Blog of Emerging Technology Trends & Education (By Christine)

So you're interested in Blended Learning (defined as: combining face-to-face instruction with Web- or computer-based learning in an educational environment that is non-specific to place and time)? If you were at the Minnesota TIES conference today we talked about rationale, strategies and challenges for implementing blended learning within this current climate of a national vision for cyberinfrastructure and 21st century skills. Extending our conversation beyond conference space and time, what do you do with blended learning in your organization? What challenges and/or strategies do you see? Tell us more about your innovative work or ideas to help contribute to the learning and networking of our group. If you missed today's Minnesota TIES session, the session will be podcast on this blog this week, so please check back later on. To learn more about research and teaching tips related to emerging technologies, feel free to contact me (Christine Greenhow) and check out this link to the University of Minnesota's Digital Media Center http://dmc.umn.edu

Posted by Christine Greenhow at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

How do you think Google is going to harness YouTube for its company purposes? Are we, as YouTube users, going to gain or lose? What implications might these and other recent Google alliances have for education? Care to speculate? Here's some background.

Background
Founded by twentysomethings Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim on February 14, 2005, YouTube, inc. is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience.

According to the YouTube Web site:
YouTube is a place for people to engage in new ways with video by sharing, commenting on, and viewing videos. YouTube originally started as a personal video sharing service, and has grown into an entertainment destination with people watching more than 70 million videos on the site daily.

With YouTube, people can:
-Upload, tag and share videos worldwide
-Browse millions of original videos uploaded by community members
-Find, join and create video groups to connect with people who have similar interests
-Customize the experience by subscribing to member videos, saving favorites, and creating playlists
-Integrate YouTube videos on websites using video embeds or APIs
-Make videos public or private—users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with friends and family upon upload

So why did Google really want to acquire YouTube?

Last week (Oct 12, 2006) Google also launched Google for Educators http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
A site designed that offers guides and lesson plans detailing creative ways to use Blogger, Google Maps, Google Earth and nine other Google applications in the classroom...sort of a one-stop-shop for educators.

Moreover, Blackboard and Google are working out a deal where users of the course management system would be able to access scholarly resources available from Google Scholar from within the Blackboard site. What about the University library system -- isn't Google Scholar an inferior resource and even if it is not, how will university libraries be expected to support students' use of Google Scholar?

So the stars seem to all aligning under Google. Will this lead to trouble in the educational universe or opportunity. What do you think?

Posted by Christine Greenhow at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

My ideas needed a make-over, so here they are...trying on a new set of 21st century clothes in the blogosphere. A collegue of mine and a blogging sage claimed today that 80% of blogs die within the first month. Christine's Blog is determined not to be one of the casualties. What is in your cornucopia?

Posted by Christine Greenhow at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)