1. Burk, Roberta. "Don't Be Afraid of E-Books." Library Journal 125.7 (April 15, 2000): 42. Academic OneFile.Gale. University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa. 30 July 2009.
In this article, “Don’t Be Afraid of E-books,” the author encourages the general public and libraries to embrace electronic books (e-books) and describes their best attributes in a study conducted through the Algonquin Public Library in Algonquin, IL. Roberta Burk, the author, uses examples of previous technological devices (such as videocassettes and cd players) along with the past fears involved in using this technology, to help allay fears about using and adapting to this new type of reader. Burk describes the libraries policies when circulating e-books, how the patrons were educated in using the e-books and e-readers, and gives information on the reception of this new technology at this particular library. My favorite part of this article is that this author has included in this article a website for researching e-book titles (E-book Marketplace), several types of software and their websites, and she includes the advantages of using the aforementioned software.
- Beer, Jeremy. "By the book: even in the Kindle age, the printed page still has its place.(Business)." The American Conservative 8.9 (May 4, 2009): 19(3). Academic OneFile.Gale. University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa. 30 July 2009.
In the article, “By the Book: even in the Kindle age, the printed page still has its place. (Business),” this author claims that printed works will never cease to exist or be replaced by e-books. Printed works are “efficient pieces of technology” which help to bring information to the reader simply by picking up the book and scanning it, books are chosen for publishing by merit of the content within the book, and printed works are part of our culture and they will never cease to exist as long as individuals demand that they be kept in existence. Bill Gates, Microsoft billionaire, stated that, “I’d be happy if I could think that the role of the library was sustained and even enhanced in the age of the computer.” In the later part of this article, Jeremy Beer, the author of this article writes that there will always be a certain part of the population who will need to keep publishers and their companies alive due to the fact that they will not have the abilities to publish works of their own account. He also argues that the Kindle is not taking away books but they are publishing books in a certain type of format to be used on this specific machine. If anything, Beer argues, is that e-books have made printed works as well as e-books more popular which is great for publishers, libraries, and the general reader.
3. Vicenc Fernandez, Pep Simo, Jose M. Sallan.
Podcasting: A new technological tool to facilitate good practice in higher education
Computers & Education, Volume 53, Issue 2, September 2009, Pages 385-392
In this article, “Podcasting: A new technological tool to facilitate good practice in higher education,” the authors (Vicenc Fernandez, Pep Simo, and Jose M. Sallan) listed their research from a study determining strategies using new technological devices in order to enhance and promote “good practices” in higher education. They first define a podcast, list their abilities and limitations, and give a “new set of principles for improving learning in higher education:
1. Contact between faculty and students
2. Reciprocity and cooperation among students
3. Encouraging active learning
4. Giving prompt feedback
5. Emphasizing time on task
6. Communicating high expectations
7. Learners need feedback on their learning during all stages to learn well
8. The methods in which learners are evaluated and assessed are affecting the ways in which they study and learn
9. Mastering a skill or knowledge takes massive amounts of time and effort
10. Learning to transfer and apply knowledge and skills to new contexts require practice
11. High expectations encourage high achievement
12. To be more effective teachers need to balance levels of intellectual challenges and instructional support
13. Motivation to learn is alterable
14. Interaction between teachers and learners is one of the most powerful factors in learning
The authors provide their methodology of their study and results from the data collected and encourage others to try podcasting and other technological devices to encourage and enhance higher education.
4. Young, Jeffrey R. "Colleges Consider Using Blogs Instead of Blackboard. " The Chronicle of
Higher Education. 55.38 (June 5, 2009): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa. 30 July 2009. <http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A201093672&source=gale&userGroupName=tusc49521&version=1.0>.
In the article, “Colleges Consider Using Blogs Instead of Blackboard,” the author, Jeffery R. Young, opens with a story of a professor pleading with a university to “open up” to the ideas of using technology to enhance their distance education programs. This author argues that allowing students to blog instead of using tools such as Blackboard ultimately saves money and allows the professors more freedom to personalize their online classrooms. Young argues that using a singular course management system is detrimental to distance learning due to technical problems, which occur frequently with Blackboard, causing the whole program to be shutdown affecting class work and other issues (students’ traveling schedules, wasting time and money, and etc.). Young does note that creating blogs and managing them will be extra work for the professors and students but would be more beneficial in the long run than simply relying on Blackboard. He also notes that students do worry about posting information on the web, which could create security and other types of issues but believes that if the professors set specific outlines and syllabi, that these issues will take care of themselves.
5. Lazaros, Edward J., and Thomas H. Spotts.
"Using computer graphic representations to promote learning in elementary science courses. " Science Activities. 46.2 (Summer 2009): 11(4). Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa. 30 July 2009.
In the article, “Using computer graphic representations to promote learning in elementary science courses,” the authors used a study conducted by an elementary science class to promote the idea of using drawings created by students to facilitate learning in elementary science classes. In this particular study the assignment was for the students to use Microsoft Paint to create a weather themed/based drawing to display for the other students and use Microsoft Word to write a research report. This was an opportunity for the students to become more familiar with computers, the Microsoft software, and have the ability to express to their teacher and peers what their mental concept of the theme entailed. This study also helped the teacher gauge how much each student was learning and to what extent they are learning the assigned materials.
