April 13, 2011 @ noon – Ehrlicher Room, North Quad

Abstract

What it will take to make it so teachers and learners are empowered by learning technology rather than imprisoned by it?  It has been well over a decade since learning management systems came into the marketplace, yet they have changed little since they were introduced.   Web 2.0 provides an alluring vision of what is possible, but there is little evidence that new Web 2.0 technologies are used in teaching and learning at scale.  This talk examines the barriers to innovation in the teaching and learning technology space, and considers ways that those barriers can be overcome, leading to true teacher and learner empowerment. We will explore some of the groundbreaking work on teaching and learning technology at the University of Michigan. U-M was a leader in building the Sakai open source learning management system. Michigan has founding and continuing role in the IMS Global Learning Consortium’s efforts to develop standards for content and technology interchange between disparate Learning Management Systems, and emerging trends in teacher-centered Open Educational Resources.  The talk will conclude with a sneak peak at the design of the next generation user interface for CTools/Sakai with new features for social learning, and support for producing Open Educational Resources that is being designed and developed as part of an independent study course at the School of Information.

Notes: Charles Severance has been given the Excellent Instructor award from SI and will be giving a lecture. A light lunch will be served.