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Games as an Ideal Learning Environment

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:23:34 GMT

Editor�s Introduction

Digital gaming has recently emerged as a major area of interest for computer-mediated teaching and learning. James Paul Gee (University of Wisconsin-Madison) more than any other person launched this movement with his influential What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003). A series of books, conferences, professional meetings, workshops, and projects have followed, all working broadly with the notion that computer games often demonstrate pedagogical structures that academia can study, and from which instructional technology can benefit.

Four levels of higher education engagement with gaming have so far emerged. First is using preexisting games and projects, such as Second Life for social media, or Civilization and other simulations for history and sociology. Second is modifying preexisting games, transforming the content into forms suited to curricular needs. For example, an MIT project modified the fantasy game Neverwinter Nights into a social simulation of the American Revolution. A third level is for members of higher education to create games themselves. Faculty working with technologists have done this (e.g., Econ 201, University of North Carolina, Greensboro). Students have also created games as class projects (e.g., The Phone). Lastly, games and game content can serve as objects of study, either on their own terms or within other fields, such as communications or media studies.

Todd Bryant's approach is a fine example of the first. In the article that follows he describes selecting an already established computer game, the globally successful World of Warcraft, in order to enhance the teaching of German. Bryant reflects on the practical details involved in bringing a commercial game into the liberal arts classroom. He then explores what this case study suggests about gaming, especially in terms of student reflection.

Bryan Alexander, Editor
April 2007, Middlebury, VT

Bryant, Todd. 2007. Games as an Ideal Learning Environment. Transformations, April 13, http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2007_4_13.

Managing and Supporting GIS in Higher Educational Contexts

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:28:28 GMT

Over the last decade, the awareness and popularity of geographic information systems (GIS) has undeniably grown on college campuses. Moreover, computer-based mapping technology is no longer restricted to the domain of the natural sciences. Historians, economists, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, and even psychologists have discovered that by converting their spatial data into a mapped format they create a visual learning tool. Visualizing spatial patterns promotes and encourages inquiry-based learning by providing access to the data behind the pictures. GIS mapping supports the process of critical thinking by enabling students to deconstruct complex problems into individual components and rebuild their understanding of the situation, all while asking questions across multiple data layers. GIS can be used to develop both community and global awareness, helping our students become engaged citizens. One day in the future, spatial thinking may even become a recognized component of our educational curricula.

Sinton, Diana Stuart, ed. 2006. Managing and Supporting GIS in Higher Educational Contexts. Transformations, May 1, http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1.

What Do Net Gen Students Have To Teach Us? Stories from the Connected Classroom

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:03:56 GMT

Editor's Introduction

One of the most challenging features of digital culture is its rapid developmental pace. This pace leads to generational differences, as one demographic fights future shock (Toffler 1970) and the younger one simply lives with it. Images of this divide range from the stereotypical pile of devices associated with any student (iPod, laptop, cell phone, etc.) to struggles over digital censorship and expression. An example of the latter can be found this past fall, as the United States Army began asking soldiers to cease blogging from Iraq. As Wired�s reporter observers, such a policy indicates

a growing culture clash between military traditions of censorship and the expectations of young soldiers weaned on open digital culture. (Jardin 2006)

College campuses live with this divide, of course, and find the split both exhilarating and threatening, offering new opportunities for social knowledge, technology support, and cultural transformation.

The demographic and technological complexity of this issue renders adequate knowledge difficult to obtain. Generational differences in technology usage also summon up a host of additional theories involving cyberculture, which deepen our potential knowledge while adding still more complexity: information literacy, knowledge transfer, and media literacy.

A body of knowledge on this topic has appeared recently. Informally, many professors and other staff have developed assessments of student knowledge, in contrast to their own experience. Such accounts often set student fluency against the awkwardness of their elders. Formally, studies have begun to emerge in scholarly and professional literature, most notably the Oblingers� Educating the Net Gen (2005). A major theme in all of these assessments is the digital immersion of the rising generation of traditional-age college students. This demographic appears to be comfortable with a wide variety of hardware and software, preferring media (if not life) in digital format, and occasionally impatient with their twentieth-century seniors.

Much work needs to be done in order to bring to bear on our understanding the accumulation of experience, reflection, and scholarly analysis. This digital divide between generations is a problem NITLE will return to, starting with this paper from Sarah Lohnes. Lohnes, a former NITLE staffer and at present graduate student at Columbia Teachers� College, focuses in on the liberal arts student population, especially in the context of innovative teaching practices.

This paper can be discussed via comments. We invite your responses and will follow reflections in other venues.

Bryan Alexander, Editor
December 2006, Middlebury, VT

Lohnes. Sarah. 2006. What Do Net Gen Students Have To Teach Us? Stories from the Connected Classroom. Transformations, December 8, http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_12_14.

About the Authors

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:23:06 GMT

Index of contributors, Transformations.

GIS Technology at a Small Liberal Arts College: The Importance of Administrative Support

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 20:58:25 GMT

GIS has emerged as a powerful technology for instruction, for research, and for building the stature of programs and schools that offer GIS courses (Openshaw 1991; Longley 2000; Sui and Morrill 2004) Consequently, it is useful to consider the conditions under which GIS instruction and research programs grow and spread on campuses. At a recent meeting of GIS-teaching faculty sponsored by NITLE participants discussed the fact that colleges often expect GIS instructors simultaneously to teach courses and labs, manage labs, and build user communities on campus. Discussions at this meeting indicated that these coincident goals are always stressful and are usually unrealistic. Faculty can rarely be effective in building, maintaining, and teaching a GIS program all on their own.

Colleges and programs with dedicated lab managers or other technical support�without teaching responsibilities but with some time for research or grant applications�keep their teaching faculty happier and build a better lab more efficiently. In this article we discuss how this support has helped build and maintain a GIS program at Vassar College, a small liberal arts college which had no GIS lab or instruction before 1994, but by 2005 had four labs equipped with ArcGIS, including one dedicated GIS lab and one small research lab. Although Vassar continues to see challenges in expanding GIS use, two key factors in our growth have been support in the central administration and the creation of a lab administrator dedicated to maintaining the GIS lab.

Mary Ann Cunningham and Meg Stewart, "GIS Technology at a Small Liberal Arts College: The Importance of Administrative Support," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_cunningham_stewart>.

Supporting GIS at Trinity University: a Role for Libraries

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:58:36 GMT

While Geographic Information Systems have been used in departments at larger universities since the early 1990s or before, their adoption by small liberal arts institutions has been surprisingly slow. Recently, librarians John Repplinger at Willamette University and Camila Gabaldon from Western Oregon University surveyed the Oberlin Group and western schools from the Orbis Cascade Alliance, and found that only 29% support GIS on their campuses. Of the remainder, only 15% were considering adding GIS to their campus. [1] Since that 29% includes schools that may only have GIS in a single department or computer seat, it seems safe to say that despite the high profile of GIS in academe, campus-wide access to GIS software and data is uncommon among small liberal arts institutions in general.

Providing campus-wide access to and support for GIS can be achieved in different ways. Both libraries and departments of information and instructional technology are logical choices for the location of GIS stewardship, particularly in the absence of a geography department. Libraries in particular are often suited to the task by virtue of their experience with electronic resources and digital data. However, a 2002 survey by Kinikin and Hench of 268 Carnegie Class Masters I & II universities showed that only �13% of the returned surveys indicated that their library supports GIS.� [2] A 2004 follow-up survey by the same authors, this time directed only to those schools with library support for GIS, revealed that lack of use had led two of the survey respondents to discontinue their support of GIS. [3]

So, why situate campus GIS resources in the library? The challenges are evident: since the technology hasn�t widely proliferated as a common tool or resource at liberal arts institutions, no clear consensus exists on the most effective approach to supporting GIS. If the lack of use of library GIS resources is perceived as a potential problem, a library investment in GIS may be regarded as a risk. Moreover, since it would seem that IT has as much of a claim to the technology as would the library, we would anticipate some discussion about which might be better positioned to serve the needs of campus GIS users. For any institution that has yet to offer GIS to a general campus audience, the topic of campus-wide GIS support is one open to both vision and experimentation.

Jeremy Donald, "Supporting GIS at Trinity University: a Role for Libraries," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_donald>.

The GIS Initiative: A Community Outreach Approach

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 17:59:56 GMT

Once the purview of geographers, environmentalists, and other physical scientists, GIS applications have seeped into the domain of the social sciences. GIS is now being used to analyze political, economic, and demographic trends at the local, state, national, and international levels. At Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, the effort to introduce GIS into our curriculum and research is being loosely led by a small group of faculty members, mainly social scientists.[1] Over the last few years, this group has sought out GIS training, produced a variety of maps for their courses, sponsored GIS Day activities,[2] and informally organized itself into a campus-wide GIS Group. Some members of this group have begun to create GIS course modules for students, and we have created a small, limited-use GIS lab. In this article we will focus on how these GIS efforts at Morehouse College have been grounded in, and supported by, a broad community service initiative.

Glenwood Ross II, "The GIS Initiative: A Community Outreach Approach," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_ross>.

Service Learning and GIS: The Key to Funding Opportunities

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:59:12 GMT

California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U) is one of the 14 universities of the State System of Higher Education of Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, in the Monongahela River Valley. This area saw its boom during the heights of the steel industry, but as did the industry, the University has experienced some difficult times. In the beginning, the state provided Cal U with most of its revenue; however since the 1980s that amount has dwindled, and the University has struggled to keep departmental and technological budgets at operational levels. Thus our Earth Sciences department aims to provide students with the marketable knowledge and skills needed for employment through service learning opportunities.

Thomas R. Mueller, Ph.D., Jamie Mitchem Ph.D., and Lawrence Moses, Ph.D., "Service Learning and GIS: The Key to Funding Opportunities," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_mueller_mitchem_moses>.

GIS Teaching and Research Support Model at Tufts University

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:30:07 GMT

Tufts University, founded in 1852, is a private institution located in suburban Boston. Over 8,500 students are enrolled at its eight Schools across three separate campuses. In 1998, the growing University-wide interest in GIS led us to establish a GIS Center on the Medford campus. Its objectives are to support the teaching and research of faculty, staff, and students and to promote the use of GIS on all three campuses as a service to the Tufts community. The Center is part of the Academic Technology (AT) Directorate, a university-wide resource that provides consultations, collaborative partnerships, and faculty development focusing on the use of technology to support teaching and research initiatives.

The GIS Center functions as a comprehensive, one-stop-shopping venue for GIS activities. It is centrally located inside the main library and has fourteen desktop computers that run an assortment of GIS software packages. Currently, its staff consists of a full-time GIS Specialist, a new half-time GIS Teaching and Research Specialist, and five student assistants. The Center�s services are free to anyone within the Tufts community, and Academic Technology operations are funded by the University�s central administration.

Through the GIS Center, we have been able to meet the growing needs of GIS users at Tufts through a three-part support model of teaching, research, and outreach that we will discuss in this article. One key to the success of our model has been effective collaborations and partnerships between Academic Technology
(as part of the Administration) and various Schools and libraries. As a result of these partnerships, the University recently created an interesting and uncommon position: a �hybrid� half-faculty/half-staff position of Lecturer/GIS Teaching and Research Specialist (currently held by Ogneva-Himmelberger, an author of this paper). The Lecturer portion of the position is within the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) and the Environmental Studies Program. The GIS Teaching and Research Specialist part of the position (the half-time Center staff position described above) is within Academic Technology. The dual nature of the position facilitates establishing close links between two sectors on campus: 1) faculty interested in using GIS, and 2) Academic Technology, the group within the Administration that provides GIS support services.

Dr. Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger and David Kahle, "GIS Teaching and Research Support Model at Tufts University," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_ogneva_himmelberger_kahle>.

GIS Support: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:33:12 GMT

The versatility of GIS to support a variety of disciplines makes it an important addition to the liberal arts curriculum. Its interdisciplinary nature created a synergy among several members of the faculty that led to the development of a GIS program at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. At the same time, its interdisciplinary nature created a dilemma as to where the program should be housed academically. This article will detail the development of support for our GIS program and the solution to the housing dilemma.

Carol Ekstrom, "GIS Support: An Interdisciplinary Approach," Transformations, May 1, 2006, < http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_ekstrom>.

Support Model puts GIS on the Map at Smith College

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:19:07 GMT

It is difficult to argue against integrating geospatial technologies (notably GIS) into a liberal arts curriculum. However, there is no clearly defined path for small liberal arts colleges to modify their curricula to meet the demand for students knowledgeable in the science of spatial analysis. A clear and unified support model may never exist, but there are common threads of experience that can be shared and included into a body of knowledge for others to build upon.

Building on support models used at peer institutions, Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, is now meeting the demands for incorporating geospatial technologies into the curriculum. Growth of GIS interest at Smith, the nation�s largest liberal arts college for women, has also triggered a transition from an initial �teach with GIS� model to a �teach GIS� model. Teaching with GIS will always be a part of the larger effort to incorporate geospatial technologies into the curriculum. However, teaching GIS is a milestone that substantiates the efforts of faculty, staff, and students involved in developing geospatial technologies at Smith.

As a campus-wide effort, promoting and incorporating GIS is relatively new at Smith, dating only from 1999. Before that time, several faculty members were already �doing GIS� and had been using related geospatial technologies for years, but a tipping point occurred in the late 1990s when funding from the Krusos and Culpeper Foundations helped forge a small Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL) in an attic room of Burton Hall. SAL is most closely aligned with the interdisciplinary Environmental Science and Policy Program (ES&P), yet is truly a campus facility. Faculty, students, and classes from all three divisions (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) regularly utilize the SAL. The College strongly supports interdisciplinary programs and GIS adds strength to the institution�s focus on a broad liberal arts education.

Jon Caris, "Support Model puts GIS on the Map at Smith College," Transformations, May 1, 2006, <http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_5_1_support>.

From the Editor

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:19:29 GMT

Transformations is an online series of occasional papers exploring the intersection of digital technologies and the liberal arts. We address a variety of topics with an eye on emergent practices, examining projects from the reaches of cyberspace to the liberal arts campus: social software, spatial learning, digital images, gaming, and more.

Library of Contributions

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:34:55 GMT

The Visual Resources Environment at Liberal Arts Colleges

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:47:10 GMT

The increasing availability of digital images at colleges and universities has offered new opportunities for teaching and learning. In some disciplines and on some campuses, the opportunities are nothing short of transformative. Digital images are at the leading edge of the shift towards using many kinds of digital materials for teaching and learning on our campuses. When findings from this study were presented at NITLE�s Digital Asset Management symposium in Atlanta in December 2005, discussion ensued about the need for stronger campus leadership in order to maximize the potential of digital technologies for teaching and learning. This report focuses on the issues of organizational structure and organizational culture that are most deserving of the attention of campus and information-services leaders.

The findings are based on visits to seven liberal arts colleges in late 2004 and early 2005, which were designed to examine the role images play in teaching and learning. Although a number of campuses had developed viable strategies for the provision of digital images and the organizational plan and campus culture to support those strategies, several of the institutions we visited suffered from an organizational structure or campus culture that was ill-suited to take the strategic choices needed to encourage a transition to digital images. As the section on Campus Roles and Responsibilities explains at greater length, we saw two fundamentally different organizational models for the information services units that support image provision, one of which was much more successful than the other.[1] The role of the slide library or visual resources collection was the ultimate variable, and those campuses on which the slide library takes a campus-wide perspective (rather than serving the art history department alone) seem to see much easier and more successful transitions to digital images.

Although we did not examine other classes of digital assets beyond images, we believe that our findings have important broader implications. The importance of the slide library suggests that the content specialist and/or �owner� is a key participant in the shift to digital materials�and that the empowerment of this individual to take a campus-wide perspective is a key consideration. If this observation seems to hold true for digital materials beyond images, it will suggest some important implications for campus leaders as they continue to ponder optimal arrangements for digital asset management in the broadest sense.

Schonfeld, Roger C. 2006. The Visual Resources Environment at Liberal Arts Colleges. Transformations, April 3, http://nitle.org/index.php/nitle/transformations/2006_4_3.