Emerging Technologies in Higher Ed

Or, are we simply amusing ourselves to death?

Barry Dahl

Beautiful Duluth, Minnesota

FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 -

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LSC - Full Year Equivalent Enrollment

Online On-ground Total

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Barry Dahl dot com

ITC eLearning Conference

Clicker Time

• Grab your clicker

• First, some demographics.

Gender

Female

Male

16%

84%

1. Female2. Male

Age

29 &

under

30-44

45-56

57 &

older

1%

38%39%

22%

1. 29 & under2. 30-44 3. 45-56 4. 57 & older

Teaching Experience

15 yrs

or mor..

.

Under 1

5 year...

Neve

r taugh

t

59%

6%

34%

1. 15 yrs or more2. Under 15 years3. Never taught

Faculty Perspective• For the next two clicker statements –• Put on your faculty hat, regardless of

whether you actually have one

Entertaining Students is NOT my Job

Fact

Whack

65%

35%

A. FactB. Whack

Engaging Students is NOT my Job

Fact

Whack

95%

5%

A. FactB. Whack

Not this kind of entertainment

More like a Bridge Party

Who said this?“Anyone who tries to make a

distinction between education & entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.”

and now this …….

29%

8%

66%

14%

14%

11%

Which of these terms can you define?

1. PLN2. MUVE3. MMORPG4. LMS5. FOSS6. None of the above

Team Scores29.09 Male26.43 57 & older26.22 15 yrs or more22.35 30-44 22.3 Female20.65 45-56 18.52 Under 15 years12 Never taught

The winners are

0%

6%

25%

81%

81%

67%

Which of the following do you do?

1. File income taxes online (e-file)2. Use online banking services3. Check email on 3 or more diff. accts4. Have an avatar in Second Life5. Engage in an MMORPG (NOT SL)6. None of the above

1%

68%

38%

73%

45%

48%

Choose each true statement

1. You own an iPhone, Droid, Blackberry2. Prefer online news over newspapers3. You consider yourself to be creative4. You have more than 5 cloud documents5. You can define the term “Web 2.0”6. None of the above are true

What is Web 2.0?

Select each site where you have an account.

9%

52%

22%

49%

46%

80% 1. Facebook2. Twitter3. LinkedIn4. MySpace5. YouTube6. None of the above

Team Scores212.94 30-44 203.82 Male187.41 Under 15 years185.94 15 yrs or more178.65 45-56 177.53 Female175.86 57 & older124 Never taught100 29 & under

The most wired are

There has been a large increase in the use of Web 2.0 tools in higher ed.

Reality M

yth

40%

60%

1.Reality2.Myth

Web 2.0 Users

Frankly my dear, most people just don’t give a damn

Millions of users

Billions of non-users

1 million on Facebook

1 million Haters on Facebook

< 1 million on Facebook

Select each item that is true.

33%

18%

45%

11%

49% 1. You have created one or more blogs2. You write one or more active blogs3. You regularly read 1+ education blogs4. You read 10+ blogs via RSS feeds5. None of the above

Who said this?

“I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.”

and now this …….

Neil Postman

• Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business• Published 1985

Amusing Ourselves to Death

• Many of the remarks he made about television can be made today about computers and social networking

My Take on Postman

• Web 1.0 was just another one-way distraction device, very TV-like.• However, Web 2.0 goes beyond

amusement by bringing people together and encouraging creativity.

Legit Questions• Is online learning a serious

endeavor, or just a dumbing down of education?• Is the use of emerging technologies

just an attempt to be more cool?• Where’s the beef?

Hard Questions• Shortly after Postman’s

death, Web 2.0 started to develop and began feeding what Huxley called “man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”

Hard Questions• What is happening to

deep reading?• Do hypertext sidetracks

add or subtract from our learning?

• How do we develop the proper discipline on the net to not be so easily distracted?

and now this …….

Is this Innovation or Insanity?Culture, Gender, and Identity – taught with World of Warcraft

CC Flickr photo by glenn.batuyong

Take your pick

Innovation

Insa

nity

31%

69%

1. Innovation2. Insanity

Team Scores32.14 45-56 31.25 30-44 30.95 15 yrs or more30 Male29.09 Female28 57 & older25 Under 15 years25 Never taught

Who said insanity?

Is this Innovation or Insanity?History of Rock-n-Roll Music course – taught with Guitar Hero

CC Flickr photoBy 5th Ape

and now this …….

Who said this? “All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.”

and now this …….

Some people are great multi-taskers

The human brain can multi-task.

Realit

y

Myth

47%

53%

1. Reality2. Myth

Team Scores100 29 & under59.26 Under 15 years58.82 30-44 54.55 Male48.33 Female46.67 45-56 40.91 15 yrs or more40 Never taught39.29 57 & older

Most correct answers

Multi-tasking is a Myth• Great Book• Brain Rules,

by Dr. John Medina

The Power of Networks

• How many contacts do you have in your phone?• How many Twitter followers or

Facebook friends do you have?• How many people can you reach

without leaving this room?

Way More than 33 Million• Don’t Buy the Book!• Just absorb the

concept.• Behold the power of

the network

Who said this?“We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.”

Speaking of Twitter …….

Twitter is stupid!!

Twue

Fals

e

45%

55%

1. Twue2. False

Team Scores75 Never taught64.29 30-44 63.64 Male61.29 45-56 60.87 Under 15 years53.57 Female50 15 yrs or more46.15 57 & older

Twue Enough

Twitter makes me like people I’ve never met and Facebookmakes me hate people I know in real life. @shaylamaddox

and now this …….

DIY U• Anya Kamenetz• Edupunks,

Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education

DIY U – Ch. 1 - History• Single biggest recipient benefactor

of federal financial aid is ______________• University of Phoenix• Does it seem odd that a “private”

university gets the most public funds?

• Suggestion: “Allocate Funds for Access”• “Colleges that serve rich students

get more federal and state money than colleges that serve poor students.”• This needs to be reversed.

DIY U – Ch. 2 - Sociology

• Idea: Restore the concept of “free.”• Have you heard of Hard Work U?• Part of the “Work College

Consortium.”• Min. 15 hours per week per student.

DIY U – Ch. 3 - Economics

• “If universities can’t find the will to innovate and adapt to changes in the world around them, universities will be irrelevant by the year 2020.”• David Wiley (as quoted in DIYU)

DIY U – Ch. 4 – Computer Science

• “Edupunk is about the utter irresponsibility and lethargy of educational institutions, and the means by which they are cannibalizing their own mission.• Jim Groom (as quoted in DIYU)

DIY U – Ch. 5 – Independent Study

• 20 years from now … “won’t be the brick and mortar and a course in this & that. It’s going to be more outcomes based and skill based, project based.• Judy Baker (Foothill-DeAnza

College)

DIY U – Ch. 6 - Commencement

Do you agree that higher ed needs to change significantly to

remain relevant?

12%

88%

1.Yes2.No

and now this …….

Who said this?“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

Who said this?

“The medium is the message”

Marshall McLuhan

and now this …….

Higher Ed Moves Slowly