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Technology and Learning Environments in Higher Education

by Tracey Wilen-Daugenti (Author)
©2009 Textbook XII, 214 Pages

Summary

The Internet has transformed higher education by changing the way universities and colleges teach students. As a result, many institutions are struggling to understand how the next generation of Internet technologies, including Web 2.0, multimedia, virtual presence, gaming, and the proliferation of mobile devices, will impact their students and infrastructures. .edu: Technology and Learning Environments in Higher Education discusses how higher education institutions can use these technologies to enable learning environments. In the future, students will have complete access to any higher education resource, including expert scholars, lectures, content, courseware, collaborative dialogues, information exchanges, hands-on learning, and research – no matter where they are located. If fully enabled, this new learning environment will blur the lines between on- and off-campus experiences and remove barriers to learning and research – greatly improving the quality of education for students globally.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Section One: Technology Trends Impacting Higher Education Today
  • 1. Web 2.0 and Social Networking Technologies
  • 2. Video
  • 3. Mobile Devices
  • 4. Gaming
  • Section Two: Increased Use of Technology and Its Implications for Higher Education
  • 5. Increase of Credible Content on the Web by Patricia D. Wilen, Ph.D.
  • 6. Technology and Information Literacy
  • 7. Students and Technology
  • 8. Faculty and Technology
  • 9. Adaptive and Assistive Technology for Use in Higher Education by Patricia D. Wilen, Ph.D.
  • Section Three: Learning Environments
  • 10. Learning Environments
  • 11. Transparent Learning Environments: Distance Learning
  • 12. Centers of Excellence: On-Campus Strategy to Create a Learning Environment
  • Section Four: Reflections on Technology and Its Growing Influence in Higher Education
  • 13. Forward through a Rearview Mirror: What the History of Technology in Higher Education Tells Us about Its Future by Joseph Cevetello, Ed.D.
  • 14. Learning 2.0: Revisiting the 7 Principles by Lev Gonick, Ph.D.
  • Conclusion and Future Directions
  • Glossary by Alva Grace R. McKee
  • Notes
  • About the Authors

 

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to my friend Lev Gonick, Ph.D. Thank you for continuing to create a vision for tertiary education leaders on new possibilities and paths for innovative education on campus and in the community. I appreciate your willingness to share some of your vision in this book and to support me in my interest in exploring the potential of technology in education.

Thank you to my academic ally Joe Cevetello, Ed.D. Your interest in higher education and your passion to change the status quo by envisioning the nextgeneration opportunities for K-20 are admirable and inspiring. Your generosity in sharing your vision in this book is greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to my mother and mentor Patricia D. Wilen, Ph.D., who has supported me through my entire educational journey. Thank you for encouraging me to continue to pursue advanced degrees even when it seemed impossible. Thank you also for spending countless hours reviewing, editing, and contributing to all of my papers and books. I appreciate your excitement and willingness to investigate the uses of newer technologies in education as well as your ability to grasp new concepts and explore them in depth. Thank you for your multiple contributions to this book. ← xi | xii →

I offer my sincere gratitude to my associate Alva Grace R. McKee—a truly dedicated and successful woman with admirable educational goals in the sciences and a profound interest in improving the education opportunities for students worldwide. Thank you for your time and interest in reviewing, validating, and guiding many of the ideas in this book. Thank you also for taking a leadership role in organizing the glossary for this book, which I know will be a key resource for many readers.

Special thanks to Michael Adams, my creative and patient IBSG colleague at Cisco. Your enthusiasm in exploring the use of creative technologies with me and your encouragement for me to articulate my vision for higher education institutions have been invaluable. ← xii | 1 →

 

Introduction

At the end of their graduating year, students often ask me if I can leave them with any words of advice. And every year my response has been the same: Set your sights on obtaining 5 degrees, take as much technology training as your university and workplace will offer, and stay flexible and relevant in your career. My advice usually provokes a stimulating question about what is required today and what will be required in the future to remain relevant, productive, and employed participants in a vastly changing world. While continuous learning would be my first recommendation to all individuals, today’s employers tend to place more value on the number and level of degrees that individuals secure. Second, careers are complex and often require a number of interdisciplinary areas of studies that for many may mean intersecting a variety of degrees in the sciences, business, psychology, law, and other specialized areas. Third, no one can take your degrees away from you; these go with you anywhere.

In today’s environment, a student can expect to have more than 5 jobs, and many jobs are yet to be defined. Being prepared to participate in or create the next genre of employment is a critical part of what each of us faces on our paths to learning and employment. Education is a key factor in helping you define ← 1 | 2 → who you are, your strengths, likes and dislikes.

Technology is here to stay—it leaves a lasting impact on each of our lives and is a core requirement in today’s working world. My view is that technology literacy should be integrated into our learning lives at an early stage, just as a foreign language would be. In this way, fluency in technology may be achieved and the difficulty in applying it to all areas of life may be eliminated or minimized. Shockingly, many students do not have their first experience with technology until they reach higher education, and there are still some who do not have experience until they enter the workforce. These individuals are placed at a disadvantage, having “to learn” later in their careers what could have been integrated early on.

At the same time, I meet many faculty members who have mixed viewpoints. Many are concerned that the universities are not aggressively pursuing a technology strategy, soliciting faculty input, or offering a plan on how to integrate and support technology. These faculty members come from all disciplines and all ages and truly want to create the best environment for their students, themselves, and their institution.

I also meet many faculty members who have difficulty understanding the value of technology as they did not have it themselves as students. They are smart and successful and have educated many successful students the “traditional” way, so they question why the current model may not continue to be appropriate for students.

I have empathy for faculty members, as I am aware of the tremendous workloads that many carry with their research and teaching requirements leaving little time for learning new technologies. Many do use technology once they have had the opportunity to find its value in research computations, writing, or collaborations. I also empathize with their students who might enter the workforce as I did, initially unprepared and unable to cope in high-tech companies until I took the initiative to train myself to avoid career setbacks.

Fortunately, many institutions have placed their technology leaders in the university cabinet, thus emphasizing that technology is important. There are chief technology officers (CTO) and chief information officers (CIO) of institutions that have a clear vision and strategy for their campus and have had success in using technology to enhance teaching, learning, administration, and research. I have made it a point to include some of these strategists in this book so that we can learn how and what they have done successfully. And globally, I have respectfully spent ample time with university presidents and vice chancellors who have increasingly broad and complex roles. Although many do not understand technology in its entirety, they have the vision to set strat ← 2 | 3 → egy and empower their key technology leaders (CTOs and CIOs) to deploy a technology vision for the institution. They do this through the organization structure and budget policies that ensures that their faculty and students have the best technology capabilities to achieve success in a rapidly moving world—capabilities that enhance the profile and desirability of their universities. I feel that these unique leaders are doing a tremendous service to all of us in higher education.

The Internet has already transformed higher education by streamlining campus administrative processes, enhancing facilities such as dorms and classrooms, enabling digital libraries, expanding access to distance learning, and creating engaging learning environments through video and computer simulations. Even so, many Higher Education Institutions are trying to understand how the next generation of Internet and virtual-reality technologies will impact their students and campuses. These technologies include Web 2.0, multimedia, virtual presence, gaming, and the proliferation of next-generation mobile devices.

In this book, I will discuss how higher-education institutions can use these technologies to enable next-generation learning environments on and off campus. In a learning environment, students have complete access to any highereducation resource, including experts, lectures, content, courseware, collaborative dialogs, information exchanges, hands-on learning, and research—no matter where they are located. If fully enabled, the learning environment will blur the line between on- and off-campus experiences and remove barriers to learning and research—thereby greatly improving access and the quality of education for students globally.

Drivers of change in higher education

Institutions seeking to understand how the next generation of Internet technologies will make an impact on their students and schools need to be aware of current trends:

             College-aged students are rapid adopters of new technologies, devices, and applications.

             Web 2.0 and social networking technologies enable easier access to increasingly available education content and online expertise, offering a venue for contributing and sharing knowledge regardless of location.

             Students are taking more responsibility for their own learning.

             Credible content is continually available on the Web. ← 3 | 4 →

             Video has high-adoption rates and is a key medium in higher education.

             M-learning (mobile learning) is on the rise in higher education.

             Gaming will be a key medium used in higher education in the near future.

             Evergreen students—those who bring in newer technology and learning expectations—are already evolving from Generation Y to Generation V (visual, versatile, virtual).

             Information and technical literacy are critical to remain relevant in the working world.

Learning environments are a way for higher-education institutions to address the ever-growing number of technology trends that are rapidly becoming available to and used by students. In addition, a learning environment gives students a range of educational resources from which to choose, while not hampering the education system already established. This book discusses the current key trends in higher education and offers suggestions on how to address evolving trends and learning environments, as well as a method (Centers of Excellence) for getting started on campus. This book also includes strategies that key education leaders are using to address technology in higher education. ← 4 | 5 →

Details

Pages
XII, 214
Year
2009
ISBN (ePUB)
9781433146299
ISBN (PDF)
9781453917442
ISBN (MOBI)
9781433146305
ISBN (Softcover)
9781433103186
DOI
10.3726/b11473
Language
English
Publication date
2017 (June)
Keywords
Hochschule Computerunterstützter Unterricht Evergreen Students M-Learning Mobile Devices Mobile Learning Gaming Higher Education Generation V
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2009. XII, 214 pp.

Biographical notes

Tracey Wilen-Daugenti (Author)

The Author: Tracey Wilen-Daugenti leads the Higher Education IBSG Practice at Cisco Systems Inc. Her academic credentials include a Masters and Doctorate in Business Administration and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in eLearning at Stanford University where she was a Visiting Scholar. She is an adjunct professor for a number of Bay area universities and a frequent guest speaker for global universities. She is the author of seven books, numerous papers and articles, and is a frequent guest in the media. Her website is www.hedtrends.com.

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