Technology at university ...

It has only been seven years since I was last at university doing my undergraduate degrees, but things have changed.  The impact of technology on university learning is huge.  Without technology, studying off campus at an Australian university while in Canada would be incredibly difficult.  Firstly, there is the ease in accessing journal articles.  Gone are the days of hunting down the article and photocopying it in the library.  Now, I can find most of the readings online.  It is even possible to borrow e-books from the university library.  However, it is often tricky to print pages from these and I'm not a fan of reading on the computer because I always need to highlight and scribble.  Then there is the online discussion forum.  This makes it incredibly easy to communicate with the lecturer and other students.  However, it seems to be mainly used for students asking questions to which the answer can be found in the unit or study guide. Or, my favourite ... students who feel the need to share with the world how busy they are or how upset they are that the dog ate their homework.  It has great potential, if only it were used properly.  My favourite technological aspect is the use of online videos to support learning.  Watching a 20 minute TED video is perfect for breaking up the interesting but sometimes monotonous task of reading hundreds of journal articles.  For those who have yet to discover TED, the organisation that brings together people from Technology, Entertainment and Design and follows the slogan, Ideas Worth Spreading.  All the videos are under 20 minutes and always leave you with a new and interesting idea to ponder and puzzle over.  Unfortunately, I have become addicted to TED and could easily spend hours searching for and watching videos.   My two favourites are Sir Ken Robinson's 'Schools kill creativity' and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's (a new hero of mine) talk about flow and 'What makes life worth living?'  If anyone has any other great ones to share, please pass them on!  Who knows what the next seven years of technology at university may bring ... perhaps I'll find out if I return to do a doctorate?!