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There are numerous educational technology events being offered this IAP including such diverse topics as how faculty can use e-mail to improve communications to students, a Matlab training series, using Dspace to archive class materials, advanced Stellar techniques, the many ways to use GIS data and many more. For a complete listing, see the IAP Educational Technology category page.

Violeta M. Ivanova, Ph.D.
Math and Engineering Educational Technology Consultant
IS&T Academic Computing

Information Services and Technology (IS&T) is exploring faculty
interest in the extention of support for the use of PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) for accessing MIT services such as e-mail, the TechTime calendar, and the Web. IS&T is currently building support for e-mail access via devices such as Blackberries and Treos, and already offers support for PDAs running PalmOS and PocketPC. See the IS&T PDA support web page for more information about current support.

Take the survey.

Project iCampus, the MIT-Microsoft Alliance for research in educational technology, is now soliciting research proposals for 2005-2006. The deadline is October 4.

iCampus plans to fund several projects that will run for two years, each with a budget of $200-400K per year. Project work will be expected to begin in January 2005. Proposals should contain explicit milestones for each year, and second-year funding will be contingent on a successful project review.

Submissions are open to members of the MIT community only, and each proposal must be submitted by a designated principal investigator who is authorized to hold PI status on MIT research contracts.

See the iCampus web sit e for more information and submission details.

By Phillip D. Long

In 1999 Roger Schank, then at Northwestern University, said,“Classrooms are out! No more classrooms! Don’t build them!” Prof. Schank, now at Carnegie Mellon University West, was making the point that learning through active engagement and failure—learning by doing—connects our affective and intellectual experiences in a way that’s essential for effective learning. This doesn’t happen often enough in the contemporary classroom. At that time he advocated the “rule of 1/3”—children (and adults) should spend a third of their time talking with each other in face-to face-interaction, a third of their time doing something (building things), and a third of their time engaged in computer-based instruction.

Traditional classrooms don’t necessarily prohibit building things or doing technology-supported inquiry, but they have not exactly facilitated the flexible transition from one learning mode to another. Some 10 years ago, the Great One (that’s Wayne Gretsky, for all you non-sports fans) attributed his skill on the ice by saying, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” So where are the classrooms going, and are we building them to what we currently “know,” based on our past and current experiences, or for tomorrow?

Continue reading this article in the Campus Technology Magazine

By Jean Marie Angelo

(FromUniversity Business magazine.)

A group of universities have banded together to offer a low-cost course management software alternative; commercial vendors compete with new applications.

In mid-July, just one week before college and university leaders were to launch into their summer season of conferences, a nonprofit group known as The Sakai Project (www.sakaiproject.org) introduced software for higher education providers to use for course management. Sakai's project leaders timed the announcement right.

Sakai's goal of providing open source software that may someday save academic computing departments significant amounts of money was the subject of casual commentary during the week that followed. Hallway conversations at the annual conference of the Society of College and University Planning, held in Toronto, speculated about this new set of tools for creating course Web sites, posting homework, creating e-mail threads and bulletin boards, archiving lectures, and uploading lectures.

Continue reading this article in the " University Business magazine.

Come see what your colleagues at MIT are doing with educational technologies at the 2004 Ed Tech Fair which will be held Tuesday, November 2 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in Lobby 13.

The theme of this year's fair is From Innovation to Impact and the focus ison projects that are influencing teaching and learning at MIT and beyond. There will be 11 faculty projects showcasing technologies from simulations and handhelds to tools that enable the "paperless classroom" and self-assessment.

Educational technology service providers will also be present with information about their offerings. The fair is sponsored by IS&T Academic Computing and the MIT Council on Educational Technology (MITCET).

For more information see the Ed Tech Fair web site.

The Promise and Reality of Web-based Tutoring
Professor David E. Pritchard, MIT physics department
Thursday, November 18, 2004
2:00 p.m.
Room 4-231

Abstract

(From Tomorrow's Professor mailing list)

The Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning (SCIL Switzerland) this fall announced, in a joint effort with the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL Stanford), the launch of a new web site on elearning to make it easier to track and review research literature in the field across its multiple disciplines, something that is difficult to do since the field is so vast.

The website, [http://www.elearning-reviews.org] provides those interested in research on elearning with concise and thoughtful reviews of relevant publications. The goals of the collaborative project are to provide ongoing updates, a solid base of existing literature from the various disciplinary perspectives, and the further the development of elearning as a scientific research-oriented discipline.

The project continually surveys new publications from a broad spectrum of journals, conferences, reports, and books. Each review is carefully written and critically reflects the publication in an accessible and concise manner so that readers can easily decide whether the publication is relevant to them. [http://www.elearning-reviews.org] offers a variety of useful ways to access its reviews. Users can browse the elearning classification scheme covering the wide range of elearning topics: Strategy, Quality, Pedagogy, Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, Change Management, and more. They can search for publications by specific authors or scan the lists of reviewed publications of particular journals or conferences.

[http://www.elearning-reviews.org] targets those at the intersection of elearning theory and practice. Researchers find relevant reviews from the different disciplines constituting elearning. Practitioners appreciate the wealth of research results they can put into practice. Students of elearning programmes will profit from the literature overview provided by the reviews sorted into helpful subject categories. The project was initiated by the Swiss SCIL, which maintains and continues to further develop the web site. The editorial team is made up of researchers from the Swiss SCIL, as well as researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, and the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning. All three of the partner institutions will regularly contribute reviews to the website.

Reinhold Steinbeck, Director of SCILNet, the international program of the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, and topic co-editor, hopes that "elearning-reviews.org could become the 'Google' of elearning, just better, because you know that what you will find will meet the highest standards." For more information visit the website: www.elearning-reviews.org

Handheld Games and Simulations for Learning - Participatory Simulations and Augmented Reality

Eric Klopfer, Director of the MIT Teacher Education Program (TEP), Scheller Career Development Professor of Science Education and Educational Technology

Date: Thursday, December 9, 2004
Time: 1:00 p.m. (Please note time change!)
Room: 4-231

Abstract

The growing sophistication of mobile technologies brings with it the power to introduce new learning environments and experiences. The most powerful uses of handheld technologies require working with their limitations and affordances. The PDA is best used to present an extra layer of data to supplement information that users receive from their real world context - such as readings from simulated instruments, interviews from virtual occupants of nearby buildings, or real life interactions with their classmates.

We have been building simulations on handheld computers that involve K-16 students in authentic activities such as large scale environmental engineering investigations, genetic data collection and analysis and epidemiological studies that track the progression of disease through populations. These simulations empower students with a new kind of learning as they try to harness technology to solve authentic complex problems. Currently we are not only developing new simulations (and distributing them to thousands of students and teachers via the internet), but also conducting educational research showing how and what students learn from these environments.

Biography
Eric Klopfer is the Director of the MIT Teacher Education Program
(http://education.mit.edu), and the Scheller Career Development Professor of
Science Education and Educational Technology at MIT. Klopfer's research
focuses on the development and use of computer games and simulations for

building understanding of science and complex systems. His research
projects include StarLogo, a desktop platform that enables students and
teachers to create computer simuations of complex systems, as well as
location aware and participatory simulations on handheld (Palm and PocketPC)
and wearable computers. Klopfer's work combines the construction of new
software tools with research and development of new pedagogical supports
that support the use of these tools in the classroom. He is the co-author
of the book, "Adventures in Modeling: Exploring Complex, Dynamic Systems

with StarLogo."

Here is a link to the slides from the presentation.