The June/July 2006 issue of Innovate (www.innovateonline.info) offers a range of practical ideas for using new technologies in classrooms as well as ways to avoid common pitfalls caused by technology.

We open with Sir John Daniel and Paul West's exploration of how the digital dividends of technology can be used to overcome the digital divide for impoverished nations worldwide. They examine the challenges of bringing higher education to developing nations and advocate open educational resources as a potential solution to the problem. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=252 )

Our next three articles address specific ways in which instructors have used the digital dividends available to them in teaching. Ulises Mejias describes a graduate seminar he taught on the affordances of social software--software that allows for information exchange, collaboration, and ease of communication. His students used the software while learning about it and critiquing it, illustrating well the learning opportunities afforded by this category of technology. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=260 )

S. Pixy Ferris and Hilary Wilder examine wikis, one example of social software, as a way to bridge the distance between students and teachers. Adopting the linguistic theory of Walter J. Ong, they see teachers as part of a print paradigm of learning, whereas they propose that students are increasingly a part of a secondary-oral paradigm characterized by certain attributes of both oral-based cultures and print-based cultures. Wikis, they argue, can be a pedagogical bridge between these two educational positions. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=258 )

Craig Smith focuses on chat, a common way for online instructors to replace classroom discussion. He provides a protocol to keep discussions focused and productive, helping teachers realize the potential usefulness of an easily accessible technological tool. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=246 )

Technology also presents some problems in the classroom. The easy availability of apparently anonymous information on the Internet blurs definitions of plagiarism. While tools such as electronic plagiarism detectors have become more common, Eleanour Snow argues that they are not enough. She advocates online tutorials as an easy and effective way of teaching students about plagiarism, and offers examples and links to tutorials for teachers eager to begin the process of educating themselves and their students. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=306 )

Howard Pitler also sees a need to make copyright guidelines clear, but argues that copyrights should be more flexible. He offers guidance about how copyright works and describes Creative Commons, a Web site that provides writers and artists a way to select the rights that they want to reserve and make it clear to others exactly what they are allowed to reproduce and alter. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=251 )

Another difficulty inherent in the digital age is the notorious attrition rate in online education. While noting that drop rates for online courses should not necessarily be equated with lack of success, David Diaz and Ryan Cartnal acknowledge that reducing attrition in such courses should still be on educators' agendas. In addressing this issue they examine the impact of term length on attrition rates, advocating a shorter length to enable time-strapped students to complete the course more efficiently. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=196 )

Please forward this announcement to appropriate mailing lists and to colleagues who want to use IT tools to advance their work. Ask your organizational librarian to link to Innovate in their resource section for open-access e-journals.

Thanks!

Jim

James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info
Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership
UNC-Chapel Hill
http://horizon.unc.edu