Teaching with Technology @ Tufts

The 2007 UIT Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning with Technology, will focus on such Web 2.0 tools as wikis, blogs, and podcasting. In researching resources to provide faculty on how their peers are using these tools, I read about Michael L. Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, who was featured in a Chronicle of Higher Education article "An Anthropologist Explores the Culture of Video Blogging."

While researching and writing a paper on Web 2.0, Wesch decided to create a short video with examples of Web 2.0 features and uploaded it to YouTube: Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Two million viewings later, Wesch knew he had discovered an area for research and learning on how ideas can be rapidly exchanged and broadcast globally.

This semester Wesch is leading an undergraduate class "deeper into the world of YouTube" to conduct an ethnography of the online community. Their focus is on video bloggers and now all the students are now vlogging .

Remember a couple Friday's ago I focused on TEDTalks? Well, TED just announced the 2007 TEDPrize winners. Three winners each receive $100,000 and are granted their wish to change the world - yes, literally.

"Through commitments of technology, design, PR, outreach, time, money, expertise and knowledge, individuals and companies work collaboratively to put the pieces of the project together and fulfill the wish. "

This year "one of the world’s most distinguished scientists" Dr. E.O. Wilson joins the other 2007 winners President William J. Clinton and James Nachtwey, well-known photojournalist.

And what was Wilson's TED wish: