Innovate (www.innovateonline.info) is published bimonthly as a public
service by the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova
Southeastern University and is sponsored, in part, by Microsoft. The
articles in the August/September 2008 issue initially focus on the
tensions and opportunities inherent in the cognitive and cultural
differences between instructors and their Net Generation students and
closes with discussions of two online resources for science education,
one a collection of lessons and pedagogical resources for educators
and the other a virtual world in which learners pursue informal
science learning.
Innovate-Live webcasts, produced by our partner, ULiveandLearn, allow
you to synchronously interact with authors on the topics of their
articles.
You may register for the August/September webcasts at
http://www.uliveandlearn.com/PortalInnovate/. Webcasts will be
archived and available in the webcast section of the article and in
the Innovate-Live portal archive shortly after the webcast. All times
are Eastern Time (New York). You may use the world clock at
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ to coordinate with your time
zone.
We open with an article by Nancy Evans, Thalia M. Mulvihill, and
Nancy J. Brooks who argue that Second Life and similar multiuser
virtual environments can provide a sense of presence and community
that satisfies these needs while offering all of the benefits of
online education. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=537&action=article
]
Their webcast is scheduled for September 17th at 1:00 PM ET.
Our next two articles focus on the differences between Net-Generation
students and their sometimes bewildered instructors. Mark Mabrito and
Rebecca Medley argue that the blogs, social networking sites, and
other interactive venues favored by these students reflect cognitive
differences wrought by a lifetime of technological immersion and
suggest that instructors can benefit by learning to read these
electronic texts, which must be understood differently than the paper
texts of previous generations, and by leveraging them as pedagogical
opportunities. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=510&action=article
]. Their webcast is scheduled for September 11, 2008 at 2:00 PM ET.
Valerie Milliron and Kent Sandoe focus on a more troubling
difference: the apparent indifference of Net Generation students
toward cheating. Detailing their own experience with a pattern of
cheating on online quizzes, Milliron and Sandoe describe the Net
Generation's "culture of cheating" and describe ways to detect or,
even better, deter cheating. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=499&action=article
]
Their webcast is scheduled for September 17, 2008 at 11:00 AM ET.
In our fourth article, Scott Windham offers a practical discussion of
a tool designed to accommodate students' varied learning preferences.
Adapting Sylvie Richards's interactive syllabus, Windham discusses the
opportunities and challenges presented by his own use of an online,
resource-rich assignment guide in German-language classes. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=515&action=article
]. His webcast is scheduled for September 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM ET.
In Places to Go, Stephen Downes reviews Pedagogy in Action, a
resource site for science educators sponsored by Carleton University's
Science Education Resource Center. For Downes, the site exemplifies
both the promise and the pitfalls of such sites, which allow small
institutions to make large contributions, but frequently fail to
access the full potential of the Internet by limiting collaboration
and not reaching out to other sources. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=643&action=article
]
Science education is also the subject of our From Our Sponsors
article. David Gibson and Susan Grasso describe a virtual environment
designed to teach environmental and physical science through informal
learning. The Global Challenge World Game is a simulation-based game
in which they will explore the issues of climate change and energy,
teaming with other players from around the world to work out solutions
to complex scientific problems. Inexpensive simulation technology from
Microsoft makes the game flexible, scalable, and affordable. [See
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=586&action=synopsis
]
Their webcast is scheduled for September 16, 2008 at 2:00 PM ET
We hope that you enjoy this issue of Innovate. Please use the
discussion board within each article to raise questions or provide
additional commentary. Your comments will be sent to authors for their
response, which will become part of the record for their article.
Also, please ask your organizational librarian to include Innovate in
their section for open-access journals.
If you are considering submitting a manuscript describing how you use
Microsoft technology to enhance the higher education experience for
publication consideration in the From our Sponsors section, please
make sure that it conforms to the publication guidelines described at
the Contribute link on Innovate's navigation bar. The senior authors
of the top three papers published prior to June, 2009 will be invited
to present their paper at the Microsoft Global Exchange summit in July
2009 (with expenses covered by Microsoft).
Thanks!
Jim
----
James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info
Fischler School of Education and Human Services
Nova Southeastern University
http://www.schoolofed.nova.edu/home.htm