The Next Generation of Educational Engagement

Abstract: Games are no longer just for fun; they offer potentially powerful learning environments. Today's students have grown up with computer games. In addition, their constant exposure to the Internet and other digital media has shaped how they receive information and how they learn. There are many attributes of games that make them pedagogically sound learning environments. An increasing number of faculty are using games as enhancements to the traditional learning environment with encouraging results. While the interactivity and engagement of games are highly positive a number of questions remain about how games will be developed, deployed and accepted in higher education. Invited Commentary: Mason, R. (2004) Commentary on: Oblinger, D. (2004). The Next Generation of Educational Engagement. [PDF] Editors: Terry Anderson and Denise Whitelock

A study exploring learners' informal learning space behaviors, attitudes, and preferences

What makes a successful informal learning space is a topic in need of further research. The body of discourse on informal space design is drawn from learning theory, placemaking and architecture, with a need for understanding of the synergy between the three. Findings from a longitudinal, quantitative and qualitative study at Sheffield Hallam University, explore learners' behaviours, attitudes and preferences towards informal learning spaces in higher education, within and outside of the context of the academic library. The learning spaces study contributes to the discourse on informal learning spaces design by producing a typology of nine learning space preference attributes which address aspects of learning theory, placemaking and architecture. The typology can be used to evaluate existing spaces and inform redevelopment of informal learning spaces in higher education institutions. Implementing the typology will be subject to localised conditions, but at Sheffield Hallam University the key conclusions have included developing a portfolio of discrete, interrelated learning environments, offering spaces with a clear identity and encouraging students to translate their learning preferences into space selection

The Learning Revolution: The Challenge of Information Technology in the Academy

The Learning Revolution is an enlightening survey of change in the teaching/learning process of higher education. Chapters contributed by prominent educational leaders examine how various colleges and universities are responding to today’s pressing challenges, particularly those concerning productivity, quality, access, and competitiveness. Technology’s role in educational change is a central theme as contributors share information on its uses, possibilities, and benefits. Contents include: • An overview of the learning revolution by Diana G. Oblinger & Sean C. Rush, IBM • Changes driving the transformation of higher education by Michael Hooker, Chancellor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Information technology as change agent by Charles N. Tuller, Sr. VP, IBM • How technology moves institutions from preaching change to practicing it by Gregory C. Farrington, Dean, University of Pennsylvania • Mobile computing, teaching, and learning by Donald G. Sargeant, Chancellor, University of Minnesota, Crookston • Project Vision: Active and collaborative learning at Penn. State by Robert Dunham, Executive VP, Pennsylvania State University • Reengineering an undergraduate curriculum by Jack M. Wilson, Dean, Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute • Collaborative education and the use of discussion databases by Steven H. Nickles, Professor of Law, Wake Forest University & Craig Runde, Director, West Legal Publishing •Transforming a teaching institution to a learning institution by Terry O’Banion, Executive Director, League for Innovation in the Community College • The library of the future Suzanne E. Thorin, University of Indiana & Virginia O. Sorkin, US Library of Congress • Balancing tradition and change by Thomas K. Hearn, Jr., President, Wake Forest University • A learning enterprise for the cyber century: The Western Governors University by Hon. Michael O. Leavitt, Governor of Utah • The wired campus and institutional futures by William F. Massy, President, Jackson Hole Higher Education Group & Professor Emeritus, Stanford University • Asynchronous learning networks by A. Frank Mayadas, Program Officer, Sloan Foundation • Challenges of the learning revolution by Diana G. Oblinger & Sean C. Rush, IB

Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge. A 21st Century Agenda for the National Science Foundation

Citizens in all fields need to understand how science and technology affect policy, business, and personal decisions. The shortage of trained scientists and engineers is a small indicator of a much larger problem: insufficient knowledge and understanding about science and technology across our population. The educational system must respond dynamically to prepare our population for the complex, evolving, global challenges of the 21st century. Advances in technology are poised to meet these educational demands. Cyberlearning offers new learning and educational approaches and the possibility of redistributing learning experiences over time and space, beyond the classroom and throughout a lifetime. We believe that cyberlearning has reached a turning point where learning payoffs can be accelerated. We also believe that this moment could be fleeting because, without deliberate efforts to coordinate cyberlearning approaches, we will miss the opportunity to provide effective support for the convergence of learning and technology. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is in a position to stimulate research and development that can enable this process. Cyberlearning has tremendous potential right now because we have powerful new technologies, increased understanding of learning and instruction, and widespread demand for solutions to educational problems. In the last decade, the design of technologies and our understanding of how people learn have evolved together, while new approaches to research and design make the development and testing of technologies more responsive to real-world requirements and learning environments. NSF has played a key role in these advances, funding interdisciplinary programs specifically to support research and activities in the area of cyberlearning. NSF can continue to lead this revolution by leveraging its investments in the productive intersections between technology and the learning sciences. https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf0820