The Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) has published its 2009 study on the use of information technology by undergraduate students.  This is part of a longitudinal study begun in 2004 aiming to “shed light on how technology effects the college experience.”

Students are asked about their skill level with technology, their preferences, and how technology affects their learning.  The ultimate goal is to help colleges identify information technology environments that are a factor in student learning and overall satisfaction.

Briefly, the study found that college students want a balance between “real books and people” and the use of technology in the classroom.  They see a disparity in teacher expertise with technology. They are comfortable with many technologies, but are more likely to identify themselves as not early adopters and prefer only a moderate amount of IT in their courses.

They are also heavy users of mobile technology.  You can see in the image that 33% of students say they own and use an Internet-capable handheld device and another 11.8% plan to purchase one in the next 12 months.  18% own such a device but do not access the Internet with it.  However, half of the students, particularly older ones, agreed that instructors should have the authority to ban cell phone and handheld device use during class because it is distracting.

Take a look at the key findings (PDF).  Or find more information about the ECAR study and links to various reports here.

Howcast Media, Inc. says that “from How to Write a Resume to How to Jump-Start Your Car, Howcast provides the answer to any how-to question.”  They do this by engaging consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house or by their media partners, trusted brands, and individual contributors.

A friend called my attention to Howcast so I watched a couple of the “how to” videos on their site, including one on how to use Twitter.  I thought they were fairly well done.  The small ads at the bottom of  the videos were a bit annoying but I found tbey could be removed by clicking on “x.”

The video content is distributed across a network of web, mobile, and cable partners, including YouTube, MySpace, Hulu, AOL, Yahoo!, Comcast, Apple, TiVo and Verizon.

“In addition to the Howcast Studios, the Emerging Filmmakers Program offers up-and-coming filmmakers the chance to gain experience, exposure, and extra income by creating short how-to videos.”  The filmmakers program has partnered with film and television programs at Boston University, Flashpoint Academy, and Charles Sturt University to expose students to web video production.

Howcast was named a top web site of 2008 by both TIME and PC Magazine, profiled in the New York Times Sunday Business Section, nominated for two Webby Awards and has had its iPhone app featured in an Apple iPhone commercial.

At OnlineColleges.net you’ll find links to tutorials for those interested in incorporating Twitter into their teaching.

They point out that “using Twitter in education has been all the buzz recently.  If you are ready to start using Twitter yourself and need a little help getting started or have already been using it and can use a little extra help, then these tutorials are just for you.”

The site has links to everything from how to set up a Twitter account to practical ideas for using Twitter in elearning.  It also includes links to video highlights showing how Twitter is being used in promoting education.

A new Google map showing challenges to books in schools and libraries in the U.S. has been posted on the Banned Books Week website.

More than 120 challenges nationwide have occurred since the beginning of 2007.  The cases have been documented by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Kids’ Right to Read Project, which is sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship.  It is estimated that 70 to 80 percent of challenges are not reported.

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read.  This year’s events will occur from Sept. 26 through Oct. 3.  The website includes a state-by-state listing to help people find displays and events in their area.

In a study funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning (PDF), online learning was broken down into three types: expository (learners receive information via digital means), active (learners build knowledge by manipulating online tools), interactive (learners build knowledge through collaborative interaction).

Online learning certainly doesn’t mean the end for teachers, Mashable notes.  “Online learning tools are just like any other tools in a teacher’s bag of tricks: what matters is how they’re applied.  The instruction of good teachers will be made better by the proper application of web tools, while bad teachers won’t necessarily be made better by utilizing online education methods.”

Appropriate use of the tools at the teacher’s disposal will maximize the learning impact of education for students, separating good teachers from bad ones. “The major difference between teachers of today and teachers of the future is that in the future educators will have better online tools and will require better specialized training to learn how to utilize them properly.”

Online learning environments can produce results that are just as good or better than classroom learning.  We can expect it to be used more often to enhance face-to-face learning and where classroom learning is infeasible due to lack of funds, or desirable because of convenience.  Teachers will need to continue to adapt and learn to employ future technologies.

Here’s some tips for using Twitter to advantage in higher education from DIOSA Communications.  I’ll list them briefly; see the post for details.

1.  Don’t use Twitter for traditional marketing messages. Build community.
2.   Don’t use Twitter for RSS or publish “News” unless you call your Twitter profile “News.”
3.  Have Twitter accounts for various departments.
4.  Be nice, thankful, reply and retweet.
5.  Follow everyone who follows you.
6.  Use “Favorites” to organize the chaos and feature your most important Tweets.
7.  Provide value, not chit-chat.
8.  Don’t tweet only your own content — f it is a good read or a good resource, pass it along.
9.  Send messages, but not via auto-responders.
10. Limit your Tweets to 5 or 6 per day.
11. Get professional training on how use Twitter.  (Or, my advice, at least read the many style guides, and tips on Twitter.)

Online and technology-based resources have become increasingly popular as innovative teachers explore their use to improve their students learning experience.

ReadWriteWeb lists seven of these tools:

• Scitable: Free online access to key scientific and genetics concepts.
• Edutopia: Won the 2009 Webby Award for high quality videos for educators.
• LearnHub: Good site for standardized test prep and basic K-12 education exercises.
• Moodle: Free open source course management platform designed to help teachers create better online resources.
• Edmodo: An invite-only service for micro-blogging.
• YouTube Edu:  Allows students and educators to access lectures from leading educators.
• ESL Video:  ESL teachers can create video quizzes to specific learning units or create simple vocabulary quizzes.

The compiler says that, “From preschool to graduate education, these 100 blogs are a great starting point for educators looking for inspiration and innovation.”

Educators can find answers and valuable teaching resources in these blogs.  Includes General Teaching Blogs, Specialty Subject Blogs, Best Podcasts for Teachers, Best Video Blogs for Teachers.  [via iLibrarian]

Photo by peiqianlong. Creative Commons license.

Amazon just announced its much anticipated new Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7wireless reading device with a large display handy for reading newspapers and magazines.  It can be preordered now for summer availability and will cost $489.  The current 6 inch screen Kindle sells for $359.

Here’s a list of basic features:

• Slightly more than1/3 of an inch thick, as thin as most magazines
• Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
• Large 9.7″ diagonal display, e-ink screen reads like real paper; boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images
• Auto-rotating screen: display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages
• Built-In PDF reader: native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go
• Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle DX, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
• Free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Long battery life: read for days without recharging
• Read-to-Me: with the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable
• Big selection, low prices: Over 275,000 books; New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are only $9.99, unless marked otherwise
• More than books: U.S. and international newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus popular blogs, all auto-delivered wirelessly

At the packed press conference, Amazon announced a partnership with three top textbook publishers which account for 60% of textbook sales (Pearson, Wiley and Signage).  Five universities have agreed to pilot the Kindle DX: Arizona State, Princeton, Reed, U of Virginia, and Case Western Reserve.  TechCrunch’s liveblog from the conference includes a number of illustrations or you can see more at Amazon’s Web site.

Google’s Public Policy Blog is attempting to answer questions about the Google Book Search settlement and what it means for readers as it expands access to books in the U.S.

Authors and publishers with questions should visit the settlement Notice website.

Here’s some basics of the settlement:

• When you find the book you’re searching for, you’ll be able to preview 20% of the book over the Internet from anywhere in the U.S. If you want to look at the whole thing, you’ll be able to go down to your public library where there will be a computer station with access to the whole book for free. And if you don’t want to leave home or want a copy for yourself, you’ll be able to purchase access to an electronic copy of the book. As always, if the book is old enough to be in the public domain, you’ll be able to download the whole book for free.
• If you’re at a university, in addition to your libraries’ free access points, your school can obtain an institutional subscription that gives you access to most books that we’ve scanned. And scholars and students who don’t keep the same study hours as the library will be able to look at any book, anywhere, any time.
• If you are vision impaired, the settlement will open a world of books to which you’ve never had access. Visually impaired people will be able to search for books through the Google Books interface and purchase, borrow, or read at a public library any of the books that are available to the general public in a format that is accessible to the vision impaired.
• If you want to read in foreign languages, you will have access to tens of thousands of more books than you have today. Books in Spanish add up to almost 10% of the books already scanned. If you account for the difference in numbers between books in Spanish and English, the usage per book in Spanish is more than three times what it is for books in English.

“The settlement won’t just expand access to out-of-print books, either.  Because authors and publishers will have the ability to let users preview and purchase their in-print books through Google Book Search, readers will have even more options for accessing in-print books than they have today.”