Thursday, October 25, 2012

How do Researchers in the Humanities Use Information Resources?

Several factors influence how researchers engage with information throughout the research cycle. These might be grouped into two broad categories. Continue by reading 'How do Researchers in the Humanities Use Information Resources? by Ellen Collins , 2012.

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge

An ebook offered by Stephen Downes of Canada on Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, Essays on meaning and learning networks.

The Wiley Wiki

For those who are interested in viewing how open-source learning can be achieved. Here is the Wiley Wiki, pioneering the idea of open online content that can be edited by course participants. Like a wiki, like Wikipedia,and this page, the massive open online course (MOOC) begins with the idea that participants can add to and change the learning content.

Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Coming from the Visual Literacy Organization is the "Periodic Table of Visualization Methods." This table is amazing and fun to review...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Conducting empirical research in virtual worlds: experiences from two projects in Second Life

We have been asked for more Second Life/Virtual Worlds empirical studies. Here is The Researcher’s Toolbox posting for November 2010. The Open University in the UK, has conducted empirical qualitative research in Second Life, a virtual world. The first project is in the education domain in which they are investigating the designs of learning spaces in Second Life, while the second project is related to shopping and consumer behavior of users in Second Life. In this paper, they discuss their experiences of conducting empirical research in virtual worlds with a specific focus on the following aspects: ethical norms, real-world and virtual identities, privacy of the participants, communication modalities (voice, text and use of gestures), logistics of conducting user-based studies, and skills and training needs of researchers. (contributed by SL Scarlett Sismondi)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Designing an Interactive Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) with a Learner-Centered Approach

Li Wang of the University of Auckland, shares, in her paper, the experience in developing an interactive virtual learning environment with a learner centered approach. Many related URLs of related tutorials included.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Why We Play Games – The Player Experience

Gamification is the latest tool for educators to understand better. This study is one of future topics on the subject... They are curious about what could be said of all computer and video games and what, other than story, triggers emotions... What types of internal and external experiences (inside and outside a player’s head) do players appreciate and expect from games and wanted to learn what adult players thought made good game experiences, after all, not all games with good graphics and advanced features are fun and consider how to do it better...

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Thru the Looking Glass

Why virtual worlds matter, where they are heading, And why we are all here. Dr. Larry Johnson’s keynote address to The Federal Consortium on Virtual Worlds April 24, 2008

Thru the Looking Glass PDF

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds: A Roadmap for Research

Virtual worlds like Second Life are becoming important tools for, among other activities, socialization, social networking, entertainment, collaboration, and business_development. These environments offer_information-systems researchers a unique opportunity to study_how these environments are built and managed by operators, how they are used and misused by users, and the impact that they have on users, communities, organizations, and societies at large. This paper summarizes the discussion of this_topic...

Monday, April 30, 2012

A Model of Learning Objectives-Revised Blooms Taxonomy

Iowa StateUniversity, among other modifications, Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revision of the original Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956)redefines the cognitive domain as the intersection of the Cognitive Process Dimension and the Knowledge Dimension. This document provides a three-dimensional representation of the revised taxonomy of the cognitive domain.

Monday, April 23, 2012

The implementation and evaluation of a new learning space: a pilot study

A dramatic, pedagogical shift has occurred in recent years in educational environments in higherEducation, supported largely by the use of ubiquitous technologies. Increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the design of new learning spaces, often referred to as “Next Generation Learning Spaces” (NGLS) and their impact on pedagogy. Click here to read more...

Pedagogical Considerations in Developing an Online Tutorial in Information Literacy

The Didactic relation model was seen as useful not only for planning online-learning tutorials but also for planning teaching in general. Check out these slides here...

Implications of the Information Visibility Model in Information Literacy Research and Practice

A fun and informative_paper on the introduction and background to, “Information Visibility,” integrative model of information seeking and information visibly, and some implications for information literacy. Click here to read more...

Information literacy at the Service Desk: the role of circulations staff in promoting information literacy

Thetopic of information literacy seems dominated by themes at the formal end of the spectrum,such as academic~collaboration and defining information literacy. In practice however, teaching and promoting information literacy happens at a number of levels. Read more here...

In search of credibility: pupils' information practices in learning environments

Today's teachers and librarians exercise less control of the learning environment than they used to. Educational ideals and methods that take advantage of and incorporate the changing media scene characterized by networked digital media have become increasingly popular. In schools, pupils are no longer dependent on carefully selected textbooks or the authoritative collections in the school library. Click here to read more...

Piloting a dedicated information literacy programme for nursing students at Waterford Institute of Technology libraries

The purpose of this paper is to describe the pilot information literacy programme for
undergraduate nursing students as recently developed at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)
libraries. The paper outlines the background to the programme, discusses its design and delivery and
summarises participating students’ initial response to it.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a broadly

Science Information Literacy Tutorials and Pedagogy

This study examined information literacy tutorials in science. The goals of the research were to identify which of the information literacy standards for science, engineering and technology were addressed in the tutorials, and the extent that the tutorials incorporated good pedagogical elements.

Potential for inclusion of information encountering within information literacy models

Information encountering (finding information while searching for some other information), is a type of opportunistic discovery of information that complements purposeful approaches to finding information. The motivation for this paper was to determine if the current models of information literacy instruction refer to information encountering.

How today's college students use Wikipedia for course-related research.

An extensive survey results on how and why students (enrolled at six different U.S. colleges) use Wikipedia during the course–related research process.

Utilizing Virtual Worlds in Education: The Implications for Practice

Multi User Virtual Worlds are becoming a valuable educational tool. Learning experiences within these worlds focus on discovery and active experiences that both engage~students and motivate them to explore new concepts. As educators, we need to explore these environments to determine how they can most effectively be used in our instructional practices. This paper explores the current application of virtual worlds to identify meaningful educational strategies that are being used to engage~students and enhance teaching and learning.

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Design and Teach Your Course

Carnegie Mellon provides information for designing and teaching a course here...

Astronomy in Second Life: A User’s Perspective

While a bit dated, the following information can be a guide to developing a learning environment at virtual worlds for your astronomy class...
Second Life (SL) is a multi-user virtual environment that is not limited to adult social entertainment. SL is also a 3D playground for innovative instructors and education/outreach professionals in the sciences. Astronomy and space science have a presence in SL, but it could be so much more. This paper describes some of the current astronomy themed spaces in SL and briefly discusses future innovations. Review more, click here...

Friday, January 06, 2012

It’s All About Social Media. Or is It?

Just not for students any more...Collaboration is a valuable learning tool. By enabling a rich collaborative experience, the organization as a whole can benefit from captured intellectual property and a more engaged workforce. Social media can help bridge the gap between people and solutions, building stronger communities and relationships. In this article from the Winter 2012 issue of Training Industry Quarterly e-magazine, we will examine how to build a sustainable and productive social experience to increase satisfaction and retention. Click here to review several articles on the subject...

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

How the Brain Learns

Donald Ford, PhD, notes, "We have known since antiquity that the seat of learning is the human brain.  But it has only been in the last decade that neuroscience researchers have been able to go inside the brain and observe how learning actually occurs at the molecular level. " Click here to read more...

Learning is not sufficiently valued...

For centuries, trainers have believed that the classroom is the optimal mechanism for transferring learning. Today's digital revolution is challenging this long-held assumption. To read more, click here...

Key Trends for 2012: New Era of Personal Learning is Transforming the Training Industry

You may not have noticed, but a new era is quietly dawning on the training industry. It represents a change that is both profound and permanent. For more...click here.

Monday, January 02, 2012

Instructional Design ~ The Foundation

Robert M. Branch of University of Georgia wrote. "Instructional design is a process for generating strategies devoted almost exclusively to seeking ways to close a performance discrepancy (gap) that is caused by a lack of knowledge and skills. The displayed drawings illustrates a performance gap and the three categories of reasons for such a gap." Read more...

Grids gain 915 regions; InWorldz is busiest...

The top 40 OpenSim grids gained 915 new regions since this time last month, bringing the total number of regions on these grids to 21,595, a new record high." Read more...