How Technology is Changing Learning and Research In Universities
Tim O-Shea at U of Edinburgh
-- new modes of research and learning are upon us - new knowledge curation – new modes of use – new modes of ownership
-- focus at U of Edinburgh is on research
-- research through new technologies fed into the student experience
-- the wild frontier – forget trying to suppress the lms (?) and tools/non-integrated e-learning systems - embrace them, encourage them
-- pressure on librarians, faculty, researchers to use technology to support student learning (this is what students want!)
-- example of using technology: U of E has a very big veterinary medicine school and has a virtual veterinary practice – a virtual farm, a virtual post-mortem room – interesting dead horse of the week posting & virtual patients from dogs to cows
-- virtual learning and research recovers tacit knowledge of professionals, bridges gaps between postgrad and undergrad studies;
-- eLearning authoring – students increasingly confident as architects of their own learning by creating their own virtual patients, i.e., research – creates serendipity, i.e., vicarious learning, which also happens through listening & watching other students
-- eLearning – using facebook, second life and wikis and co-created artifacts
-- VUE = Virtual University of Edinburgh in Second Life - these new approaches are changing the way we are learning and doing research
-- speckled computing – aiming to bridge the physical and virtual worlds - specks are mini programmable semiconductor devices which can sense, compute and network wirelessly
-- Digital Library (SHEDL) - lots of consortial activity - level playing field for learners and researchers, particularly important to support research collaboration – open access – systems must be 1 click deposit to encourage participation
-- innovation in library spaces – important spaces for students -- many universities are investing in space, enhancing the student experience, extended open hours, supporting new ways of learning, group study, mobile computing increasingly supported, social space requirements -- creates a community
-- coming – more research led learning, much more social learning, and more changes in next 10 years – technology is changing who the owners of information are
-- the use of computers in learning has not dehumanised learning/communication - researchers better connected across the world
Comments