My first day at EDUCAUSE 2010 was informative and illuminating, if a bit overwhelming. There was a LOT happening, and a lot of new information for someone like me – a relative newbie in the world of technology and education.

The day began with a session entitled “Born Digital” from John Palfrey of Stanford Law. The basic concept behind the presentation was what is happening with the up-and-coming cohort of kids that have literally been exposed to digital media/tools from birth. I thought John did a great job of noting the benefits as well as the potential problems for this generation – things like privacy concerns, intellectual property, and credibility. He also had some surprising stats to share – did you know the incidence of sexual predation has not increased with the widespread advent of social networking sites? Apparently rates have actually gone down a little (he made the point that online “public” places have replaces actual public parks, etc. as the main forum for predators). One negative area that has seen an increase – bullying. This, however, could just be because of the visibility/permanence of online bullying versus your typical playground scenario. Anyway, he did a great job talking about things like what kids don’t know about how they’re allowed to use downloaded material legally and our responsibility to teach them (although it seems from the litigation surrounding the HOPE Obama poster, we’re not so sure yet ourselves). The good news: these “born digital” students won’t have to deal with the (sometimes prohibitive) learning curve us old folks have to deal with. They’re already equipped to jump right in!

Next I went to a presentation on Stanford’s Wallenberg Hall (http://wallenberg.stanford.edu/about.html) – a completely gutted/renovated building now equipped with all the makings of an ideal learning space. My favorite part about their plan (the project began in 1999 and was completed in 2002) was that they weren’t trying to get the most advanced technology of the day and cement it into the walls, they actually tried to install technology (and tables, chairs, etc.) that would provide the most flexibility for the classes – whether that meant using the dual plasma screen displays and laptops for each student, or markers, whiteboards, and glass walls (sweet). I appreciated that they tried to build the infrastructure, not just that top-of-the-line 2002 technology.

The third presentation for the morning was on students’ mental models of information and using Card Sort to determine whether or not they’re learning information in the way you’re trying to teach it. It was pretty cool, as I was completely unfamiliar with the technique (students take cards with terms on them, sort them into piles that make sense to them, and label the piles). Not sure yet how I might be able to utilize it, but for more info I’ll direct you to the website the presenters provided. http://mentalmodelassessment.org/

After lunch I attended a relatively lackluster presentation on, well, using technology in education, I guess. It wasn’t really anything new. The day of presentations wrapped up with a new system Seattle Pacific University is using to help maximize class time. They’re doing what they call “flipping” lectures – they pre-record lectures and put them online for students to watch before class. The lectures are chopped up into topical chunks (about 15-20 min), so they students can watch all of them first, or just review particular topics they need help with. This obviously leaves much more class time for discussion, group work, or more advanced ideas. Unfortunately, the rest of the session was a sales pitch for the specific software they use, but I did think this was a good idea, especially depending on the class it’s being used in. My first thought was perhaps doing something like this for the BIC Natural World course that I’m going to be working with this semester. One of the major problems they face is when students come in with wildly variable backgrounds in science, so they end up teaching to the lowest common denominator. So what if they could post background lectures online so the students could all come in on even footing and they’d actually be able to get to more interesting topics? It’s something to think about anyway.

Well, that’s it for today (man, am I tired!). Had a lovely dinner complete with good food and good conversation, and just got back here to Waco to sleep for a few hours, then I” be heading back down in the morning! More tomorrow…