New tech trends show that colleges are becoming increasingly web 2.0 savvy and more students are online now than ever before. Smart phones, netbooks, laptops and other devices that can access the Internet have become mainstream on many campuses and open access to educational resources online is becoming a popular trend. Now students can find their textbooks, professors and even classes online and sites like GradeGuru are being used by students across the country to help students collaborate with their peers and acquire better study habits. Here’s a look at how universities are wising up to new digital trends:

Virtual Orientation – A room full of strangers and tons of information your not sure you’ll ever remember make you nervous? not to worry, you can orient yourself online…

• The University of Denver: To put students at ease,  the University of Denver offers each freshman  an interactive CD at orientation. The CD covers topics normally found in the university handbook, offers interactive scenarios performed by Denver students, information on the city’s transportation system, and a guide to restaurants and cultural activities. Also included in the CD are faculty profiles, course descriptions and information about the health and social issues of life in college.
• Indiana State University: To accommodate distance learners, Indiana State offers Virtual Knowing Sycamores – Distance, an online video orientation that acquaints students with the university email, gives information about the Career Center and connects students with faculty members that teach distance education classes. Indiana State offers a similar virtual orientation for transfer students.

Handpick Your Roommate Online- Gone are the days of hoping that a vague housing survey will set up a match with the perfect roommate.

• The University of Utah: Students at the University of Utah fill out a personal housing profile online. Then, they complete an automatic roommate search, which generates a list of top potential matches. Students can then contact possible roommates through the school’s site.
• San Francisco State University: Incoming students are given the option to add their name and e-mail address to a list of freshman who want to choose roommates. From there, students consult social networking sites to refine their roommate search, and can then contact potential roommates via e-mail and text messaging.

It’s clear that digital trends are more prevalent on college campuses across the country. The use of the social web is becoming increasingly popular in the classroom as well as in different areas of student life. These back to school trends appear to be just the beginning of the transition into a tech savvy college environment.

ABC News released an article today about the trend towards college students sharing notes through online knowledge-sharing networks such as GradeGuru. The article, “More Students Paying for Class Notes,” explores the future of university level note-sharing in a world where students are increasingly using social media and online networks as tools for academic support and peer collaboration.

The article cites GradeGuru’s growth to over 300 universities in two years as an indicator of the rapid rise in demand for online communities centered on student collaboration. It highlights communities such as GradeGuru as not only serving as a note-sharing center, but also a forum where students can “build online communities, form study groups, and give feedback by rating each other’s notes.” GradeGuru is unique from the other sites mentioned in that all content on the site is available for free.

Skepticism of student online communities is addressed in the article, as some instructors believe students use note-sharing services as a substitute for going to class. GradeGuru founder Emily Sawtell said that based on McGraw-Hill Education’s research, students who use GradeGuru don’t attend class any less, instead using study materials found on GradeGuru as additional support. Further debunking the idea that students use collaboration tools as a substitute for doing their own work is cited support from academia, including GradeGuru’s recent selection as a 2010 CODiE Award Finalist.

As for GradeGuru’s success, Sawtell states, “I’d like to think it’s [successful] because it serves a need. It really taps into an activity that students wanted to be able to do, and it makes it now more efficient and gives students more reason to be open and collaborative with their peers.”

For the full article, visit: More Students Paying for Class Notes

GradeGuru will be presenting this week at the annual Campus Technology conference, the nation’s premier higher education technology conference where leaders in higher education discover and share the latest in applications, social software, and immersive platforms.  Held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston from July 19-22, GradeGuru will join organizations and universities including Oracle, Elluminate, University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, among others in focusing on technologies of strategic interest to the mission of higher education.

The speakers, presenters, and panel members at the Campus Technology conference are “technology visionaries and thought leaders in higher education,” according to the organization’s About Us.

Kevin Cafaro will represent the GradeGuru team at the conference and host a presentation titled “Digitizing Student Learning Through Collaborative Networking.” The session, held Wednesday, July 21 at 2pm, will delve into how social media and web 2.0 collaboration technologies have the potential to influence student behavioral patterns and transform the way instructors educate by empowering students to help themselves and each other.  If you are in the Boston area, feel free to stop by and check out GradeGuru’s Poster Session!

For a list of other Campus Technology 2010 presenters, visit CT 2010 Poster Sessions.

Video games are no longer just an excuse to skip class, sit in front of the TV and beat a high score. Across the country, college professors are engaging their students by incorporating video games and augmented reality into the classroom. Here’s a look at how universities are implementing gaming into their curriculum:

1. Northern Illinois University- Professor of engineering Brianno Coller invented a video game where students must complete the necessary formulas and algorithms to successfully maneuver a video game car around an oval track. Coller’s educational technology has been deeply incorporated into the curriculum in two engineering classes and is used for regular homework assignments, and even the final exam.
2. University of New Mexico- Assitant professors Christopher Holden and Julie M. Sykes created Mentira, an augmented reality game used in Spanish classes at the University of New Mexico. Students play the game to enhance their conversational skills by solving a fictional murder mystery. Students are equipped with university-provided iPod Touches and travel to Los Griegos, a nearby Albuquerque neighborhood to begin their detective work. When they enter their location into the wireless handheld devices, they find a clue or a virtual character who converses with them in Spanish about a suspect.
3. Saint Norbert College- Professor Paul Waelchli of Wisconsin’s Saint Norbert College has integrated video games into his coursework to study the correlation between gaming behaviors and learning behaviors. Waelchli plans his lessons to incorporate group work centered on video games and the strategies included in such games. The games featured vary over a wide spectrum of options; sports-based games cover topics like franchise management and data construction, while Grand Theft Auto helps with problem solving and critical thinking.
4. MIT- The MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program has been working with augmented reality technology to engage people in simulation games. Players use handheld computers that set them in real-world locations to collect simulated field data, interview virtual characters, and collaborate to investigate artificial scenarios. These games encompass a variety of subjects; for example, Mystery at MIT is a game about environmental health and Timelab is a game based on the local impact of climate change. This new educational technology creates fun and effective location-based learning games.

It’s clear that video games, a long time favorite of college students, are developing into great, engaging academic tool. With the continued support from professors and universities, it looks as if the future of gaming, augmented reality and new media as an educational resource will be further integrated into the traditional learning environment.

Tweeting, posting, streaming, chatting, and digging--social media has become a part of our everyday lives, including our academic experiences. Two weeks ago, we highlighted the eSchool News article “Class in 140 Characters or Less” describing the presence of social media in the classroom.  Given the impact social media has on our lives…we thought this topic deserved an additional post.

As pointed it out in “Class in 140 Characters or Less”, the rapid decline of student engagement in academia is forcing teachers and universities alike to take the initiative to engage their students through social media. Whether it is tweeting or blogging, here is how some universities are benefiting from the newest teacher’s aide:

1. University Of Texas: One of the biggest advocates for social media in the classroom is University of Texas at Dallas. To smash classroom shyness, Dr. Monica Rankin decided to use an alternative route for student discussion; Twitter. Nicknamed the “Twitter Experiment,” Dr. Rankin allowed students to tweet questions or responses via laptop or cell phone to increase class participation.
2. Purdue University: Purdue University has used a similar method to the “Twitter Experiment” by allowing its students to Tweet questions specific to the classroom lecture and has see an increase in student engagement.
3. Miami University: Miami University is utilizing social media in the classroom by having its journalism students use methods such as tweeting, blogging to gather research on current events or class experiences.
4. Northwestern University: Journalism students at Northwestern students have created the “newsmixer” which pulls stories from local, national and global news from a variety of stories. Students then take these stories and use Facebook as collaboration technique to discuss stories with peers.
5. City University of New York: Journalism students at the City University of New York are deepening their engagement with classroom concepts by actively using Twitter and blogs to discuss course concepts.

I also had the chance to speak with Kathleen Ryan, Associate Professor at Miami University as well as Bridget Fogarty, a senior at Miami University and here is what they had to say about social media in higher education:

“Throughout their journalism courses, students’ blog about their classroom experiences and activities; Teachers are able to see direct feedback and track class participation through student blogging.  Journalism students can use their multimedia skills through Facebook and Twitter to update their story progress and collect research on current events to report and write news stories.” says Kathleen Ryan, Associate Professor at Miami University.

“Blogging is a really great way for students to engage in a classroom. It is hard for everyone to talk during class discussions yet so much of our grade depends on participation,  It really is great because teachers know what I think on an issue and I didn’t have to raise my hand.” says Bridget Fogarty, Miami University senior.

Despite the many benefits of Social Media in academia, academics are still grappling with the usability of this medium for educational purposes.

“There is a challenge for professors to have a comfort level with new media technology,” states Ryan. “We have to be “early adapters” so to speak, not being afraid to experiment with the various new social networking platforms.”

Ryan’s remark along with, a CDW-G survey cited by eSchool News that states only 14 percent of instructors believe there is educational value in using social networking sites highlight an important issue- It seems that the future of social media in the classroom will not reach its fullest potential until we can bridge the divide between new media and traditional academia.

Open content tools which started out as a small trend amongst a niche group of college students are increasing in popularity this year.

At GradeGuru we are witnessing a rise in student collaboration as more and more students take an active role in their education.

Open content tools that allow for this form of collaboration are likely to go mainstream this coming year as recently reported by Wired Campus.

EDUCAUSE and The New Media Consortium recently released their 2010 Horizon report offering insight into some of the technological changes occurring this year that are shifting the academic landscape.

What started as an academic movement spurred on by the MIT Open Courseware initiative has rapidly flowed into the student realm. The much talked about concept of “free” has come of age. Coupled with social networking, this has enormous potential to change the way students learn and expect to learn.

The introduction of tools like Google Wave, while yet to be fully introduced in an educational context is proving to have enormous potential in student collaboration and access to educational content -Google Wave’s functionality allows students to discuss and share videos and files all in real time . Professors are also beginning to explore the idea of Google Wave in the scope of academia.

A small subset of institutions are seeing the growth in open access tools and are adapting their current models accordingly.  For example,  Tufts University has begun offering learning material online free of charge.  In addition to this, Open universities such as University of the People, a tuition-free online academic institution, are leveraging technology in the educational sphere by offering students the opportunity to access educational content for free.

Not only are students finding free expert content available online, they are also creating their own content, sharing it, collaborating and in many cases reaping multiple benefits – shared knowledge, peer-review and encouragement, increasing their confidence as they work with and engage with their peers, and even financial rewards and career advantages.

DIGG THIS POST IF YOU DIG IT.

After scouring the web to find the web applications most used by students, we created a list recognizing the Top 10 Web Applications for College Students. Check out which ones made it below. (some of which will help you study for your upcoming finals)

Top 10 web applications for college students:

1. Facebook although no longer just for college students, this site is still a very big part of university life and some web savvy professors are using it for course management and student interaction
2. Unigo the leading university review site and an editorial resource for college news and advice
3. GradeGuru Citation Manager a bookmarklet that helps you collect and manage citations in APA and MLA style straight from your browser (a bit self-loving we know but this will make bibliographies and citations for your final papers a breeze!)
4. Chegg the #1 textbook rental site
5. GradeGuru Link List available as a bookmarklet & FireFox Add-On is a time-saving tool for instructors and students alike that captures URLs as you browse the web and provides a single destination URL to easily share resources with students  and classmates
6. Thinkfold real-time group collaboration for project planning and assignments
7. GradeFix time management tool that helps students organize their study time and plan their assignments more efficiently
8. Google Apps Google applications such as Google Documents, Calendar and GMail have become a standard suite of tools for college students
9. Pidgin (software based IM) and Meebo (web based IM) are the most popular multi-network IM clients used by college students (note: some consider IM to be as much of a distraction as they are a tool for collaboration)
10. Mindmeister online mind mapping and collaboration tool with iPhone apps and offline client solutions

What other applications do you use for learning, collaborating, course management, etc?

“Taking Notes Beyond the Classroom”

Below are a few highlights of the article:

Despite mixed reactions, note sharing has continued to grow in popularity. “Broadly, what we’re seeing is a trend in the increase of recognition that learning is collaborative. We’ve often treated what students do as private segments, they just go back to their dorms and study, when in fact they study together a lot,” said David Parry, assistant professor of emerging media and communications at the University of Texas-Dallas. Parry is also part of McGraw-Hill’s Academic Advisory Committee. “We’ve seen Facebook and MySpace collaboration to share information. There are opportunities for [the note sharing] Web sites to play that role for students.”

“From our perspective, we see note sharing as evolving into a more collaborative community of notes, more real time discussion, students helping each other in more real time,” Sawtell said. “If other social networks should be taken as an example, that is what may ultimately play out.”

Another concern about online note sharing is the fear that it is essentially spoon-feeding material to students and propagating a culture of laziness. However, supporters of the sites say they attract ambitious students, rather than class skippers. Keith Hampson, director of digital education strategies at Toronto’s Ryerson University, who is also part of McGraw-Hill’s Academic Advisory Committee, said that his original sense of skepticism has dissipated. “The more I’ve looked into this, the more I realized that the people who are using [note sharing sites] are proactive students. They want to have their notes in their hands before they enter class, they may want two or three copies of those notes when studying for an exam.”

The article ends with the following statement from Dr. Keith Hampson:

“I think there’s a real divide in higher education as to how we ought to be teaching, how students ought to be learning,” Hampson said. However, he acknowledged that whichever direction education moves in, change is inevitable. “We are obviously moving towards a more active and collaborative style of learning. These social technologies and practices enable to us to do this on a much grander scale.”

The Open Access movement, ushered in by MIT OpenCourseWare, marked a significant shift in the way academics leverage the web to spread knowledge. We believe this trend is set to grow and perhaps reach a tipping point among college students in the next academic year.

Last semester, as thousands of students at hundreds of universities across the US started using GradeGuru, we quickly realized the potential for building a leading community to share class notes, improve their study skills and build their academic portfolios. GradeGuru is attracting Facebook and YouTube users who want to leverage social media to built their academic reputation.

We are very excited about the new designs and functions that we’ll be rolling out in the Fall and can’t wait to hear your thoughts. From full Facebook integration, to school specific pages, we think GradeGuru will be of value to hundreds of thousands of college students (fingers crossed). We truly believe today’s born digital college students are leading a revolution in learning and we want GradeGuru to be a vehicle for that change.

Best,

Emily Sawtell – GradeGuru Founder