The June article of the month, published in the recent EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY magazine, explores how students gather information using smartphones and the internet.  Kristen Yarmey, Digital Services Librarian for the University of Scranton, conducted a survey of students to analyze the information retrieval strategies employed by undergraduate students.  Her study yielded some interesting results on use of digital technologies and reliance on traditional methods of research.

The 2010 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology (the eighth such study) noted that internet-capable mobile phones were "fundamentally changing how students use technology." Some key findings from Yarmey's study:

• Users of iPhone and Android devices are beginning to use new search input tools, such as spoken keywords, geographic location, camera images, and barcode or quick-response code scans.
• Most of the student respondents who conducted information searches on these devices understood the need to evaluate the reliability of what they found.
• Even though students claim they can read on their smartphones without being distracted, the evidence shows that disruptions did occur in homework sessions and during class time.

The results of Yarmey's survey suggest that students desire to use their smartphones for academic purposes, yet students still require guidance from educators on best ways to use mobile devices and mobile apps for learning. As the scope of this survey was limited, further research is needed, particularly in analyzing student search behavior across multiple devices - smartphones, tablet computers, and laptop or desktop computers. It would be interesting to better understand when and why student users switch between devices.

This article draws in the mobile world to the world of learning.  We as faculty should consider the multiple methods by which our students gather information and attempt to make sense of their findings.  It is also suggestive of our own faculty developmental needs in terms of information literacy.

The article is linked here.

No matter how well designed our courses or lesson plans are, even when they are grounded in "best practices" and the science of how people learn, they don't always work. Sometimes we have to be creative and spontaneous. In this way, teaching is both a science and an art. Course and lesson plan design should be informed by both data and literature, but we also need to be reminded that good teaching is also a bit of a performance. We often have a script, but there will be times when we need to leave the script behind and improvise. The article below offers a unique insight into the idea that teaching is "improvisational performance" and it should help many of us learn to appreciate this metaphor, as well as offer us a variety of ways in which we can do this better.

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This article is a part of the CTE’s Monthly Article series. In this article, Revere, Elden, & Bartsch examine ‘social loafing’ in a collaborative learning environment. Using a quasi-experimental design and survey research, the authors report that students who participated in collaborative learning followed by a group examination had higher perceived levels of learning and more positive attitudes toward the course than a control group who did not participate in a group examination. The students who participated in a group examination also reported less social loafing.

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In this month's CTE Monthly Article series, we feature the recently released 2008 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium. This annual report, now in its fifth year, describes emerging technologies likely to impact teaching and learning over the next five, three and one year periods. Student and faculty generated video and collaborative webs were seen as emerging near-term, while mobile applications, data mashups, collective intelligence and social operating systems are further out on the horizon. Check out the report to see examples of instructional uses of the technologies featured.

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This article is part of the CTE's Monthly Article series. In this article,
Felder and Brent supply us with time-proven techniques and advice that
improve the success of students working in groups. Questions addressed
include 1). How can I best form groups; 2). How can I deal with
dysfunctional teams; 3). What about grading teams; and 4). What about
dealing with teams in an on-line course.

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This article is part of the CTE's Monthly Article series. In this article, Lee Shulman, current President of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, offers a fresh perspective on learning taxonomies. Building on the work of one of his former teachers - Benjamin Bloom - Shulman provides a context for understanding the development of taxonomies in education and then offers his own "Table of Learning" for consideration. As always, Shulman's inquiring perspective and clear style shed new light on the value of using taxonomies to support teaching and learning. We hope you'll read the article and follow Shulman's advice to use it "as a stimulus for thinking about the design and evaluation of education, and as the basis for creative narratives about the learning process."

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This article is part of the CTE's Monthly Article series. In this article, Joe Novak discusses the theory behind concept mapping and gives practical advice for the construction and use of concept maps. Concept maps are graphical representations of knowledge and the concepts that link knowledge. Concept mapping is a tool that can be used to assess student knowledge, helping both you and your students realize what they do and do not understand. Instructors can even use concept mapping to design courses and curriculum. This article gives background for the use of this very rich teaching, planning, and assessment tool.

You can access a copy of the article by clicking on the "Download file" link below.

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This article is part of the CTE's Monthly Article series. In this piece, author Barbara Oakley, provides practical advice on how to coach well-meaning students to manage behavioral problems that can occur during teamwork. The article begins with a brief description of how the technique was used and gives some outcome measures as to its effectiveness. The techniques comprise the latter half of the article; the techniques give advice on how to manage the two most common behavioral problems – that of the ‘couch potato’ and the ‘hitch-hiker.”

You can access a copy of the article by clicking on the "Download file" link below.

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