The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Jim Groom, director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, one of 12 “tech innovators who are transforming campuses.” Along with the distinction, Groom is featured in the Sunday, Feb. 26 issue. The article “Self-Described ‘EduPunk’ Says Colleges Should Abandon Course-Management Systems” explores Groom’s involvement with UMW’s digital-storytelling course and his ideas on learning management systems.
Chronicle Names Jim Groom “Tech Innovator”
February 29, 2012 by
George Meadows and Tim Owens’ Work Featured in Campus Technology
February 22, 2012 by
George Meadows, associate professor in the College of Education, and Tim Owens in the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies were featured in Campus Technology for their work with 3D printing in an article titled “Making Stuff: 3D Printing on Campus.” Meadows and Owens are in the process of exploring the technology and documenting the process at UMW Blogs in preparation to integrate the device as a curriculum component to a freshman seminar course in the fall. 3D printing technology allows students to build 3-dimensional models on a computer using free and easy-to-use software and then “print” them by extruding plastic in layers to create an object.
UMW Cited as Model for Future of Networked Learning
January 2, 2012 by
UMW, and UMW Blogs in particular, is being heralded in Richard Demillo’s new book Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities as a space of great educational ferment, to quote from George Leef’s review of the book here. In fact, Leef’s review not only examines more popular open education mainstays like MIT’s Open Courseware, but spends a bit of time discussing the role of networked culture in re-imagining the future of higher education:
Open courseware is not the only way online learning is going to change higher education. DeMillo observes that whereas the traditional college class involves the broadcasting of information from the professor to (doubtfully alert) students, blogs involve rich connection networks where students and instructors interact and share their questions and information.
In that regard, DeMillo points to a little-known school where there is great educational ferment: “At the University of Mary Washington, learning takes place in the digital spaces engineered by Jim Groom and his band of Edupunks. At UMW, learning takes place in blogs.”
And when highlighting the importance of a networked culture for the future of learning at institutions UMW is highlighted as a model. UMW Blogs provides more than open resources and lectures on the internet, it also enables the ability to interact and share ideas and resources that helps bridge the gap between institutions of higher learning and the web.
James Bacon, proprietor of the Bacon’s Rebellion blog that focuses on all things Virginia, not only gave UMW kudos in for its work with UMW Blogs in his post on the DeMillo book, but also points out what remains the most important lesson of UMW Blogs. The open publishing platform is not remarkable because it is single-handedly transforming higher education (such an assertion would be absurd), but rather it is how this platform embodies “the process of experimentation” that is still in its infancy when it comes to the future of higher education. To Mary Washington’s great credit, it has been on the bleeding edge of innovation in this regard for more than seven years.
Image credit: Ethan Hein’s “Hyperbolic orthogonal dodecahedral honeycomb”
Jim Groom Featured in Times Higher Education
December 1, 2011 by
Jim Groom, director of the Division for Teaching and Learning Technologies, is featured in the article “DIY, says ‘edupunk’ star. Distortion and sellout, say critics” in Times Higher Education. In the article, which appeared in the Thursday, Nov. 17 issue, Groom discusses the ideas behind the word “edupunk” and how they have evolved in the past few years.
Jim Groom Featured in Educause Newsletter
November 10, 2011 by
Jim Groom, director of teaching and learning technologies, is featured in the November 2011 newsletter of Educause. The newsletter, “7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs,” mentions Groom’s leadership with the “Digital Storytelling” course. Read the full article.
Jim Groom on Tour!
November 1, 2011 by
Jim Groom, director of the Division for Teaching and Learning Technologies, recently invited to present at Baruch College’s Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute about innovative pedagogies in regards to the Digital Storytelling course (ds106) he teaches. He was also invited back to Baruch the following week to join a panel about the possibilities of DIY, web-based radio and teaching and learning.
On October 27th Jim Groom presented a well-received keynote at the Open Education Conference that focused on re-focusing the emphasis of the open education movement from resources to experiences titled “#occupyopened11”. The presentation included some drama around “occupying the open education” movement, complete with a tent and a ruffled looking presenter. See the full presentation here:
Additionally, Jim Groom has upcoming keynote presentations at the North West Academic Computing Consortium
on November 3rd and a keynote presentation for the K12 Online Conference at the end of November.
Jim Groom Speaks at Elon University and Publishes Article
September 3, 2011 by
Jim Groom, instructional technology specialist, presented the closing plenary at Elon University’s 8th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference on August 18, 2011. His presentation “Independent Domains – Thresholds to Teaching and Learning on the Open Web” featured the innovative work being done by faculty and students at UMW in regards to teaching and learning technologies. Following is an excerpt of the positive reception of the session from Elon University’s Teaching and Learning Center blog as well as the slides and audio from his presentation.
In the closing plenary, Jim Groom, in a lively display of humor and insight, posited that independent domains and open web tools provide students, faculty, and people outside the university from all walks of life and around the world opportunities to express, exhibit, and be discovered online with the encumbrance of institutional rules and regulations. He described how MWU [sic] applied simple blog technology (WordPress MU) to create a living nexus of business, information, and highly creative self-expression. The platform also enabled unprecedented participation in open courses by people from around the world.
Groom also published a piece on the problems of learning management systems in the crowdsourced book published by the University of Michigan Library titled Hacking the Academy.
This volume was assembled and edited by Dan Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University from the best of over 300 submissions received during a spirited week when the two editors actively solicited ideas for how the academy could be beneficially reformed using digital media and technology. For more on the unusual way this book was put together, please start with Cohen and Scheinfeldt’s preface.
