Nicole Ryan's List: Web 2.0 for eLearning

Event Summary:\nWeb 2.0 technologies are revolutionizing the way in which instructors engage and interact with students online. Through Web 2.0 applications a whole host of new ways to engage and interact with students has emerged. Wikis, blogs, podcasts, interactive whiteboards, VoIP, tagging, image sharing, discussion rooms, and many more learning tools are freely available to educators.\n\nLearning Objectives, participants will:\n * Explore current web 2.0 technologies\n * Understand pedagogical and technological implications of web 2.0 tools\n * Learn how to apply web 2.0 technologies in their classes

Learning Technologies
The term learning technologies encompasses information and instructional technology, as well as telecommunications tools, applications, and systems that support learning. The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) explores the possible benefits and challenges of individual learning technologies, but also considers the potential impact their integration may have on advancing teaching and learning. To maximize the transformative effect of learning technologies, we look for uses of learning technology that are replicable across institutions and disciplines.

7 Things You Should Know About...In addition to the topics ELI explores in this area, we also publish the 7 Things You Should Know About... series. 7 Things You Should Know About... pieces provide quick, no-jargon overviews of technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts. Any time you need to explain a new learning technology or practice quickly and clearly, look for a 7 Things You Should Know About... brief from ELI.

Current Topics
M-Learning and Mobility
Using portable computing devices (such as laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs, and smart phones) with wireless networks enables mobility and mobile learning, allowing teaching and learning to extend to spaces beyond the traditional classroom. Within the classroom, mobile learning gives instructors and learners increased flexibility and new opportunities for interaction. Mobile technologies support learning experiences that are collaborative, accessible, and integrated with the world beyond the classroom.

Emerging Technologies and Practices
Learning technology alone does not necessarily advance learning; well-integrated learning technologies and practices often do. With learning principles and practices in mind, technology is being used in service of learning. New technologies may advance learning; even traditional technologies, when implemented with pedagogically sound practices, can result in significant learning gains.

Games, Simulations,

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's (ELI's) 7 Things You Should Know About... series provides concise information on emerging learning technologies and related practices. Each brief focuses on a single technology or practice and describes:

* What it is
* How it works
* Where it is going
* Why it matters to teaching and learning

Adobe eLearning Island on Second Life, ready for Primetime
Adobe eLearing in Second LifeWhat do you do for an encore after successfully launching a brand new Suite, the Adobe eLearning Suite, and a major upgrade to a second one, version 2 of the Technical Communication Suite? You launch an eLearning Island in Second Life!

Separate Technology Paths

Though information technology has certainly altered the business side of higher education, the general sentiment was that faculty and students are each finding their own technology pathways but are not doing so in each other’s company: Students are deeply engaged in the social Web while faculty are deeply engaged in technologies specific to research in their field. While students are finding new ways to connect and learn and socialize, they are doing that unguided by the professoriate; while faculty are finding new ways to build knowledge in their field, they do not in general find a way to re-think teaching and learning as a result of their own discoveries.