previous sites of the week

North by South- from Charleston to Harlem

"Welcome to the North by South, National Endowment for the Humanities seminar web page. This web page is the final product of a year long seminar researching the migration of African Americans from south to north. This seminar was the first part of a three year process to explore the reasoning, experiences, and contributions African Americans made to the greater community as they moved throughout the country. In this first section, we explore the migration of blacks from the Charleston Low Country area to Harlem. As a research team, the seminar was divided into five research subdivisions. Each subdivision, composed of three students, concentrated on different aspects that influenced and affected the migrants as they relocated."

This is an outstanding example of a cooperative class project.

Teaching and Learning on the WWW

"HERE YOU WILL FIND over 551 examples of how the web is being used as a medium for learning
JUST HOW CAN THE WEB be used for something more than surfing, chatting, making money, or idly wasting time? Can it provide an environment for learning? We found that people learn well from examples, so we created for our faculty this collection of the ways the web was being used in different disciplines. "

Professors are Human: Breaking Down the Barriers Between Instructor and Student by Steven Kreis

"The purpose of this article is to describe a publication available to my students on the Web that not only provides access to the content of an entire course online, but also personalizes the course by including details about myself that convey a sense of who is teaching (and why they should trust me) as well as what is being taught. This publication is The History Guide. "

Journey into Technological Integration by Gregory F. Aloia, Ph.D., Professor of Special
Education, Illinois State University

" This web site has been established to complement the material presented during the Live International Videoconference at the Ninth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville, Florida, April 1998. .....Although the process of change in itself is often perceived as uncomfortable, it can easily become threatening when coupled with technology. When the mixture consists of change, technology and adult learners - specifically well-educated faculty - the challenges presented can be overwhelming."

How Many Students Are "Just Right" in a Web Course? by Judith V. Boettcher, CREN

' The Web is still a relatively new environment for teaching and learning at a distance. Faculty are still learning from their experiences with various faculty-student ratios, and not unlike Goldilocks, finding out how many students are "too many," "too few," or "just right." '

Why Political Scientist's Should Use the Internet by Peter Adams.

The Political Scientist's Guide To the Internet

"The Political Scientist's Guide was created by Peter Adams '95 , for an independent political science project during his senior year at Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut. " Somewhat outdated , but a good example of the type of work expected of college seniors.

Technology Connections | The Impact of Technology

This site contains links to surveys, bibliographies, and literature reviews on the impact of technology on teaching and learning in K-12 and beyond.

H-Net, Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine

"An international consortium of scholars and teachers, H-Net creates and coordinates Internet networks with the common objective of advancing teaching and research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. H-Net is committed to pioneering the use of new communication technology to facilitate the free exchange of academic ideas and scholarly resources."

Handbook for Instructors on the Use of Electronic Class Discussion

"This handbook provides advice for instructors on one particular use of instructional technology-the use of electronic communication to extend class discussion beyond the time and place of class meetings. It is based on a study of several Ohio State classes that employed such electronic class discussions, recommendations of students and faculty, and advice from experts in the field. The main goal of the handbook is to help instructors use this form of technology thoughtfully and effectively, given their course goals."

Classroom 2000

"Classroom 2000 is an attempt to study the impact of ubiquitous computing on education. We have built a prototype classroom environment and the necessary software infrastructure to seamlessly capture much of the rich interaction that occurs in a typical university lecture. By capturing the different streams of activity in the classroom and presenting an easily accessible interface that integrates those streams together, we reduce the need for mundane note-taking, allowing the student to engage in and better understand the classroom discussion. Our ultimate goal is to revolutionize the classroom experience through the evolutionary introduction of a natural and useful capture, integration and access service."

Competence Without Credentials

"(March 1999) is a report of a workshop jointly held with the World Bank and OERI on the changing nature of teaching and learning transmitted through electronic media. The papers frame research questions on alternative credentials, computer-based learning modules, and the role of employers as the new providers of teaching and learning."

WWW. AMERICANSTUDIES. COM? -Strategies and Challenges in High-Tech Teaching A Presentation Given at the Dartmouth Institute on the Futures of American Studies, June 24, 1999 by Gregory S. Jay, Department of English, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee

"While I hate to feel left out, I am not at all sure we want to be in the business of www.americanstudies.com. Yet we are already part way there in the proliferation of internet assisted courses and web sites generated by teachers around the country. As it increases its use of information technology, American Studies needs to think of itself as having a two-faced relation to the world of dot.com. In one direction, many of us are already participating in the movement toward pedagogical incorporations of technology that resemble those advocated by the administrators of the university.com. How will our application of technology differ, if it does, from the managed and corporate inspired strategies of the for-profit enterprises now laying claim to cyber education? This practical and theoretical puzzle has its other face in the direction of American Studies' tradition of social critique. What kinds of critical analysis of internet culture and internet education will American Studies scholars produce? And how will American Studies methodologies and perspectives contribute to understanding and redirecting the force of information technology and computers as they spread ever more pervasively throughout American life? Along with the wonderful kinds of case studies the Crossroads project gives us, then, we still need studies of internet culture that critique its social, political, and epistemological effects, especially in educational settings. These critiques, in turn, should become part of our pedagogical practice and reflections, turning the two faces of our concerns into a single, multiplatform interface that challenges the code of the operating system. Will American Studies 2000 run on the current system? The resolution isn't clear, so keep your search engines running."

The Chronicle: Daily news: 09/10/99 Colleges Object as Companies Put Class Notes on Web Sites by GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK

"New Internet companies that pay students to take notes in classes and then post the material on the World-Wide Web are raising the ire of professors and administrators at several colleges and universities."

The Chronicle: Daily news: 09/15/99 "An On-Line 'Quiz Show' Uses the Anonymity of the Internet to Reveal Biases" by SCOTT CARLSON

' "One of the interesting things about the Net is the disinhibitive behavior it causes," said Mr. Berman, who is also studying psychology and sociology. He cites studies -- such as those of Sherry Turkle, a sociologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- showing that the anonymity of the Internet can allow people to be more open than they would be in face-to-face conversations. "We're leveraging off that -- using that power to get people talking more frankly than they otherwise would in a discussion about race or gender or sexual orientation," he says. '

Center for Digital Storytelling

"The Center for Digital Storytelling is the artistic and administrative home to Joe Lambert and Nina Mullen. We are a husband and wife team working with a large number of community collaborators, and our mission is to assist people in using digital media to tell meaningful stories from their lives, with source material generated from their personal image archives. We are based at UC Berkeley with an ongoing program of activities and workshops for the campus community and general public."

Icon Magazine

" ...Icon is a creative endeavor that uses the possibilities afforded by today's technology to bring something new to the art of storytelling. Part magazine, part gallery, part forum, Icon is a participatory space where the power of stories is given a new freedom and saddled with a new responsibility."

Icon is a Web publication produced by undergraduates at Harvard University.

American Center for the Study of Distance Education (ACSDE)

ACSDE Research Monograph No. 16 —NOW AVAILABLE— "Presence at a Distance: The Educator-Learner Relationship in Distance Education "

"Authored by Jane Southwell Munro, this monograph focuses on the issue of interaction in distance education, particularly, the educator-learner relationship. Through an extensive review and analysis of the distance education research and theory on the subject, Munro develops a new model of the educator-learner relationship. This model attempts to address one of the greatest challenges of distance teaching: to create an environment in which virtual presence outweighs the reality of distance."

For-Profit Venture to Market Distance-Education Courses Stirs Concern at Temple U (12/09/99)

' "Clearly there is a lot going on out there in on-line education, and there are lots of players," he said. "We had to make a decision as to whether or not we were going to do nothing and take the chance that some other entities erode our traditional student and revenue bases, or whether we were going to at least respond and see what is out there." '

University of Illinois: Report of the Teaching at an Internet Distance Seminar (December, 1999)

"The scenario of hundreds or thousands of students enrolling in a well developed, essentially instructor-free online course does not appear realistic, and efforts to do so will result in wasted time, effort, and expense. With rare exceptions, the successful online courses we have seen feature low student to faculty ratios. Those rare exceptions involve extraordinary amounts of the professor's time. And besides the initial investment in the technology, technical support for professors and students and maintenance of hardware and software are quite expensive."

Scholar Concludes That Distance Ed Is as Effective as Traditional Instruction by JEFFREY R. YOUNG (Chronicle, 2/10/00)

"There is so much research on this matter that I find it incomprehensible that any reasonable, knowledgeable, unbiased, and professional person could deny the fact that technology can deliver instruction as well as traditional modes -- at least when we look at student populations as large groups."

Survey Shows Widespread Enthusiasm for High Technology (March/00)

"Americans love the technological revolution. A new poll by National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government shows that people overwhelmingly think that computers and the Internet have made Americans' lives better. Although people recognize some dangers in what they see (and would like the government to protect them from these dangers), they are not particularly bothered by potential perils like information overload or phones, faxes and e-mails that never stop. They are buying computers at a fast pace, they are hooking up to the Internet from home, and, for the most part, they like what they see. A separate survey of children age 10-17 shows that they are even more positive than adults, and nearly all of them have access to modern technology at school."

Incentives and Obstacles Influencing Higher Education Faculty and Administrators to Teach Via Distance

"This study examined incentives that encourage faculty to develop educational opportunities via distance and obstacles that discourage them from doing so. The primary incentives centered on intrinsic or personal rewards. These rewards included opportunities to provide innovative instruction and apply new teaching techniques as well as self-gratification, fulfilling a personal desire to teach, recognition of their work, and peer recognition. Other incentives included extending educational opportunities beyond the traditional institutional walls so place-bound students have access and release time for faculty preparation. The major perceived obstacles related to time requirements, developing effective technology skills, and assistance and support needs. Monetary awards for faculty and the cost to the student were seen as neither incentives nor obstacles. Faculty were divided on how they saw distance teaching affecting their yearly evaluation process and their promotion/tenure needs; about 40% saw it as an incentive, while about 30% saw it as an obstacle."

Trends Transforming the Universities of This Century: Virtualize, Disappear, or Transform (On the Horizon, March-April, 2000)

"In the last two hundred years, universities have evolved from colleges emphasizing philosophy and moral sciences to institutions forming the backbone of the science and technology revolution. But this transformation is not complete, for four trends promise to dramatically change the university of the next century: globalization, virtualization, multiculturalism, and politicization, driven by economy and efficiency, technology, values and rights, and power and politics. Operating at different levels, these trends are likely to change the fundamental nature of teaching, learning, and research. Globalism and politicization have existed for many years, whereas multiculturalism and Internet technology are newer trends. All four bring new models of who teaches, who learns, and through what medium and through what organizational structures these people teach and learn. This article explores the impact of these trends on the future of the university, presents possibilities for structural change, and offers probable scenarios for the future."

The National Academy for Academic Leadership

"The National Academy for Academic Leadership educates academic decision makers to be leaders for sustained, integrated institutional change that significantly improves student learning. Its curriculum is based on research and best practices. Its programs are designed both for institutional teams working on campus projects and for individuals--presidents, board members, vice presidents, deans, chairs and key faculty members--with role-specific responsibilities and concerns. The National Academy recognizes the considerable variation among institutions in their readiness for change and their resources for leadership development, and so programs are geared to the unique institutional contexts and specific needs of participants."

Education, Commerce, and Communications: The Era of Competition by Murray Turoff, The WebNet Journal--Internet Technologies, Applications & Issues, vol 1, no 1. 1999 ( available in PDF format )

"The normative goal of the use of the Web and group communications for educational delivery should be to completely eliminate the need for any distinction, organizationally or functionally, between distance students and on campus students."

"Faculty are still the key to the future but it is uncertain whether they will destroy themselves or evolve into something new. The battle of material ownership is a key issue faculty will not compromise on; however, if they refuse to evolve their teaching methods and adapt new learning approaches they will be condemning their institutions and the future role of faculty in the educational process. Too many institutions seem to feel the material is more valuable than the faculty member who created it. For many academic fields, the productive lifetime of the faculty member is much longer than the lifetime of the material they create."

Accrediting Bodies Consider New Standards for Distance-Education Programs (The Chronicle, 8/11/00)

"Under the guidelines, the regional bodies would not accredit a distance-education program unless faculty members controlled the creation of the content, the institution provided technical and program support for both faculty members and students, and the program had evaluation and assessment methods for measuring student learning."

Fairleigh Dickinson U. Will Require Distance Courses of All Students (The Chronicle 10/4/00)

"Fairleigh Dickinson's president, J. Michael Adams, said the requirement was part of an effort to help the university's students become "global scholars" who are able to use the Internet for a variety of purposes, including learning."

' "I refuse to get involved in a debate over whether distance learning is better or worse than classroom teaching," said Mr. Adams. "It is simply different. And it is one channel that our students must be skilled in." '

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