TL INFOBITS December 2007 No. 18 ISSN: 1931-3144
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Searchable Video Lectures
Online Group Learning Problems and Solutions
Papers on Online Research, Writing, and Citation Practices
Resources from the 2007 EDUCAUSE Conference
Recommended Reading
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SEARCHABLE VIDEO LECTURES
This fall researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
released the MIT Lecture Browser, "a web interface to video recordings
of lectures and seminars that have been indexed using automatic speech
recognition technology." Users can search on terms or phrases and then
play the video at the point(s) in the recording where their search term
appears.
This technology first involved creating software that converted audio
to text. Next the software was trained "to understand particular
accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of recorded
speech." Then the researchers provided data on uncommon words so the
software could recognize technical terms that might be used in
university lectures.
While the transcript's accuracy can be affected by speakers' verbal
pauses or by nonnative English speakers' accents, the texts can be very
close to the audio originals. The transcripts' accuracy is sufficient
for searches, and there is potential for use by hearing-impaired
students if future plans to allow users to make corrections to
transcripts are implemented.
You can search and try out the Lecture Browser at
http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/.
See also:
"Searching Video Lectures: A Tool from MIT Finds Keywords So That
Students Can Efficiently Review Lectures"
By Kate Greene
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, November 26, 2007
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/......................................................................
ONLINE GROUP LEARNING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
"Online group learning . . . if implemented appropriately, can provide
an ideal environment in which interaction among students plays a
central role in the learning process . . . . Why then is online group
learning not more widely practiced, particularly within higher
education?"
In "Seven Problems of Online Group Learning (and Their Solutions)"
(JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY, vol. 10, no. 4, 2007, pp.
257-268). Tim S. Roberts and Joanne M. McInnerney describe
frequently-voiced justifications that instructors use for avoiding
online group learning activities. The authors suggest several
techniques for successfully solving such problems as:
-- student antipathy towards group work
-- a lack of essential group-work skills
-- possible inequalities of student abilities
-- the assessment of individuals within the groups.
The paper is available online at
http://www.ifets.info/journals/10_4/22.pdf.
The Journal of Educational Technology and Society [ISSN 1436-4522]is a
peer-reviewed, quarterly publication that "seeks academic articles on
the issues affecting the developers of educational systems and
educators who implement and manage such systems." Current and back
issues are available at http://www.ifets.info/. The journal is
published by the International Forum of Educational Technology &
Society. For more information, see
http://ifets.ieee.org/.
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PAPERS ON ONLINE RESEARCH, WRITING, AND CITATION PRACTICES
"Online spaces play a crucial role in constructing not only what but
how people write and research--and in how they come to see themselves
as composers and researchers." Online research, writing, and citation
practices is the theme of the Fall 2007 issue of COMPUTERS AND
COMPOSITION ONLINE. The issue is available at
http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/edwelcome_special07.html. Papers include:
"This Was (NOT!!) an Easy Assignment: Negotiating an Activity-Based
Multimodal Framework for Composing"
By Jody Shipka
-- "exploration of students' experiences of multimodal writing
instruction"
"Looking In by Looking Out: The DNA of Composition in the Information
Age"
By Randall McClure and Lisa Baures
-- "provide[s] convincing arguments for the necessity of
establishing collaborations between writing studies and library
and information science professionals to provide adequate
instruction in online research"
"Research Instruction at the Point of Need: Information Literacy and
Online Tutorials"
By Tom Peele and Glenda Phipps
-- explores the "issue of information seeking strategies used
by today's students from the perspective of a student"
Computers and Composition Online is a refereed online journal hosted at
Bowling Green State University. For more information and back issues
see http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/home.htm. Computers and Composition
Online is the companion journal to Computers and Composition: An
International Journal, now in its 24th year.
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RESOURCES FROM THE 2007 EDUCAUSE CONFERENCE
Proceedings, papers, slides, podcasts, and other resources from the
October 2007 EDUCAUSE Conference, "Information Futures: Aligning Our
Missions," are now available online at
http://connect.educause.edu/term_view/EDUCAUSE2007.
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RECOMMENDED READING
"Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or
that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or
useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits
subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for
possible inclusion in this column.
To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence
National Endowment for the Arts
Research Report #47, November 2007
Complete PDF version (100 pages):
http://www.arts.gov/research/ToRead.pdf20-page Executive Summary:
http://www.arts.gov/research/ToRead_ExecSum.pdf
"TO READ OR NOT TO READ gathers and collates the best national data
available to provide a reliable and comprehensive overview of American
reading today. While it incorporates some statistics from the National
Endowment for the Arts' 2004 report, READING AT RISK, this new study
contains vastly more data from numerous sources. Although most of this
information is publicly available, it has never been assembled and
analyzed as a whole. To our knowledge, TO READ OR NOT TO READ is the
most complete and up-to-date report of the nation's reading trends
and--perhaps most important--their considerable consequences."