Paula’s E-Musings

YouTube and iTunesU are not the only Websites where you can find lectures and presentations. Earlier this month I wrote about Big Think, a site about ideas and intellectual discourse that features interviews with scholars from many disciplines and provides opportunities for readers to participate in discussions. An interesting post on today’s Wired Campus has references  to a number of Websites that feature lectures and presentations. Among them are The Research Channel, a non-profit consortium of colleges and universities that broadcasts video in a several formats; Princeton University’s UChannel; and University of Maryland’s DoFlick. Here at SUNY Cortland we have made lectures and other learning materials available on our own Website, as well as on iTunesU, Second Life, and YouTube. With free access to these resources through libraries, and as more universities are willing to share their intellectual capital, learning is truly becoming more democratized.

Today’s Wired Campus reaffirms the popularity of YouTube and other video sharing sites. According to findings 47 percent of Internet users view videos on YouTube, up from 33 percent the previous year.  The entire Pew Report, which includes some interesting demographics, is available on the Web. An earlier Pew Survey indicates that news, comedy, and educational programming top the list of what people are watching on video sites.

In the past couple of days the media have been buzzing about YouTube and its use in the academy. The Wired Campus  recent post is about how many campuses are using YouTube for a variety of purposes, including marketing, course casting and other presentations. According to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education  article, several colleges and universities have signed agreements with YouTube to set up official channels. At SUNY Cortland we have posted technology training videos on YouTube to make them more accessible to our own students and to reach out to a wider audience.

Both the New York Times and The Chonicle of Higher Education have featured articles about Big Think, a website about ideas and intellectual discourse that hopes to be a “YouTube for ideas.” Big Think features interviews with scholars from many disciplines and provides opportunities for users to participate in discussions. According to the NYT article Big Think was developed by Peter Hopkins, a former student of Harvard Ex-President Larry Summers, and his partner Victoria Brown. Dr. Summers and others provided seed money to develop the website.

Colleges and Universities, including SUNY Cortland, have been posting videos on iTunesU for several years now, and YouTube is another venue to reach today’s students who frequent social networking sites to socialize and learn. The impact of this electronic medium on higher education remains to be seen.

First there was Web 2.0, then Business 2.0 and more recently Library 2.0. In a recent issue of Educause Quarterly I’ve just read about Commons 2.0 that “brings together a wide range of elements to foster student learning in new and creative ways….[with] the freedom of wireless communication, flexible workspace clusters that promote interaction and collaboration, and comfortable furnishings, art, and design to make users feel relaxed, encourage creativity, and support peer-learning.”

The evolution of the 2.0 world corresponds with the evolution in the way we provide services and resources. The 2.0 concept also reflects the variety of collaborative ways and spaces in which learning takes place. It certainly reflects the learning styles of our millennial students who are comfortable with new technologies, communicate electronically, and use social networking sites to create their own learning experiences. Commons 2.0 author Bryan Sinclair suggests five guiding prinicples for Commons 2.0: open, free, comfortable, inspiring, and practical.

At SUNY Cortland we have an extended area on first floor of the library designated as the Learning Commons. Our Commons meets Sinclair’s 2.0 criteria and is consistent with his 2.0 principles. Our Commons is close to the library cafe so students can easily bring food and beverages with them. The Commons has wireless access and is attractively designed with chairs that are comfortable and furniture that is flexible.  However, students must leave this appointed area to find books and periodicals, check out laptops, use mobile technologies, and create media projects — all part of the 2.0 experience. Hence our library director maintains that the entire library is the Learning Commons. Should that notion be extended to include the entire campus? Beyond the campus? Anywhere formal or informal collaboration and learning are takes place? Diana Oblinger’s 2006 e-book Learning Spaces is an excellent resource for examining the convergence of space, technology and pedagogy in the 2.0 environment.

The 2.0 world is changing as new technologies and media formats foster greater opportunities for interaction and shared learning. As providers of technology and information we must continue to understand our students and how they learn. We need to engage others on campus to assure that spaces being built and redesigned do encourage the 2.0 approach to education.