Monthly Archive for September, 2011

The Google Effect, and What This Means for Teaching

Published on September 26, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

John Bohannon

From Online Educa Berlin

Nowadays we use the Internet as an extension of our brains. If we wish to find out the name of the actor we have just seen in a movie we google it on our computer or smartphone. We can look up the recipe of a dish or re-read a newspaper article we liked at any time online. But this way of accessing information “in the cloud” is changing the way we process and store information. We no longer try very hard to recall facts, and students are now better able to remember how to find information than the actual information itself.

What are the implications of this for teaching and learning? John Bohannon, a Boston-based journalist for Science magazine and visiting researcher at Harvard University will examine this question in his keynote speech at OEB 2011.

To hear the keynote, click here

Ubiquitous Learning Conference Welcomes Plenary Speaker Al Weiss

Published on September 20, 2011 in Conference, Headline, News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

We are pleased to announce Al Weiss will be joining us as a plenary speaker at this year’s Ubiquitous Learning Conference.

Al Weiss is the Director of Educational Technology and Curricular Innovation at Pacific University where he is leading and supporting initiatives to integrate digital technology into teaching and learning. Al has been engaged in teaching with technology since 1992 when he used a simple spreadsheet program to help teach math and science skills to seventh and eighth graders. Since then, he has used technology in a number of different classrooms and settings, including an elementary school in Hawaii, a junior high school in Japan, and when teaching a variety of graduate and undergraduate classes. Most recently, he coordinated the instructional development and faculty support programs for campus-wide e-learning platforms at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Al has given numerous workshops and presentations at regional and national conferences on e-learning and has published articles on virtual learning environments and gaming. His current research focuses on the relationship between physical and digital learning spaces.

To learn more about this year’s plenary speakers, please visit our website.

Ubiquitous Learning Journal Associate Editors listing available

Published on September 14, 2011 in Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

ubiquitous_frontAs part of the process of publishing Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal all submissions are sent for peer review, prior to publication.

Assessment, comments and guidance by the referees are an essential part of the publication process and invaluable to the authors of the submitted papers.

In recognition of the important role of referees, the international advisory board acknowledges all referees who have refereed papers as an ‘Associate Editor’ in the volume of the journal they have contributed to.

The Associate Editors listing for Volume 3 of  Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal is now available.


In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores

Published on September 10, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Matt Richtel, The New York Times

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Amy Furman, a seventh-grade English teacher here, roams among 31 students sitting at their desks or in clumps on the floor. They’re studying Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” — but not in any traditional way.

In this technology-centric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeare’s lovelorn Silvius.

The class, and the Kyrene School District as a whole, offer what some see as a utopian vision of education’s future. Classrooms are decked out with laptops, big interactive screens and software that drills students on every basic subject. Under a ballot initiative approved in 2005, the district has invested roughly $33 million in such technologies.

The digital push here aims to go far beyond gadgets to transform the very nature of the classroom, turning the teacher into a guide instead of a lecturer, wandering among students who learn at their own pace on Internet-connected devices.

To Read More…

Photo:  Jim Wilson / The New York Times

Finalists for the International Award for Excellence

Published on September 8, 2011 in Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

ubiquitous_front1Congratulations to all of the Award finalists:

Call for Journal Editor

Published on September 7, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal seeks an editor, or team of editors, for a one-year term. This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to what we believe will become one of the leading journals in its field, the journal’s associated conference and, more broadly, the knowledge-community which the journal and conference seek to serve.

The roles of the editor are to:

  • write an introduction for the Journal volume which would be included in the first issue for the year, and possibly on the website, the newsletter and other appropriate places or for the purposes of marketing and promotion.
  • collate papers addressing a theme of the editor’s choosing into a book, to be launched at the conference at the completion of the editor’s term. The chapters may be drawn from submissions to the journal during this or recent years, and other material as considered appropriate.
  • actively solicit manuscripts for the Journal from well-known and notable members of the community—these would could be refereed if the author wished, or regarded as ‘invited papers’.
  • assist the Commissioning Editor with suggestions of supplementary peer reviewers for specific papers (and this will never be burdensome – note that the Commissioning Editor of the Journal finalizes a majority of the peer reviewer requirements based on thematic matching and ‘mutual obligation’ principles in which all author requested to review up to three other papers).
  • promote the journal throughout their network and other associated networks.
  • maintain regular communications with the community via periodical blog posts to the community website (which feeds automatically to our email newsletter, Facebook and Twitter).

The editor will be offered a complimentary electronic subscription to the Journal, free copies of the book which they edit, an electronic subscription to the book series as well as complimentary registrations to attend the conferences at the beginning and end of their term.

Qualifications

The Editor of the Journal must possess the following attributes:

  • They will have successfully obtained higher degree, and have academic teaching and scholarly research experience in an area related to the subject matter of the Journal.
  • They will have published in this or other comparable scholarly journals.

Applicants are asked to send:

  1. a cover letter outlining their interest and relevant experience, and the ways in which you would propose to enhance the profile of the journal
  2. a curriculum vitae
  3. a special theme outline: a title with paragraph explanation.

Please send applications and supporting documentation to journals@ubi-learn.com.

The deadline for applications is 26 September 2011.

Ubiquitious Learning Journal Award Winner to Present at 2011 Conference

Published on September 4, 2011 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The 2010 International Award for Excellence in the area of learning and education has been conferred on “Simple Technology Facilitating Complex Communities: A New Paradigm for Interprofessional Education?” and its authors Nancy Dalgarno, Lindsay Davidson, and Loretta Waltz.

We are very excited to welcome co-Author Dr. Lindsay Davidson, who will present this paper in a Plenary Session on behalf of the authors, to the 2011 conference in Berkeley.

Dr. Lindsay Davidson currently holds the Chair of Teaching and Learning at Queen’s university. She is a practicing pediatric orthopedic surgeon and Associate Professor at Queen’s School of Medicine where she also completed a Master’s of Education in 2009. She is the Director of the last two years of the undergraduate medical program. Dr. Davidson has been very active in the Queen’s community and has been on the forefront of bringing both technology-rich learning and active learning strategies to Queen’s Faculty and is currently developing a web-based community for like-minded teachers at www.adventuresinteaching.ca. Dr. Davidson has received two national teaching awards (Canadian Association for Medical Education Certificate of Merit, 2011; Provan Award for Undergraduate Surgical Education, 2005) for her educational work.