So much has changed in the past two decades thanks to the rapid developments in the world of technology. Few places is this more apparent than in the world of education, where the availability of the internet and digital publishing puts much of traditional teaching and learning techniques into question.

With all this change, it’s no wonder that some forward-thinking educational institutions are looking into new solutions to embrace an ever-changing culture of information intake and dissemination. Here we’ll take a look at a couple institutions that are capitalizing on current cultural trends in order to help restructure the way that we apply to schools now and in the future.

Coupons for College

National Louis University, a private institution based in Chicago, took advantage of the deep-discount service Groupon to offer reduced tuition to applicants to the school. Nearly a 60% reduction in tuition was offered to 25 applicants to an entry-level graduate teaching program.

The deal went live last week and sold 18 of the 25 slots. The tuition was dropped for those applicants from $2,232 to $950. Applicants had to already have an undergraduate degree and must complete an additional 33 credit hours at full price to earn the graduate degree. And according to the 18 Groupon deals sold, it seems that National Louis may be onto something.

The 200-Character Application Essay

Another experimental approach that has gotten media attention lately comes from the vaunted Ivy League. Columbia University feels that it can capitalize on the trend of forced brevity as in the 140-character limit imposed by the service Twitter.

Columbia isn’t the first school to try this– the University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Management let applicants use Twitter for their application essays earlier this year. But Columbia stretches the max limit to 200 characters. While this cuts down on a ton of reading and writing on both side of the application process, one must wonder if it’s an effective method of parsing the field of applicants, especially for a competitive institution such as Columbia.

What else?

Have you heard of any other schools that are experimenting with new ways to engage their incoming students? How effective do you think that the ones that we discussed today are? Leave your answers in the comments.

This summer a fantastic new service swept through the online world, creating one of the fastest-growing social communities we’ve seen to date. The service is Turntable.fm, and exciting social music platform that lets its users. The service combines the familiarity of a group chatroom with the social experience of DJing music for your friends.

What makes Turntable.fm so alluring, bringing users to the site in droves and keeping many there for hours at a time? The short answer is this: social interaction. With up to five DJs taking turns dropping tunes – either from the extensive TT.fm library or uploaded from their own computer – each room turns into a model of what happens (or used to happen) when a group of friends gets together to share new music that they’ve heard. And with each room also having a chat room, all parties are connected real-time not only by the music, but also through life communication.

And feedback is built in. Not only can a room weigh in via the chat what they think of a song, but there is also a voting mechanism where members of a room can designate a song either “Lame” or “Awesome,” with enough Lame votes pushing the room on to the next track.

What this means for higher education

With the trend seeing more and more learners taking advantage of distance learning, educators have been experimenting with ways to share, communicate and collaborate in that space. The great thing about TT.fm is how well it does each of these things. And it achieves them by way of an intuitive user interface that just about any new user can figure out with very little (if any) direction.

The gamification of TT.fm is another aspect of the service that can be explored in the world of distance education. Each user, or DJ, has an avatar and a profile where they collect points. Earn more points by Having users vote your song selection “Awesome” will earn you more points, which you can trade in for better avatars.

The overall result here is a localized room where people have open feedback, sharing good content is rewarded, and an open discussion of the room’s events is encouraged. It’s not hard to see how these aspects could be adapted to the virtual classroom.

Those in development of distance learning tools and protocol may want to look into these successes that Turntable.fm has enjoyed, adapting some of its features for the teacher/learner relationship. Check out this short video of a music class conducted in Turntable.fm to get a glimpse of what is possible.

Can you think of any other features that could be adapted from Turntable.fm for the world of distance education? Leave your insight in the comments.

Since its June launch, Google+ has emerged as a force to  be reckoned with in the realm of social networking. When Google finally arrived to the same party that Facebook and Twitter have been running for years, it did so with quite an entrance. It took Google+ a mere 16 days to reach the 10 million user mark – something it took both Twitter and Facebook over two years to do. So what does Google+ mean for the world of education? With this fall being the first full semester that schools, professors and students can utilize the powerful tool in the classroom, we’ll take a look at some of the potential features that could make Google+ a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Early adopter professors have commented on how a tool like Google+ fits better into curriculum based learning than other popular online tools like Facebook and Twitter. This is due to the vast amount of customization and flexibility in function that it makes possible. Google+ can potentially be a great tool to extend the teaching experience and make learning, especially distance learning, a more robust and interactive environment.

Circles

Circles are the secret key to the success of Google+. On the surface it may not seem like much – you can separate your friends into specific groups, so what? Twitter and Facebook both offer a similar functionality by way of Lists and Groups, but each is so cumbersome that few people actually use these functions. In order to really understand the power of circles, it’s important to know useful ways to set up your circles. There are two basic ways that you can build your circles: circles for reading and circles for sharing. Think carefully about how you want to separate your friends, understanding that there are people whose posts that you’d rather read, and others who you’s want to push your posts to. And if you haven’t figured it out by now, customizing who you share what with can be very powerful.

Sharing restrictions

On Facebook and Twitter, what you share goes out indiscriminately to everyone who follows you. But Google+ gives you the ability to select exactly who gets to see each and every one of your updates. Additionally you can prevent it from being re-shared, great for keeping things private within limited groups, within a single class section, for example. This selective sharing is great for collaborative learning or working on group projects. And for professors who have had privacy concerns with befriending their students on a social network, using circles to segment your posts gives you fine control of what your students get to see from you. That goes for students too, so the threat of embarrassing photos and status updates is greatly minimized on Google+.

Hangouts

One of the most remarkable features that Google+ boasts is Hangouts, group video chat. This is great for getting a group of people in a number of places all together at once. Many professors have also expressed intrigue in having virtual office hours using Hangouts. When a user want to start a Hangout, she simply click the “Start a Hangout” button and those you select to share with see that in their stream. It works great from what we’ve tested and has very little lag.

Mobile

Google+ also offers an additional option for users of their mobile app available for iPhone and Android. It’s called Huddle and it’s essentially a group chat. You can make as big or small group as you desire, only having to send once to the entire group. This is infinitely more convenient that group texting people, especially when it comes to trying to get plans together. Study groups, groups of professors and just about any other  group of people with a similar interest can benefit from the Huddle apparatus.

In Conclusion

With the upcoming school year, we are no doubt on the verge of seeing the potential of Google+ in the realm of distance learning. A powerful tool, it solves a lot of the nuances that make Facebook and Twitter not optimal for teacher/student interaction via social networks. With the ability to selectively share and consume whats’s in your streams by way of circles, Google+ is a fantastically flexible tool. Group video chat with Hangouts and group texting with Huddles bring us closer together than we have ever been before.

Bing Maps, overlaid with geotagged Foursquare and Twitter data.

Before we get to the nitty gritty of all of Bing Maps’ tricks, allow us to set the stage. Behind to the shine and polish of the final product has been the purchase of some exceptional technologies, many of which have practical application outside of the world of mapping. One of those is Seadragon, created by technologist Blaise Aguera y Arcas and acquired by Microsoft way back in 2006. This is what allows for the smooth zoom transitions in Bing Maps. He also was behind another Microsoft acquisition called Photosynth. This amazing technology is an instrumental part in the future of augmented reality, an emerging format that merges search data and real-world environments. Sound complicated? Check out Blaise’s demos below.

This new version of Bing also introduces the concept of “Map Apps,” third-party add-ons that can use the API of the map data and create new kinds of interactions between users and the data that they are after. The apps include: a slick Foursquare integration that show check-in data in real time on the map, Photosynth integration, services to find the best rental property or lowest gas prices, and many more.

Could Google’s dominance in the online mapping world be slipping? While its still in its infancy as far as public release goes, Bing Maps holds a huge amount of potential. It’s clearly impressive breakthrough, with virtually unlimited future applications. We’ll be keeping our collective eye on these guys in the future.

What do YOU think of the new Bing Maps? Let us know in the comments.

In the modern age of education, we are confronted with a changing landscape, the likes of which we have never seen before. The way that information is transmitted and accessed is far different and more dynamic than it has been at any point in history. But for some reason, almost all institutions adhere to the same teaching patterns that were developed for the old framework of learners.

Something has to change.

Jeff Jarvis, a journalist who believes in the concept of revitalizing the learning experience, spoke to this point recently at TEDxNYED, a TED event focused on the role of technology in the future of education. Jarvis speaks on the faults of a system of lecturing to students that was created for the Industrial Age—learners are viewed as products of an assembly line with memorization equated to real learning. It’s like there is a regimented formula for success with a checklist of knowledge that will eventually translate to success.

But we are no longer in an Industrial Age. Jarvis speaks of the Google Age that we are in now, information at seemingly every turn. When certain pieces of information are literally seconds from our knowing with the advent of mobile technology and increasing internet speeds, is there really a need to memorize certain things that were deemed as important generations ago?

He spoke of Google itself, who looks for “non-routine problem-solving skills” when searching for potential employees. These are the skills that we should emphasize, encouraging students not to “learn stuff,” but instead to “make stuff.” The end product of academic institutions then becomes not a diploma (something that has almost become arbitrary in some professional fields) but instead a portfolio of things that the student has created. This is a far more efficient way to exhibit a graduate’s ability and desires.

Jarvis stresses, “education is a process, NOT a product.”

So what is the new system of teaching? How will institutions adapt to the changing landscape of learning? Check out the video and leave comment below.

With the recent hype that Apple has gotten in the news lately on the strength of their game-changing iPad device, it’s sparked a lot of conversation about the future appliacations of the device. Very few places is this more evident than in the world of education, especially online learning. Here is a list of the factors that make this machine (and in essence, its competitors), an important step forward for the world of distance learning.

Pros:

1. Large, full color screen — Lots of real estate for graphically intensive data transfer. The full color screen allows for way more than the monochromatic display of a device like the Amazon Kindle. This opens things up to rich  textbook content via a touchscreen and link heavy applications. Check out the video below as an example:

2. Familiar OS — Uses modified iPhone OS, meaning anyone who knows how to navigate the iPhone or an iPod Touch will already know their way around this machine. Think about how many iPhones you’ve seen out in the wild. All of those people already have a working knowledge of how to use the iPad. Pretty formidable.

3. Chat — Enables the ability to voice chat via IM or VoIP. Not something that will replace cellular phones at this point, but the capability opens up a whole new world.

4. App store — Extending the capabilities of the machine is possible by way of third party apps. And with the boom of iPad developers only growing as more people get their hands on the device, we can only imagine what kinds of apps will be available over the next few months and beyond.

5. Size and shape — With a slim low profile design and a weight of only 1.5 lbs, this is the most powerful consumer device of this size that we’ve seen yet. And imagine the convenience of carrying this device as opposed to a stack of heavy textbooks. Awesome.

6. Ability to run programs — The iPad allows users to design presentations, organize and edit photos, create spreadsheets and documents and more. It’s powerful enough to replace the function that many students now use a laptop for.

7. Cloud computing — iPad’s interface and the technology behind it make it a fine device for cloud computing, a system that involves data being stored out on

the Internet (“in the cloud”), as opposed to on the device itself. While this is a topic best suited for its own blog post, you can read more in depth about this concept here.

Cons:

1. No Flash — Much of the web uses Flash to deliver content. But Apple does not support it in any way. Many think this will be a non-issue once HTML5 becomes standard. Apple boss Steve Jobs even weighed in on the topic with an open letter on Flash published recently.

2. No multi-tasking — This is a big one. How many people have more than one program at a time open? My guess is close to 100% of people who use computers regularly. To eliminate that is a huge blow to productivity and convenience.

3. No camera — This also naturally means no video chat, which is kind of a bummer.

4. Limited connectivity — No USB slot? Well that pretty much makes all of that handy data that you have stored on flash drives obsolete. And if you thought transferring stuff to an iPad would be a snap, think again.

5. NOT open source — iPad developers have to get the SDK that Apple provides you with and then all apps must be approved by Apple. This could hamper innovation in some sectors, much as we have seen in the iPhone App Store. Many naysayers have problems with this closed development system.

What do you think?

Is the iPad the future of distance learning? Or do its limitations leave the door open for something better suited for those purposes? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

Earlier this year Harvard teamed up with Foursquare, creating a campus-specific version of the game. Harvard adopted the same concept of checking in to locations, but focused only on the school, its immediate surroundings, and information relating directly to those places.

So what?

Initially, this concept is being used to stimulate more interaction—students would be able to communicate with one another and with professors based on specific buildings or classrooms. A system in place that encourages students to go and explore parts of their school via their smartphones? Brilliant. Harvard students can now spread information and share to-do lists and tips amongst one another getting—over your collegiate sea legs may become a thing of the past.

The best stores and buildings will become more popular, and Harvard will have a built-in real-time evolving directory of things that they should look into improving. Crowd-sourcing this type of information is good for everyone. And the fact that Foursquare links up to Twitter and Facebook make the app that much more appealing to those who are hesitant to jump on yet another social media fad.

I can be the mayor?

Yes you can. Foursquare users who check-in at a particular location more than anyone else get the special classification of becoming that venue’s mayor. The title is mostly for bragging rights, but the prospect of using these virtual mayorships for promotional good is very high. Nearby businesses or on-campus events could reward frequent visitors with any number of goodies, just flash that mayor crown on your phone and the prize is yours. Savvy marketers will see how this aspect of the game has huge potential to promote more interaction between an academic institution and its patrons. (And yes, I realize that that is a picture of a king, but Foursquare uses a crown to graphically denote mayorships, so allow me to extend the metaphor).

Not just Ivy

Harvard’s not the only school rushing into the Foursquare foray. UNC  Charlotte has also recently experimented with location-awareness technology. As a matter of fact, that school became the first to offer promotions via Foursquare back in December.

Harvard and that other school

The add-on advantage

Foursquare is making their API available to developers, meaning that third party apps are being created to extend the kinds of data that is being collected, creating new ways that we can analyze our habits. With this kind of data, things as simple as determining the most popular locations quickly and accurately can be achieved. But think about the possible extensions of this idea: connecting people and information based on where you go and what you like, essentially creating a crowd-sourced database highlighting relevant aspects of a particular geographic location. And since this data is linked to the location itself and can be accessed via the location function of a mobile phone, all of this information is coming to the user without the aid of a search box—only the relevant information would be shown to the user based on their particular location. Tourists, travelers, or even newbies to an unfamiliar part of tiwn can all benefit from this kind of rich information transfer.

What is Buzz?

Buzz brings the convenience of social media to Google by way of your Gmail account. You are able to share the interesting media that you discover around the internet directly in the Gmail window.

But why is it relevant?

Social Media should be used as a tool, not a time suck. Integrating it into Gmail, something that many people already use anyway, makes it more relevant.

Buzz can be used as a great sharing tool, a perfect substitute for in-class interaction in lieu of having an actual physical classroom setting. Imagine the implications of Buzz as a collaborative tool, allowing for links, photos and other media to be collected and discussed within your particular study group.

That it connects people at their gmail, not on any other (forced) social media construct, those who you choose to interact with on Buzz are closer to your ACTUAL social circle. And being a Google product, it’s something that most Internet users will already know how to use to some extent.

Buzz brings people closer together, essentially making the world a smaller place. And bringing people together is paramount in distance learning. The translation tools, for example, all but shatter the language barriers that exist between us, meaning that soon class curricula could be utilized by anyone, anywhere and not operate within boundaries drawn by nation or language.

Mobile tool

The mobile version of Buzz has a “nearby” function, which can help those traveling in the world to discover what others before them have deemed share-worthy regarding a particular location. Roughly equivalent to this is the “Tips” function of the Foursquare service. This could also play a big role on college campuses, providing another platform that Colleges and Universities could disseminate location-specific information to their patrons.

How big is Buzz?

In its first few days of public use, Buzz averaged 160,000 posts and comments per hour. Something to heed: since it began its life linked into Gmail, it already has more users than Twitter. Whoa.

And It has a potential to get way bigger, considering that the open platform will allow for third-party apps that will extend the functionality of Buzz. This leaves the door open for many education-specific developers to create powerful educational tools.

Do you play Foursquare? I do. Wanna get on board? I’ll show you. It’s the “where are you” app to Twitter’s “what are you doing?” But you may be asking, “What about Loopt, Brightkite or Google Latitude?” Well all of these came before Foursquare and do what they are designed to do just fine. But Foursquare takes it one step further, awarding players points and eventually badges for being adventurous and doing new things. There is also a built-in protocol for suggesting tips and oft-unknown nuggets to others. This service may be one of the ones that you’ll want to be on the lookout for, especially with the recent $1.35 million seed money they’ve recently received. Here’s a quick primer to get you started.

1. Sign up, find friends

Signing up is simple. Once you set up your account you can choose to find your Twitter, Facebook or email contacts already using the service. Easy enough. Here’s a tip for your profile pic: crop it to square before uploading it to the site. Otherwise it will display incorrectly.

2. Enter fave spots, make a plan, find new friends

The way that I like to explain Foursquare to people is a service that allows you to share all of a city’s hot spots as if you were telling a friend from out of town. Once you’ve signed up, go to some of your favorite locales. Got a particular tip that you’d like to add? Share it and enhance the experience of the users that visit that place after you. You can also find new friends by checking out who has visited your favorite haunts.

3. Tag. It works better that way.

You’ll notice that you have the option of adding “tags”? Well these are a valuable part of the service. Tags let other players know what they can expect to find at a particular venue. Whether it be a pool table, a sea of frat boys, a dartboard, a jukebox — anything that will be of use to someone who has never been there. Tags also come into play when you are attempting to rack up badges. Want the “Photogenic” badge? Well then you gotta check into places tagged “photo booth.”

4. Social Great – add to the community

While Foursquare has a nifty leaderboard that lets you compete against your friends for point supremacy, there’s not enough that can be done with the stats. SocialGreat.com looks to remedy that by tracking a particluar city’s hottest locations by day, week, hour or all-time. But in order for your check-ins to be counted you have to go to the site and give it permission to do so. This only has to be done once, though. It can come in mighty handy when you’re looking for a new spot to hit up.

5. Go out, play

Much like many of today’s new services, Foursquare can really only be fully understood by actively participating. Get out there and start checking in, racking up points and collecting badges. And let’s not forget the competition for the mayorships that are out there for the taking, or the stealing as it were.

6. Expand the game: Got ideas? New Badges? City specfic. Make more fun.

Need more ideas? Here’s some that I hatched up for here in Dallas. Feel free to use these as jumping off points to add new badges to your own city as needed. Check out some of these:

· JFK Conspiracist Badge

The most significant event to ever take place in the city of Dallas has a knack for bringing conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork. How about we reward their curiosity with a badge? Check in at Dealey Plaza, the Grassy Knoll, the Sixth Floor Museum and Campisi’s Restaurant and you might be on to something…

· Savvy Traveler Badge

In cities like New York and Boston it’s old hat to ride their well-developed subway systems. But in the Big D, the rail lines are only just now beginning to span the city. Rewarding the early adopters with this badge may just get more people to ride the DART Rail … but probably not. A nice push in the direction of the Green Initiative, nonetheless. Check in on all three of DART’s rail lines and flaunt your travelin’ ways.

· Museum Hound

Do you often find yourself in either of the major Arts Districts of Dallas or Ft. Worth? This one could be fun for the avid museum-goers of the Metroplex. And who wouldn’t want a badge to show off for their interest in the arts? From the DMA to the Kimbell and everywhere in between, this one’ll make you look cultured.

· Greenville-ite

Lower Greenville in Dallas is one of the hottest spots for nightlife in these parts. Sprinkled with numerous bars and restaurants, the street and the area that it’s in have grown to represent a certain cultural subset. Visit 15 (or whatever appropriate number) different spots on this strip and get the “Greenville-ite” badge. Then we’ll know that you’re one of the cool kids.

· Taco Master

OK. So who in Texas does not like tacos? Thanks to a healthy Hispanic population and the popularity of those delicious tortilla-wrapped treats, D/FW is blessed with an abundance of taquerias. Visit 20 or more of these generally small and minimalistic eateries, usually found attached to gas stations or in small free-standing buildings, and you, my friend, are a Taco Master.

But what’s the point?

Think of Foursquare as the social equivalent to open-source software. The collective conscious of a community grows and evolves with each and every individual’s contribution. Before long, formerly hidden gems of a city will become common knowledge among that locale’s Foursquare users. And everybody wins in that scenario.

The service, which has only been around since March of 2009, is at a similar place that the mega-power Twitter was two years ago — full of potential and vastly misunderstood and under-appreciated. When savvy early adopters start to crack the code of Foursquare and it’s burgeoning role that it can play in major cities, the masses will take note.

Don’t say that you weren’t warned.

What do you think about the potential of a service like Foursquare? Leave a comment and let us know.

Amid teaching and earning two online degrees (she’s pursuing a third) Richland College instructor Scarlett Hill has a big presence online. The social media guru, who takes up a full-time gig at Dallas’ Brookhaven College this fall, tells us why Twitter, Facebook and blogging is a must in every professor’s repertoire.

 

English instructor Scarlett Hill

Why is social media so important for the classroom?

We talk a great deal about teaching, learning and building community. Why would we ignore a tool that achieves all three so seamlessly? Social media extends the classroom community and encourages engagement like nothing else I’ve seen. It’s a fourth dimension, a sixth sense, an eighth wonder – and it’s free.

What was your very first impression of Twitter?

“This looks interesting. I like that little birdie.”

What tips do you have for teachers seeking to use social media in the classroom?

• Don’t be afraid. It’s easy – really.
• Approach social media the way you want students to approach your classes – with an open and inquiring mind.
• Start messing around with it on your own. Make a Facebook account. Begin tweeting. Play! If you don’t get why so many of our students – and colleagues – love it, you’ll miss the point.
• Wait until you feel comfortable, but don’t wait until you feel like an expert because it’s never going to happen.
• Have a plan, but be willing to adapt.

Okay, the social media naysayers. How do you change their minds?

Instructors have some genuine concerns, and these need to be addressed thoughtfully and honestly, but I genuinely believe the online world and social networking add value to the teaching-learning journey. For instance, when a tweet to my Blackberry contains a tongue-in-cheek message full of deliberate redundancy, I know my lesson on avoiding verbiage found its mark. When I click over to my student Facebook page and find learners from former classes hanging out, sharing poems, or expressing opinions, I know something’s going terribly right. The results tweet for themselves.

What three words describe your teaching style?

Challenging. Interactive. Python-esque.

What do you want your students to take away from your classes?

A sense of wonder, a spirit of inquiry and a belief that they are able.

Name one of your favorite hidden spots in Dallas.

Kalachandji’s restaurant on Gurley Avenue.

What’s the key to surviving a Dallas summer?

Water – drink it; swim in it.

What common word or phrase would you never like to hear again?

Utilize. I prefer “to use.” Eschew obfuscation, people.

What’s your idea of a perfect day?

I don’t wear any shoes. I wake up in a tent on a hillside. I read a whole book without interruption – something by Kazuo Ishiguro or A.S. Byatt. In the evening, friends turn up with curry, na’an bread and wine. We chat and laugh and tell stories as it gets dark. Then we go swimming. The end.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

“Don’t.”

The worst?

“Don’t”