The Library According to Mary

This blog is about my experiences in the Educational Technology Ed.D program at the University of Florida. Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments. My interests include the intersection of libraries, education, and technology and their effect on distance education. I'm also exploring the concept of multiple literacies, including how media, visual, and information literacy relate and the implications for libraries.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Horizon Report Redux

My last post was about the key issues facing higher education as perceived by the writers of the Horizon Report. In this post I'll discuss the critical challenges facing higher education and will mention the technologies to watch from the 2007 Horizon Report. Because of my interest in educational technology, I'll focus one whole post on the technologies portion of the report with commentary on how (or if) libraries are incorporating the technologies.

Challenges

  • Assessing new creative products and forms of work --
    Academy leadership flexible enough to evolve with the changes in teaching, learning, and scholarship is a must. If academia doesn't adapt to the changes, it will distance itself from the actual conduct of scholarship.


  • Tackling intellectual property and copyright issues because they are barriers to scholarship -
    • With the extension of copyright terms, intellectual property (IP) and copyright laws are increasingly restrictive. Balancing the need to protect IP and the need to share and use works is difficult and the proliferation of digital material further complicate the matter. Many scholars interested in sharing their work are using less restrictive licensing and using the creative commons to design flexible licenses that allow more creator control and wider use of material.

  • Pressure for higher education to provide learning and services to mobile devices --
    Cell phones and other mobile devices are ubiquitous and they have driven a need for instant "anywhere, anytime" access. Some universities are providing access to services and content via mobile devices and this trend will increase. Coping with this pressure and delivering mobile services will continue to challenge higher education.


    • Technologies

  • User-created Content

  • Social Networking

  • Mobile phones and devices

  • Virtual worlds
  • Massively Multiplayer Gaming

    • For a detailed discussion of the "technologies to watch" and their estimated time to adoption, check out my next post...

    posted by Mary @ 7:39 AM

    2 Comments:

    At 8:58 PM, Blogger Barry Bachenheimer said...

    You mentioned one of the challenges was

    "# Assessing new creative products and forms of work --
    Academy leadership flexible enough to evolve with the changes in teaching, learning, and scholarship is a must. If academia doesn't adapt to the changes, it will distance itself from the actual conduct of scholarship."

    Since a majority of college professors are "digital immigrants" or non-digital at all, how would you propose that they set standards for a medium that they don't or can't conceptualize? It would be like asking Beethoven to critique hip-hop or techno music.

    You mentioned about cell phones. The university where I teach as an adjunct, Montclair State University, requires all freshman to purchase a special cell phone which has enabled content like bus schedules, GPS locators for campus safety, etc. The future is upon us.

     
    At 4:15 PM, Blogger Mickey MacDonald said...

    You know I find it ironic that this report endorses "... higher education to provide learning and services to mobile devices..."

    In high school, it is just the opposite. Cell phones, mp3 players, and other electronic devices are not allowed to be seen or heard during school hours. Unfortunately, this is a direct result of students not using these devices in ways that would remotely enhance learning. I fear that because of this "rule", students will not know how to appropriately use such devices in higher education either.

     

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