How has Wikipedia changed education?

Whether you use Wikipedia or not, we know it’s one of the controversial topics in teaching and learning. Whether it’s a boon or a bane, we can find how it has changed education in the following 10 ways:

• It forces students to be more discerning about sources
• More exposure for academics
• Editing assignments
• Encourages casual learning outside the classroom
• Provides another online education conduit
• Pioneered – well – wikis
• Made copyright-free, public domain material even more accessible
• Helps with lecture notes
• Education for orphans
• Provides a more comprehensive, real time encyclopedia experience

You can read the full article at http://miniurl.com/116663

How to Create and Share Social Media Content

Social media is a buzz word these days. No matter how you think about it, it is shaping our work and life. In the traditional formal setting of teaching and learning, communication is most often one- to-many in the classroom. With the help of social media, communication has become many-to-many and there are more channels for informal learning.

How to get started with using social media not only in our teaching and learning but also in our daily life? A recent post by Jeff Bullas has shared the following nine ways:

Videos
Pictures and images
Slideshare
Twitter
Blogs
Facebook
MySpace
Website
Digital media aggregator

Many of our faculty members have used 2-6 ways in teaching. You can read the full article here

Technology Integration

We often talk about technology integration, but many of us would like to see some guide or real examples as to how to integrate technology into the curriculum. The Florida Center for Instructional Technology has provided an excellent matrix about technology integration. The matrix includes five levels of technology integration including entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion and transformation in five types of learning environments including active, collaborative, constructive, authentic and goal-oriented learning environments. An example is provided in math, science, social science and language arts for each kind of learning environment in different levels of technology integration. Although the matrix is focused on the K-12 setting, it can be helpful to the higher education setting as well.

If you are in the process of designing a new course or re-developing a course, this matrix can be a good resource to get started with using technology in your course design and teaching.