Opening Access to Knowledge in Southern African Universities

“The Southern African Regional Universities Association last year published an important report titled Opening Access to Knowledge in Southen African Universities. This report identified key constraints in access to knowledge in universities in the SADC Region and builds on the findings from two earlier studies of  SARUA, A Status Review of ICT in Universities in the SADC Region (2006), and Science and Technology: A Baseline Study on Science and Technology and Higher Education in the SADC Region (2007).

The authors show that the presence of research from Africa in leading international peer-reviewed journals is diminishing, and also highlights the obstacles that prevent the majority of African research from ever receiving an adequate profile or readership within African research communities, and internationally. Reasons for the restictions on access to knowledge in Africa, and particularly in the Southern African Region are shown to revolve around restrictive copyright practices and regulations, and a lack of access to Internet-based technologies, out-dated paradigms for knowledge collection and dissimination, and the lack of creative and effective government supported enabling environments within higher education to match the vision of African leaders for knowledge and innovation in Africa in the 21st Century.” (From the foreword to the Report by Piyushi Kotecha)

To read the report Click Here!

Innovative Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies: Emerging Policies, Practices & Strategies for University Leaders

The latest report from The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, titled “Innovative Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies: Emerging Policies, Practices & Strategies for University Leaders” provides a review of the use of Web 2.0 technologies in five countries (Australia, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States), together with the drivers that are encouraging and promoting the use of Web 2.0 in higher education (HE) (including policy and pedagogic), and inhibitors that are slowing down the uptake of it.

To read the document Click Here! [A username and password is needed to access the document and it can be obtained from your information specialist at the Education Library]
 

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy

Andrew Churches,  Curriculum Manager, Computer Studies and ICT PD Cluster co-director at Kristin School in Albany, Auckland, New Zealand have updated Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy to account for the new behaviours emerging as technology advances becomes more ubiquitous. Bloom’s revised taxonomy accounts for many of the traditional classroom practices, behaviours and actions, but does not account for the new processes and actions associated with web 2.0 technologies and increasing ubiquitous personal and cloud computing. Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy is about  using web 2.0 tools and technologies to facilitate learning. Outcomes on rubrics are measured by competence of use and most importantly the quality of the product.

To read more on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy go to Andrew Churches’ wiki by  Clicking Here!

You can also download the pdf document on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy by Clicking Here!

Web 2.0 for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

The Obervatory on Borderless Higher Education Published an interesting report in August 2007 on “Web 2.0. for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education”. This report authored by Tom Franklin founder of Franklin Consulting, an Education Technology Consultancy and Mark Van Harmelen an independent ICT consultant who works in education and technology enhanced learning at the University of Manchester’s School of Computer Science, discusses the uses of Web 2.0 in higher education and examines the practices at five institutions currently implementing Web 2.0: the UK Universities of Brighton, Leeds, Warwick, and Edinburgh, and the University of Klagenfurt in Austria. It then considers ways in which Web 2.0 impacts institutional policy and strategy. In the final section it then analyses issues related to Web 2.0 in learning, teaching and assessment. This report may be used to help formulate policy and guidelines for Web 2.0 use in universities. Although it identifies some of the risks associated with Web 2.0 implementation, including intellectual property and security issues, and because the application of Web 2.0 in higher education is still in an early stage it concludes by recommending that institutions impose only minimal and necessary regulations in order to avoid constraining experimentation with Web 2.0 technologies and allied pedagogies. The report is available to subscribers (UP does subscribe) on the Obervatory on Borderless Higher Education’s web site at  http://www.obhe.ac.uk/products/reports/