.EDU Tech Roundup
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MIT Develops Lecture Browser Search Engine for Recorded Lectures
Students at MIT who want to review a specific part of a professor's lecture can now do so using Lecture Browser, a search engine based on speech-recognition software. Developed by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Lecture Browser provides a way for students to search for key words within a category. At this point MIT has 200 recorded lectures available for searching. Try the search engine at http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/.Pitzer College Offers Course on YouTube
Last fall Alexandra Juhasz, professor of media studies at Claremont, California's Pitzer College, taught what may be the first college course on and about YouTube. Students who took her Media 135 class, Learning from YouTube, did attend real-world classes, which were posted to YouTube, but were also asked to produce, post, and comment on YouTube videos by others in the class. Not surprisingly, the class found that YouTube, which Juhasz calls "postmodern TV," appears to be a better place for entertainment than education at this point. Read more at http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/09/youtube_101_yes_its_a_real_cla_1.html.National Museum of African American History Opens Online
Although no ground will be broken until 2012, the Smithsonian Institution opened the National Museum of African American History in October. Don't look for the museum on the National Mall though—until December 2015, it's only on the web. "Let Your Motto Be Resistance," the inaugural exhibit, runs through March 2, 2008, and features portraits from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. The museum also includes oral history, music, and other exhibits. This online opening is the first time a major museum has opened virtually. Visit the museum at http://www.nmaahc.si.edu/.UW-Bothell Professor Uses Wikipedia to Evaluate Papers
Martha Groom, an associate professor at the University of Washington at Bothell, had two of her classes test their writing and research skills with the Wikipedia community. Final research papers on topics related to globalization and sustainable development were evaluated by Groom and revised by the students before being submitted to Wikipedia. One paper was rejected, and four others were later removed because they duplicated information in articles already on Wikipedia. Groom believes that knowing their work would have a wide audience encouraged students to hone their skills and produce some of the best papers she had received from students. Read the Chronicle article at http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/category/Educause-2007/.Tacoma Community College Students Practice Nursing Skills in Second Life
Tacoma Community College nursing students are sharpening their skills on patients in Second Life. When nursing instructor John Miller's avatar showed up at a Second Life emergency room reporting chest pains, student nurses at remote locations used their avatars to assess his condition and take his medical history. When Miller's avatar went into cardiac arrest, the student avatars performed CPR and defibrillation. Although the Second Life environment may be a better place to practice taking medical histories than to practice inserting an IV, Miller says practicing any skill in Second Life works better than simply hearing about it in a lecture. Read the Tacoma Tribune story at http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/213087.html.
Brandeis International Business School Takes Gaming Seriously
Brandeis International Business School is partnering with IBM to test "Innov8," an interactive video game, which developers call a "serious game." Like others in their generation, today's MBA students grew up playing video games. Innov8 was designed to exploit the students' skills and interests in gaming and to help develop skills in both business and IT. Brandeis will test Innov8 in a course called "Technology Strategy," which focuses on business processes in technology firms and the management of knowledge across complex global companies. Consultants at The Apply Group predict that between 100 and 135 of the Global Fortune 500 will start using games for instructional applications within the next five years. Read More: http://campustechnology.com/articles/52805/.