CIT INFOBITS December 2001 No. 42 ISSN 1521-9275 About INFOBITS INFOBITS is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Instructional Technology. Each month the CIT's Information Resources Consultant monitors and selects from a number of information and instructional technology sources that come to her attention and provides brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators. ...................................................................... Technology Can Both Limit and Expand Interaction with Students Guidelines for Multimedia Projects Updated Multimedia Resource Guide Internet Under Siege How to Keep E-Learners from E-scaping Self-Publishing a Scholarly Monograph Recommended Reading ...................................................................... TECHNOLOGY CAN BOTH LIMIT AND EXPAND INTERACTION WITH STUDENTS In recent articles in THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION two professors express concerns that the technology they use to connect with their students also can isolate them from their students. Rather than abandoning technology in their teaching, they offer some solutions to overcome limitations of online communication. In "My Students Don't Know What They're Missing" (The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 21, 2001, p. B5), Frank W. Connolly, professor of computer science and information systems at American University, writes that while email has expanded his ability to communicate with his students, it has also had an isolating effect. "The joy and satisfaction of teaching, for me, has come from students, not other faculty members. But outside the classroom, my interactions with students have mostly evaporated. Students used to drop by my office all the time, and I miss that. They used to come by during office hours to ask a question about a point raised in class or to clarify the requirements for an assignment. After the business part of our conversation was over, we'd chat." Connolly has no desire to reverse the advances technology has made at his institution, but wishes that he had "been more vigilant and seen the consequences. I should have spent more time and energy thinking about how this technical advance would change our campus culture. I anticipated that it would change the way many of us teach and do research, but I failed to think about the subtler consequences." These consequences have caused him to incorporate more personal interaction with his students within his classes in the hope of compensating for the professor/student contact that has been lost outside of classroom. Subscribers to the Chronicle can read Connolly's essay online at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i17/17b00501.htm In "Researcher Sees a Big Role for Virtual Reality in Distance Education" (The Chronicle of Higher Education: Daily News, December 20, 2001), Jeffrey R. Young interviews Jaron Lanier, coiner of the term "virtual reality" and the chief scientist for the National Tele-Immersion Initiative, a collaborative project involving several colleges and private laboratories. Lanier says that he has "never learned to feel fully comfortable lecturing to remote students. I've used various systems, and I try to really be there for students if I'm giving a lecture. To me, teaching is the ultimate performing art, and all performing arts are interactive. You always have to connect with the people, you don't just present, you have to connect." He sees the future of virtual-reality technology as a way to improve the instructor/student connection in distance learning. The complete interview is available online to all at http://chronicle.com/free/2001/12/2001122001u.htm The Chronicle of Higher Education [ISSN 0009-5982] is published weekly by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc., 1255 Twenty-third Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA; tel: 202-466-1000; fax: 202-452-1033; Web: http://chronicle.com/ To subscribe contact Circulation Department, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 USA; tel: 800-728-2803 or 740-382-3322 (outside U.S.); email: circulation@chronicle.com; Web: http://chronicle.com/about-help.dir/subscrib.htm ...................................................................... GUIDELINES FOR MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS Taking on a multimedia project presents a multitude of challenges. In "Guidelines for Multimedia Production Projects" (EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 4, 2001, pp. 26-29), Abbie Brown, Tim Green, and Dave Zatz share their experience and expertise in managing multimedia projects. They present four "strategies for maintaining a shared vision for your multimedia product": respect (for the skills each member of the team brings to the project), regular consultation (that keeps the project on track and allows sharing of ideas), specificity (that avoids vague descriptions of what you want from the project), and a paper trail (to document the design process). Brown is Assistant Professor of Educational Technology, Washington State University in Pullman; Green is Director of Distance Education at California State University Fullerton; and Zatz is Senior e-Learning Consultant at Domain Technologies. The article is available online (in PDF format) at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0142.pdf EDUCAUSE Quarterly (formerly CAUSE/EFFECT), a peer-reviewed journal published by EDUCAUSE, covers planning, developing, managing, using, and evaluating information resources and technology in higher education. For more information, contact EDUCAUSE, 1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 1010, Washington, DC 20036 USA; tel: 202-872-4200; fax: 202-872-4318; email: info@educause.edu; Web: http://www.educause.edu/pub/eq/ ...................................................................... UPDATED MULTIMEDIA RESOURCE GUIDE The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Instructional Technology recently revised and updated our guide on multimedia resources. "Multimedia Technology: Recommended Resources" includes recommended books, a list of magazines that cover multimedia topics, and links to multimedia-related associations and conferences. The resource guide is available at http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-12.html ...................................................................... INTERNET UNDER SIEGE In "The Internet Under Siege" (FOREIGN POLICY, November/December 2001), Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig writes that the Internet falls into the category of a "commons" -- a "resource to which everyone within a relevant community has equal access. It is a resource that is not, in an important sense, 'controlled.'" This open access has been key to Internet innovations. "Every significant innovation on the Internet has emerged outside of traditional providers. The new grows away from the old. This trend teaches the value of leaving the platform open for innovation. Unfortunately, that platform is now under siege." New laws and regulations threaten to place controls on the Internet that could stifle future Internet innovations. He urges policymakers to resist because, by protecting existing innovative business models and strengthening the control of copyright holders, policymakers run the risk of keeping out new innovations. The article is available on the web at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_novdec_2001/lessig.html Foreign Policy: The Magazine of Global Politics, Economics, and Ideas [0015-7228] is published bimonthly by Foreign Policy, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036-2103; tel: 202-939-2230; fax: 202-483-4430; Web: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/ Subscription information is available at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/office/subscribe.html Books by Lawrence Lessig: The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World New York: Random House, 2001 ISBN: 0375505784 For more information or to read an excerpt: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0375505784 and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace New York: Basic Books, 2000 ISBN: 0-465-03913-8 For more information or to request an examination copy: http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/perseus-cgi-bin/display/0-465-03913-8 ...................................................................... HOW TO KEEP E-LEARNERS FROM E-SCAPING Institutions that offer e-learning courses are reporting high levels of student attrition and a wide gap between student enrollments and completions. The authors of "How to Keep E-Learners from E-scaping" (by Jim Moshinskie and the eLITE Think Tank, JOURNAL OF INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENT, vol. 14, no. 1, Summer 2001, pp. 8-11) present some techniques for getting, motivating, and keeping online students. Although the paper focuses primarily on online corporate trainers, the ideas are transferable to any online learning environment. Some of the techniques outlined in the paper are common to all instruction delivery methods; some are specific to online teaching and learning. Here are a few of the authors' strategies: Before the Online Course "What's in it for me?" Before the course begins, course providers must help learners see the benefit of taking the course and taking it online. Instructors must know their learners' goals, work environments, and connection capabilities. If the course is for in-service professional development, the students' employers need to get involved in providing peer coachers and by creating opportunities for practice and feedback. During the Online Course Online learning can be an isolating experience for students. During the online course, instructors need to pay attention to feedback and human interaction to make up for the lack of in-person contact. Strategies include giving legitimate feedback that focuses on an individual's progress and specifically addresses individual performance. "Chat rooms, E-mail, electronic office hours, audio streaming, and online mentoring" all can provide the "human touch" between instructor and student and among fellow students. After the Online Course Recognizing that learning is a process, not an event, instructors can support the student who completes the course by offering follow-up communication, virtual mentoring, and help in applying the learning in the student's workplace. Note: the article is not available on the Web. Check with your college or university library to obtain copies. Journal of Interactive Instruction Development [ISSN 1040-0370] is published quarterly by the Learning Technology Institute, 50 Culpeper Street, Warrenton, VA 20186 USA; tel: 540-347-0055; fax: 540-439-3169; email: info@lti.org; Web: http://www.lti.org/ ...................................................................... SELF-PUBLISHING A SCHOLARLY MONOGRAPH When Harvard University historian Marshall Poe couldn't get his book on seventeenth-century Russian history published, he took matters into his own hands. In "Note to Self: Print Monograph Dead; Invent New Publishing Model" (THE JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING, vol. 7, issue 2, December 2001, http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/07-02/poe.html), he explains how he self-published and self-publicized a monograph titled The Russian Elite in the Seventeenth Century: A Quantitative Analysis of the "Duma Ranks," 1613-1713. First he formed his own informal peer-review panel of experts. Next he "made" the book, formatting the manuscript with a word processor and adding a title page, table of contents, running headers, and index. To make the book more system-independent, he next converted it to Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). He put his book on the Web and, using email, marketed it to a list of Slavic history scholars. To get his book reviewed, he sent email to journal editors with the book as an email attachment. Finally, he talked with librarians about getting the book cataloged and into libraries. Not all scholars will have the patience, persistence, and technical skill to follow Poe's path to publishing; however, for those who will, he presents an encouraging, realistic example to follow. The Journal of Electronic Publishing [ISSN 1080-2711] is published free of charge on the Web by the University of Michigan Press, 839 Greene Street, P.O. Box 1104, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1104 USA. For more information contact JEP: email: jep-info@umich.edu; Web: http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/ ...................................................................... RECOMMENDED READING "Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column. 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