Purdue University Adds Twitter and Facebook to Class Participation

by Barb Dybwad

Students at Purdue University are experimenting with a new application developed at the school called Hotseat that integrates Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging to help students “backchannel” during class.

People who have attended technology conferences in the past several years are already familiar with this phenomenon, where social media is leveraged to allow the participants in a session or panel to comment and exchange questions and ideas in real-time. At Purdue, Hotseat is used to allow students to comment on the class as it proceeds, with everyone in the class including the professor able to see the messaging as it happens.

The Hotseat software allows students to use either Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (MySpace), or SMS to post messages during classes, or they can simply log in to the web site to post to and view the ongoing backchannel. Right now it’s only being pilot tested in two courses, but has already become a fast favorite for both teachers and students. Professor Sugato Chakravarty, whose personal finance course is one of the pilot tests, said, “I’m seeing students interact more with the course and ask relevant questions.”

And although it’s been optional for students to participate, so far 73% of the 600 or so in the pilot classes have used the software. We’ve seen Twitter become mandatory for journalism students at Australia (Australia)’s Griffith University to some negative reaction, but this is a less structured implementation which may perhaps account for its more favorable reception.

As Chakravarty goes on to note, though, the application is called “Hotseat” for a reason — and professors will have to be resilient enough to take any potential criticism or even corrections from students in real-time. Nevertheless, he cites it as a “valuable tool for enhancing learning. The students are engaged in the discussions and, for the most part, they are asking relevant questions.”

Check out a video introduction to the Hotseat application below, and let us know what you think. Does social media have a natural place in the classroom? What role should Facebook (Facebook) and Twitter (Twitter) play in education?

Ten emerging technologies to watch in 2010

EE Times has compiled a list of emerging technologies that we think will be worth watching out for in 2010.

Recessions are the times of change when R&D investments get pushed to the fore. It is well known that when markets and prosperity return they never return in exactly the same form that they went away.

We have deliberately favored the hardware- and physically based side of the technology landscape, although software is also likely to increase its impact and importance in 2010.

There are also some technology trends that are so self-evident and long-term that we have not listed them. We would include amongst these the need to reduce power consumption and the need to pursue low-carbon and reduced materials content solutions. We see these as drivers for some of the more detailed technologies we list below. We don't claim to have a perfectly accurate piezoelectric crystal ball, but some technologies and some technology providers are going to change the landscape in 2010. The ten technologies listed below, in no particular order, might just be part of our changing times.

Read more...

Imagine Cup 2010 Update

Round 1 for Digital Media and IT Challenge has ended. Congratulations to the teams that advanced to Round 2 in their respective categories.

Digital Media

1. Russia - Orange Power

2. Egypt - "A" Production

3. Sri Lanka - Creepasoides-ALPHA

4. India - Verg3

5. Sri Lanka - Creative Eyes

6. Saudia Arabia - S&J

7. India - Innovative Thinkers

8. Sri Lanka - UD.SHA movies

9. India - poverty crushers

10. India - Green Leaves

11. United States - TEAM KIDCORP

IT Challenge

280 teams have advanced....

SilverLight 4 Released....

On November 18, 2009, at the Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft Corp. unveiled a Beta version Silverlight 4. This latest version delivers hundreds of features and controls that, when combined with the continued innovation in Microsoft’s world-class tools for designers and developers — Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend – present the leading edge in rapid, powerful application development. With printing support, rich reporting and charting, and integration with back-end systems and server products including Microsoft SharePoint, Silverlight is ready for business.

For more information visit: http://www.silverlight.net/

DCIS Students on Dean's List and Honor Roll ('09)

Congratulations to the following DCIS students who achieved academic excellence and made it to this year's Dean's List and Honor Roll:

Dean's List
Magna Cum Laude (3.70-3.89)

• Abigail Foster
• Yvonne Ricketts
  

Cum Laude (3.50-3.69)

• Shellaine Campbell
• Rion Jefferson
• Flexie Muirhead
  

Honor Roll (3.00-3.49)

• Anthony Anglin
• Shanae Clarke
  
• Dewight Flinch
• Dudley Hugg
• Elyandra Hylton
• Dwight Johnson
• Alex Lewis
• Cornel Lewis
• Marja Malcolm
• Kadeen Nelson
• Le-Vaughn Roper
• Christine Swaby
• Chevanese Thomas
• Ricardo Thompson
  

ServerQuest II

Do you remember playing the vintage computers games King's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry? If so, you should enjoy Microsoft TechNet's ServerQuest II game. It emulates the same sort of pixilated graphics and cheesy humor as those classics, but it's aimed at IT professionals and computer specialists.

In the game, which is created with Silverlight and runs in your browser, you play an IT pro (either Matt or Alicia) whose objective is to keep the network running smoothly while encountering a host of technical problems that are presented as games and puzzles, ranging from the absurd to things you might encounter in the real life of an IT pro. As you work through the tasks, you'll learn about and use Microsoft technologies to solve problems, encounter hidden Easter Eggs, earn geek points, and get to post your high scores for others to compete against. The game is really very humorous -- and you might even learn some interesting troubleshooting techniques as you play.

Writing the Imagine Cup Proposal

A proposal is simply a description of what your project is and how you and your team will go about it. The proposal should be no more than 4 pages long and should include, but may not need four main the following, a Problem Definition, an Overview, Technologies Used, and your System Architecture.

The outline below gives suggestions on what can go into a proposal. Your proposal does not have to look like the outline below, for example any sub-header may be a main header. However you may write your proposal this outline may help you by giving you a starting point. Please note that the outline below is not a proposal, it is only an outline of a proposal.

• Cover
• Title


• Team Name
• Project Name
• Team Members
• Contact Info


• Intro
• What is this document for?
• What to expect in this document?


• Problem Definition
• What is the problem you are trying to solve
• How you plan to solve it
• Brief description of project
• Generally how it works
• Who will benefit
• How your project applies to this year's Imagine Cup Theme


• Technologies/software/tools
• Any tools you might use in your project


• System Architecture
• A description of your architecture
• A visual representation of your architecture