries, institutional standardization on certain hardware, software, and related tools can reduce support costs by restricting the variety of technical support services provided.  Unfortunately, this kind of standardization may reduce instructional options and, thereby, conflict with some interpretations of academic freedom.

The availability of appropriately skilled professionals may be diminishing just when the demands for technical support on most campuses are increasing.  Because the technology “support service crisis” isn’t limited to education, many of these same professionals are discovering they can get similar jobs in industry with much higher salaries and less stress. Fortunately, some still prefer the flexibility and variety in their work on campus;  and they value opportunities to work with students, teachers, and researchers available only in academia.

One of education’s unique resources, the students, provide the most promising response to the shortage of campus technical professionals.  Several colleges and universities are developing or expanding programs to train and engage students as assistants with technology and related support services.  But so far, these programs have only slowed the rate of widening in the gap between resources and expectations;  they haven’t reduced the need for professional staff – nor are they likely too.

The “Support Service Crisis” is most visible with respect to technology support personnel. Closely related causes have the same effects for librarians, faculty development professionals, instructional design and media specialists, etc.  As more faculty and students use the Web, librarians’ advice and assistance are more frequently needed to help navigate this new information resource and evaluate the credibility of the sources.  As faculty members shift from personal productivity uses of technology to instructional applications, they more often need the help of those with related professional expertise (instructional design, faculty development, pedagogy).  As faculty members become more comfortable with the Web and more conscious of students’ different learning styles (visual, audio, …) many of them begin to explore the educational potential of new media and need the help of experts in their use.

Finally, fragmentation and the unintended overlapping of academic support services is getting more common in response to the new pressures just described: 
- Librarians find they are providing technical support (“How do I print?” instead of “Where can I find information about X?”). 
- Technology, media, and instructional design professionals find they are providing pedagogical support (“How do I use this tool to teach topic Y in my course?”). 
- Pedagogy experts and faculty development professionals find they are providing technical training (“How do I convert my outline to PowerPoint slides?”  “How can I use a Web-based discussion to support collaborative learning?”). 

The gap is widening between the level of support services available and the expectations of faculty members, administrators, and students.  Consequently, more coordination and collaboration among these service units may reduce, but not eliminate, the need for more academic support professionals.  The Support Service Crisis is getting worse.



The use of information technology is clearly not an educational panacea – a cure for all problems.  Information technology can be the excuse and the means to move closer to educational goals that we have been unable to achieve for decades – and to some new ones. With enough commitment of resources, thoughtful effort, patience, and luck technology will help more than it hurts.

- from Observations Section of "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Y2K Observations - Oldies but Goodies - TOC tlt.gs/Y2Kobs

Most still seem valid 10 years later!  That's both satisfying and disturbing.  Steve Gilbert June, 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

"Problem of Learning in Postcourse Era" Where have all the teachers gone?

Pizza Cartons, Pizza Posters
Invite faculty to students’ pizza/learning parties?











FACULTY INSIGNIFICANT, INTERCHANGEABLE?
Are faculty becoming insignificant or interchangeable?
Am I missing something? Or are the faculty missing from serious discussions of the future of higher education courses? Missing as participants? Assumed to be insignificant and interchangeable? 

POSTCOURSE ERA
"Higher education teaching practices (and curricula) sit at the potentially tense convergence of the power of experiential, ubiquitous and social learning on the one hand and rising pressure to assess and demonstrate evidence of student learning in increasingly visible ways on the other. In this context, what are some of the new and emerging ways we can see evidence of impact of digital learning technologies in the classroom and in student work? Are the places to look changing and are they at variance with conventional curricular structures that privilege courses and the formal curriculum as the center of the undergraduate experience? How might various social media tools help capture "thin slices" of student thinking and longer narratives of intellectual and social development?"


COURSES NOT DELIVERED


"Pizza & course materials can be delivered. Courses cannot. Even online. 'Delivery' denies interaction.
"In a course, learners have some meaningful access to at least one faculty member and that faculty member has some meaningful access to the learners, too.
"Faculty and students who are misled to believe that in most courses, access to course materials is equivalent to course participation, end up delivering and receiving a diluted education. - excerpt from  "A Course is not a Pizza"  TLT-SWG Steven W. Gilbert May 2, 2011.

"learners can self-organize their own pizza parties around common interests...and in a wider variety of settings.
"This seems to represent a morphing of what we see as traditional 'course-based' learning opportunities. Perhaps we are seeing the early stages of what Randy Bass has termed the 'post-course era'"  - comment by "Jeff" to blog entry "A Course is not a Pizza"  TLT-SWG Steven W. Gilbert May 2, 2011.

Flexible Space/Schedule Still High Priorities for Higher Ed?

Vs. Overload, Career Risks, Financial Fears? #vwwt2000 Predctn10
PREDICTION #10 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?
More colleges and universities will recognize the need to plan for and institutionalize a process for change, and to accept the increased risk of failure along with the exciting prospects of new success. This attitude may be instigated by, but not limited to, the increasing importance and more widespread use of information technology in teaching, learning, and research. To institutionalize change, colleges and universities will:
  • Develop new administrative units to support changes in teaching and learning. 
  • Provide incentives and reduce obstacles for faculty members to take risks in trying to find, develop, and use combinations of technology, pedagogy, and content. 
  • Make it easier for faculty, students, and academic support professionals to reconfigure their schedules and the spaces in which they work together. 
  • Do so by making flexibility a high priority when retrofitting classrooms, renovating old buildings or designing new ones, and modifying the system for scheduling course activities.
[In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the extent of the shifts in workload (more for fulltime tenure-track faculty;  more use of adjuncts) and the leap in complexity of providing guidance and support for faculty and students who have so many tech options OUTSIDE the control of the college or university by 2011. - Steve Gilbert June, 2011]
- 10th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Friday, June 24, 2011

UNCOMFORTABLY Increasing $ACADEMIC info Tech? More/less "Shared governance"?

Academic IT "out of control"? #vwwt2000 Predctn9 
Edsels photo: Symbol Strategic Tech Investments?
 t.co/hnFFoJf  58 and 59 edsels
for sale  via @americanlisted
PREDICTION #9 OF 20 from year 2000  Still likely?
Increase Technology Investments; Forums for Exploration, Planning, Advice
Presidents, boards, and other academic leaders will continue to increase institutional resource allocations for academic uses of information technology – and to be uncomfortable about doing so. Consequently, more colleges and universities will form internal groups representing diverse constituencies (faculty, academic support professionals, administrators, students, …) and provide them with a forum to:
  • Explore and develop ways of improving teaching and learning – with technology. 
  • Plan for the continuing integration of new technology applications into all scholarly work and for the institutionalization of change. 
  • Offer academic leaders the best advice and help them shape related policies and decisions. 
[These groups are like TLTRs -- Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtables.]
See also:   TMI/TMO/TLT/TL$   & 
Why TLT Roundtables are coming back: CRISIS...LURCH...TLTR2!
[In 2000, I didn't anticipate the impact of the current economic recession, the increasing pressure to use technology to increase student/faculty ratio, the increasing workload for full-time faculty, and the increasing ACADEMIC role of technology neither owned nor controlled by the institution. - Steve Gilbert, 2011]

- 7th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Escape Voicemail Purgatory!

What if WE recorded those calls "Recorded for quality assurance"? What if we broadcast them live?

See Brin's Corollary to Moore's Law about ubiquity of cameras and potential for constant amateur surveillance. But it isn't just cameras that are becoming small and ubiquitous. We can now record almost anything, anywhere, anytime... so... Let's take schadenfreude to a new level... 
Botticelli - Drawing Dante's ...
The next time some big organization that I'm paying to provide services for my benefit (e.g., health insurance) returns me to voicemail purgatory...  
You know voicemail purgatory:  The system that functions more effectively to delay the services I deserve than to provide the help I need in a timely way? 
You know, when I need a little bit of help, a little bit of info, TO WHICH I'M ENTITLED and it takes several calls, several voicemail tree choices, and several conversations with anonymous people identified solely by first name - no last name, no telephone extension - so that when I get cut off after waiting too long I must start over with another anonymous employee.  And then I'm told that to "correct" my situation at least 10 business days will be required...
And during voicemail purgatory I often hear that "this call is being recorded for quality assurance" as if that is supposed to make me feel better.  Same for "Thank you for your patience."

Widespread PROOF-LESS Adoption of SOME Educ Uses of Tech

e.g., “Low-Threshold” apps: email, wordprocessing, Google, #vwwt2000 Predctn8

PREDICTION #8 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?
No Proof, But Widespread Adoption of Email, Web, and Instructional Combinations
No conclusive proof of the general educational superiority of any technology application will emerge. Evaluation and assessment activities will be used more frequently to improve the results of continuing investments of time, money, and other resources in educational uses of technology. However, some combinations of technology application, teaching/learning approach, and subject matter content will be widely adopted because they are so easily implemented, reasonably priced, and OBVIOUSLY effective in achieving important educational goals. Debate about these combinations, if it arises at all, will be brief and inconsequential. For example, the vast majority of faculty members will decide to use electronic mail and the World Wide Web in their scholarly work – including teaching – without the benefit of convincing evaluative studies.

- 8th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"Sousveillance" "Brin’s corollary to Moore’s Law” Cameras vs. Authority/Privacy?



"you can be arrested for filming cops on duty"
"Brin’s corollary to Moore’s Law -- the cameras will get smaller, cheaper, more numerous and more mobile every year. 


"So figures of authority might as well get used to it now.

"In several states, you can be arrested for filming cops on duty, even in a public place. With cameras growing ever smaller, conflicts are going to arise more often and there can only be one outcome. Police are just going to have to get used to it. Much as I forecast in The Transparent Society (1997).
"make some allowances for good people, caught making a rare mistake."

- Above are excerpts from Contrary Brin: Speculations on Science, Technology & the Future -- David Brin "Sousveillance: A New Era for Police Accountability - (and laser eyes?)" FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2011

Distance Education and Online Education Mix with Face-to-Face

More varied learning, teaching structures.
#vwwt2000 Predctn7

PREDICTION #7 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?

Mixtures of online and face-to-face education will become more common than programs that offer either one alone. The most widely used patterns will be:

  • Courses in which students meet face-to-face with each other and the teacher(s) some of the time and in which they are also assigned combinations of group work and independent work including a variety of media and tasks; e.g., electronic mail, the Web, new technology applications, books, writing papers, science labs, etc. 
  • Programs or sequences of courses, in which some of the courses include regularly scheduled face-to-face group meetings of students with faculty, and some of the courses do not. The latter may be completely “distant” and asynchronous, or may include some live communications at a distance.
See also: "Hybrids always win!" in "Face-to-Face vs. Online: Over-Zealous Extremophiles vs. Hyper-Romantic Luddites"

- 7th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Image: Photo of sphinx

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Low-Threshold Applications and Activities (LTAs)


Incrementally Low-Cost in Time, Money, Stress
An LTA is an activity or application of information technology that is reliable, accessible, easy to learn, non-intimidating and incrementally low-cost in time, money, and stress.

  • Introduction to LTAs (Definitions, Forms, Criteria, Examples, etc.)
  • Shareworthy LTAs - see Glossary
  • LTA Collection (edited by Charles Ansorge for the TLT Group)
  • Additional LTA Resources (Collections of low threshold and higher threshold teaching resources, Examples, Slideshows, etc.)

See also:  TMI/TMO/TLT/TL$Frugal InnovationsVisions Worth Working Toward

Fully Asynchronous “Distance Education” Becomes More Creditable

 - But Not Preferable.  iPads?
#vwwt2000 Predctn6

PREDICTION #6 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?

Fully asynchronous “distance education” courses, especially those that require no special meeting space, will become more credible and attractive -- and will be used for many kinds of instruction. Many people will welcome supplementary educational ATMs [Automatic Teaching Machines?] into their homes and offices. Unlike the role of ATMs in banking, these educational ATMs will not be viewed as the preferred alternatives for most kinds of traditional education.

["Supplementary Educational ATMs" = iPads?   In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the VARIETY of portable/mobile digital devices that would be in common use by 2011.  Seems that many of these are serving - to some extent - as "learning machines."  Also seems that I did not anticipate the growing pressure for identifying most educational activities and resources with "learning" rather than "teaching."]

- 6th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000;
PDF of full article

Monday, June 20, 2011

Higher Ed Courses Enhanced - Not Replaced - by New Tech Apps

More new buildings open than old ones close. #vwwt2000 Predctn5  

PREDICTION #5 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?
New applications of technology, that appear to offer the potential for improving teaching and learning, will continue to arrive at an accelerating pace; but the dominant model for using technology in higher education will continue to be the enhancement of traditional classroom-based courses. More new buildings will be opened on higher education campuses than will be closed.

See also: "Hybrids always win!" in  "Face-to-Face vs. Online: Over-Zealous Extremophiles vs. Hyper-Romantic Luddites"

- 5th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article
Image: "Construction on campus of Xavier University, New Orleans" 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Top 10 Trends Academic Libraries


$challenges, digitization, mobile devices, collaboration, physical->virtual, intprop -

ACRL 2010 study.
Collection growth, patron demand, budget challenges, diverse skills, accountability, digitization, mobile devices, collaboration, scholarly communication, intellectual property, technology, physical -> virtual
• Academic library collection growth is driven by patron demand and will include new resource types.
• Budget challenges will continue and libraries will evolve as a result.
• Changes in higher education will require that librarians possess diverse skill sets.
• Demands for accountability and assessment will increase.
• Digitization of unique library collections will increase and require a larger share of resources.
• Explosive growth of mobile devices and applications will drive new services.
• Increased collaboration will expand the role of the library within the institution and beyond.
• Libraries will continue to lead efforts to develop scholarly communication and intellectual property services.
• Technology will continue to change services and required skills.
• The definition of the library will change as physical space is repurposed and virtual space expands.
Above excerpted from 2010 top ten trends in academic libraries

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

INCREASING VARIETY IN EDUCATION

Needs abilities goals programs institutions AND publishing/media/tech options #vwwt2000 Predctn4

Teachers, learners, and other human beings will continue to have a remarkable range of educational needs, abilities, and goals. The variety of educational programs and institutions in the United States will increase, even as consolidation continues in closely related industries (e.g., publishing, communications media).
- 4th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article


Image:  "U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 1st Class Brandan W. Schulze (RELEASED)  Gulf of Mexico (Aug. 4, 2005) -

Monday, June 13, 2011

Moore's Law BOTH Prescient AND Prescriptive


Digital device performance doubles every 1-2 years since 1965! Predctn3 #vwwt2000

See:  Understanding Moore's Law: Four Decades of Innovation - Available free online as eBook
But, there is still "No 'Moore’s Law' for Learning!" And there won't be.
See 3rd of 20 predictions from  "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006
"The rule of thumb known as Moore's Law has many versions and variations, but they all amount to roughly the same thing: The performance of digital computers doubles every year or two. The steady doubling and redoubling has been going on for more than 40 years, long enough that it has come to seem a normal and unremarkable fact of life; yet such sustained exponential growth is unmatched and unprecedented any­where else in economics or technology. And it's not over yet."
- excerpt above from "Semiconductor Real Estate" by Brian Hayes, in March-April 2008 issue of American Scientist; a review of the book Understanding Moore's Law: Four Decades of Innovation. Edited by David C. Brock. x + 122 pp. Chemical Heritage Press, 2006.

No “Moore’s Law” for Learning!


No new app or educational approach will double the speed of human learning -ever. Predctn3 #vwwt2000

More valuable combinations of technology and pedagogy will be developed and both the speed and effectiveness of education in many fields will increase significantly, but not dramatically - not exponentially.  Not like Moore's Law. No “Moore’s Law” for learning will emerge...ever.

- 3rd of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Image: Image representing 3-D graphic of exponential implications of Moore's Law by Jürgen Mantzke, Creative Director/Partner at LBxJournal.com, jurgen@enfineitz.com
http://enfineitz.com/wp/about/
http://enfineitz.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/info_graphics_12.jpg

TLTG Summer Reading List 2011

Summer Reading at its best...books and articles picked by TLT Group Staff, written by TLT Group Members and Friends.

Here are our hopes for the list:

  • You'll find something(s) to read which are interesting and useful to you.
  • You'll find the eclectic nature of the selections intriguing.
  • You'll join us next year (2011-2012) as we discuss a number of them in our online book groups.
  • You'll recommend other books and articles for Summer Reading 2012.
  • Three categories of titles: -- Written By TLT Group Members, Picked by TLT Group Staff and Friends, "How To Books" Picked by TLT Group Staff and Friends

We've linked these selections so you can purchase through Amazon. If you buy the books there, we'll get a small % of the sale price. Every little bit helps!

THE LIST


Why Frugal Innovations? CHURNING

We churn.  We are churned.  We live in churning.  


Too many demands for our time, energy, attention.


Most churning advances nothing we care about.
Much churning advances nothing at all.

Most of us still care deeply about improving teaching and learning.
But only in ways that can preserve or enhance what we value most - professionally and personally.

We are too often overwhelmed by the gap between what we hope and what we can do.


That's why we need Frugal Innovations.  Now.

What to do?  Keep Trying.  Keep asking:  
"What are a few good things we can do soon?"









Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations

















Adapt and use our Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations to help sharpen your Vision Worth Working Toward and focus your efforts on a few  "low-threshold" improvements in teaching and learning that are worthwhile, easy to begin, and easy to share.


See also:  TMI/TMO/TLT/TL$   and the OVERLOADITORIUM 


IMAGE:  "This satellite image of Hurricane Alberto churning across the northern Atlantic Ocean was captured by the OrbView-2 satellite on August 21, 2000. NASA's QuikScat and TRMM missions are beginning to show scientists what's underneath the obscuring clouds of these great storms."
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Alberto_2000.jpg
By User Juan andrés on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons