Several months ago, we described how Google+ can be used to communicate asynchronously with others. Google Hangouts, a feature of Google+, can serve as an excellent form of synchronous collaboration (e.g., face-to-face office hours, facilitating study groups, collaborating with colleagues, etc).

You can invite any member of your Google+ Circles to join, or “hang out” in, a video chat. Hangouts can accommodate participants in up to ten locations, and work particularly well if each location has an activated web cam (as well as microphone and speakers, although a headset with microphone works well, too). Decent bandwidth (approximately 900kbps/1800kbps) is also helpful. Check with your center tech to determine bandwidth for your center/unit.

All members of a Hangout need to have a Google+ account to join. You can schedule a Hangout in advance, or host a spontaneous Hangout when the mood strikes.  Generally, to host a Hangout, you would click “Start a Hangout,” and then invite people in your Google+ Circles.  Those chosen would receive a message that they have been invited to a Hangout (they would need to have their Google accounts open in order to receive the message). Clicking on the link given would take them to the Hangout.

As you can see from the visual (below), Hangout members with activated web cams can see and talk with each other. By clicking on the Google Docs button, they can open and share a Google Doc, working on it synchronously.

Members of a Hangout can also chat, share other apps (including Cacoo, a collaborative drawing tool application) and even view a YouTube video together.

For more information on Google+ Hangouts (including how to sign up), visit the Hangout information page. As always, you can talk with your center FIT for help getting set up.

When composing emails, web pages, blog articles and posts in discussion groups, sooner or later you will want to refer to some piece of content online, and you will want to link to it. This brings up a copyright issue. Linking to content on the web is covered by fair use. So is using a thumbnail image (about one inch square) when you link to an image.

What is not as clear-cut is how much text you can quote as a teaser when you are linking to an article.

It is generally understood that you can definitely not quote the whole article and then link to it. And while some companies (like the Associated Press) wish they could charge for any quote, no matter how small or for what purpose, that is not what the law says. Some quoting is definitely okay. How much? The law doesn’t give an amount, because it’s a qualitative as well as a quantitative judgment, and there are factors other than amount to consider.

At this point, you may be wondering how you can link to articles in a way that’s useful for your own readers and still following copyright law. Here are some options you could try:

1. Write your own commentary on the topic, and suggest the article as further reading. Provide the article’s citation and link at the bottom of the page. Or, do the same thing, except suggest that your readers go to the article before reading your commentary on the topic, because that article informs what you’re writing. In that case, provide the article’s citation and link at the top of the page.

2. Provide the citation and link to the article along with your own summary and/or critique of the article.

3. Provide the citation and link to the article along with a *very brief* excerpt – no more than two or three sentences – that represents what it’s about. Include some of your own commentary on the article or ideas sparked by it. You could also direct your readers to ask certain questions of the text, or be on the lookout for certain themes.

Fair Use very clearly allows linking to copyrighted content, and it’s also pretty generous when it comes to using quotations from copyrighted works for criticism and commentary, news reporting, or research, scholarship and education. But it becomes quite hazy if you don’t add your own original interpretation to the quote. So when you are linking to an article, be sure to contextualize any excerpts with your own ideas.

Visit the Copyright Information Web Site for more information on Fair Use.

In a meeting earlier this week, my fellow librarians and I were explaining to some OIT colleagues that, even after researchers are logged into a library database like JSTOR or ebrary, they still have to create and log in to accounts with each of those vendors individually, if they want to save any of the articles or books they’ve found to a folder or “bookshelf.”

One of these savvy OIT colleagues responded, “Why don’t they just use RefWorks, instead?”

RefWorks is a feature-rich, web-based tool that allows researchers to gather, store, manage and share dozens of different types of resources as well as generate properly formatted citations and bibliographies.  It may be that very richness of features that intimidates some researchers out of taking advantage of the many opportunities RefWorks offers to simplify the research process and enhance the teaching and learning experience.

Most people familiar with RefWorks know that it is useful for formatting citations in any of thousands of citation styles at the touch of a button.  Here’s what is less well known…

You can import myriad source types (e.g., articles, entire books, sound recordings, etc.) into your RefWorks account in a variety of ways, including:

• Manually entering references
• Importing text files of references
• Exporting directly from library databases
• Using RefGrab-It to scrape information from web pages
• Using RefWorks as an RSS feed reader to pull articles from your favorite journals or web pages

RefWorks lets you store all of your research from databases, collections and the Web in one place.
You create folders and sub-folders within your RefWorks account to organize your sources by whatever means makes sense to you.

You can share your folders with colleagues and/or students for collaborative projects, via:

• social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
• individualized links that you can email or post in your ANGEL course
• RSS feeds which will update your collaborators any time something new is added to the folder

RefWorks integrates with Microsoft Word, allowing you to automatically insert citations into your papers as you write via the RefWorks toolbar.

RefWorks offers robust technical support – free of charge, courtesy of the library’s subscription – to the entire ESC community, via:

• Online quick start guides
• Video tutorials
• Training webinars
• Email: RS-RWsupport@refworks-cos.com
• Phone: 775-327-4105

To learn more about using the features mentioned above, I encourage you grab a glass of wine at the reception and then come visit with me and Heather Shalhoub during the CDL Conference poster sessions on Friday, April 27th from 5-6:15pm at 113 West Avenue, Room 137.  (p.s. We won’t object at all if you bring us Merlot.)

In the meantime, for more information about RefWorks, please visit: www.esc.edu/refworks.

This is Part II of  two articles discussing the NMC Horizon Report 2012.

Recap of Part I

Last week’s article discussed how the NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition was created and how the report identifies near-term to far-term educational technology trends (a range of one to five years). The article also discussed mobile apps and tablet computing, both of which were assigned a time-to-adoption horizon of one year or less. This week we will look at technologies with adoption horizons of two to five years.

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two Years to Three Years

The technologies discussed in this category are currently receiving increasing interest from higher education.  Within this time frame, it is expected that widespread adoption of these technologies will begin.

Game-Based Learning

Game-based learning includes a wide variety of game types including single player computer games, small group card and board games (non-digital), and massively multiplayer online games as well as alternate reality games. The number of education-related game conferences illustrates the growing interest in this category; iED 2012, Games for Change 2012, and LEEF are three such conferences in the immediate Northeast area.

The characteristics of games that make them interesting for educators include: working toward a goal, problem solving and collaboration with others, social and narrative aspects, the need to use critical thinking skills and immediate performance feedback with the possibility of the student achieving outstanding success. Additionally, games engage and motivate the student and help scaffold future success even when faced with a minor set-back. The current design challenge that keeps games in the mid-term horizon is the difficulty of including traditional education content into games “so that it looks and feels a natural part of playing the game.” (Horizon Report, 2012).

North Carolina State University’s “MicroExplorer3D” is an online game built using a standard “game engine” and teaches students the parts of a microscope using an interactive, game-like interface. The Federation of American Scientists sponsored the creation of a downloadable “Immune Attack” game that teaches concepts about the immune system (there is a video trailer available showcasing the game). SUNY Albany researchers are developing a video game that shows people the negative aspects of their decision-making processes: http://www.albany.edu/news/19508.php?WT.svl=image

Learning Analytics

Learning analytics uses a combination of data mining (gathering data from a wide variety of sources), interpretation and data modeling,  ultimately to provide “close-to-real time” individual educational opportunities that match each student’s level. Learning analytics is more than simply identifying “at risk” students – rather it attempts “to improve both teaching and learning environments.”  The Gates Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, as well as large publishers such as McGraw Hill and Pearson are all engaged in research projects and the development of learning analytic solutions. Although issues of privacy and accountability for the use of student data remain a concern, the Second International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge in Vancouver, British Columbia “sold-out” more than a month before the conference opening.

Early stage examples include the CoreDogs platform that can be used to create digital textbooks to provide students with formative feedback and assessment, and Learning Catalytics which allows instructors to use real-time assessment and feedback during a class to engage students with open-ended questions.

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years

Technologies in this category will not see wide-spread adoption for at least four to five years.

Gesture-Based Computing

iPads, iPhones and other systems that use taps, swipes and other forms of touch are the most readily apparent gesture-based devices. Gesture-based computing moves beyond the tactile approach and uses hand, arm and facial gestures to control devices. New innovations also include the convergence of gesture sensing with voice recognition – the iPhone 4s “Siri” is one early example. The ultimate goal of gesture-based computing is to create a more natural and comfortable way to control computers, leaving behind the keyboard and mouse that is currently so familiar.

As of this writing, there are few examples of purely educational uses of gesture-based computing and these are highly experimental. The University of Oregon has developed the EyeMusic project which uses eye-tracking sensors to compose multimedia productions. While, Ball State University’s “MorphoLuminescence” uses body gestures to adjust room lighting. MIT students founded 3Gear Systems to produce a low-cost gesture control for consumers.

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things is a short-hand term for network-aware smart objects. These objects are small, can be attached to anything, are uniquely identifiable, store small amounts of data and can communicate that data to an external device when needed. A commercial example could be an object that is attached to an inventory item – the smart object might contain instructions, warranty information, monitor temperature (providing an alert to prevent damage such as freezing or from extreme heat) and provide location information – all through a wireless network.

This is an evolving technology, which explains why it is classified on a far-term adoption horizon for education. Current education-related examples include researchers that use RFID systems to track marine animals (http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/11/10/9532/) and Otago Museum’s plan to install an RFID tracking system to allow museum artifacts to be tracked as they are moved around the museum (http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/143086/plans-made-radio-tracking-system). Other current applications include smart control of classroom environments and lab equipment resource management. The most likely near-term educational uses will continue to be refinements in environmental control, resource management and research.

For further reading:

Games and Learning: Teaching as Designing (by James Gee)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-gee/games-and-learning-teachi_b_851581.html 

What are Learning Analytics? (George Siemens)
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2010/08/25/what-are-learning-analytics/ 

7 Areas Beyond Gaming Where Kinect Could Play a Role
http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/12/dancing-with-kinects-future-in.html 

Internetting Every Thing, Everywhere, All the Time
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/02/digitalbiz.rfid/

Resources:

Horizon Report 2012
http://www.nmc.org/publications/horizon-report-2012-higher-ed-edition (registration required for free download)

Horizon Report image (creative commons license)
http://www.nmc.org/system/files/nmc_itunesu.HR2012HiEd.jpg 

Untitled (Game screen image, creative commons license)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hey__paul/6153703165/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Shadow Monster (creative commons license)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferboyer/262197699/

This is part one of two articles discussing the NMC Horizon Report 2012.

What is the Horizon Report?

The full name of the report is actually NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition. The report is the result of collaboration between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the Educause Learning Initiative. The report is created by a forty-seven member international advisory board comprising education, industry and technology experts.

The members of this board use a set of research questions to participate in discussions that result in a report that identifies near-term to far-term trends (a range of one to five years). The NMC states that the report is not intended to be predictive; instead, it is designed to “highlight emerging technologies with considerable potential for our focus areas of education and interpretation.” (Horizon Report, 2012).

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less

The technologies discussed in this category are readily available and used in everyday life. Students as well as instructors will increasingly expect to be able to use these technologies for learning and related instructional activities in all aspects of their life – home, work, in the classroom or wherever they are.

Mobile Apps

iPhone and Android Smartphones have become ubiquitous and have created tremendous growth in the “app” software market, with more than 18 billion iPhone apps and 10 billion Android apps downloaded by the end of 2011. The large number and variety of apps means that instructors can develop educational activities using “off the shelf” commercial apps.

Well-designed apps take advantage of the capabilities of the individual device. Annotation, content or media creation (including audiovisual and photographic), file sharing, collaborative activities, mind-mapping, social media, e-readers, and access to education resources are just a few of the many possible uses of commercial apps for education. Using the commercial free app Mindjet, students can create mind-maps, add notes and share project information with each other using its social features: http://www.mindjet.com/products/mindmanager/#mmMobiApp.

Additionally, educational institutions can develop their own apps for specific programs or uses. These could include interactive and GPS-enabled apps, such as the Cleveland Historical app (http://www.csuohio.edu/news/releases/2011/06/14920.html) or may provide access to course materials in a learning management system, library or open education resource collection (http://mobile.princeton.edu/).

Tablet Computing

Swiping, tapping and pinching, users of tablets have discovered that they are more than big e-readers or smartphones. Tablet screens are large, sharp and brilliant, and the gesture-based interface invites engagement and interaction. Videos, photographs, magazines, e-books and web pages can be consumed or created. It should be no surprise that the Apple iPad accounts for 47% of all mobile web traffic.

Tablets also use the app model for software, and many apps that are available for smartphones are also available for tablets – in some cases special tablet versions have been developed that take advantage of the larger size of the tablet.

For education, possible uses include replacing the print textbook (there are several companies publishing textbooks designed for tablet readers), viewing of video education resources (including open education materials such as i-Tunes U), fieldwork and data collection (that may take advantage of the tablet’s built-in audiovisual capture capabilities), collaboration (video chat, note sharing and social media) and game-based learning apps.

The University of Illinois is using iPads in its chemistry laboratories to provide on-demand video reviews of lab techniques for students: http://chem.illinois.edu/SABICstudio/237/kiosk/. Penn State University is developing a mobile video app for ethnographers to record video with text annotation while in the field: http://navigator.nmc.org/project/mobile-video-annotation-app-ipad .

What’s Next?

Next time we will conclude the summary of this year’s Horizon Report with a look at the Two to Three Year and Four to Five Year times to adoption. This discussion will cover Game-Based Learning, Learning Analytics, Gesture-Based Computing and the Internet of Things.

For further reading:

Taking Mobile Applications into the Cloud
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/08/31/taking-mobile-applications-into-the-cloud.aspx

Can the iPhone save higher education?
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/032310-iphone-higher-education.html

Resources:

Horizon Report 2012
http://www.nmc.org/publications/horizon-report-2012-higher-ed-edition (registration required for free download)

Horizon Report image (creative commons license)
http://www.nmc.org/system/files/nmc_itunesu.HR2012HiEd.jpg 

iPad Telephony photo attribution (creative commons license):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perolofforsberg/6691744587/