Notes from the EDUCAUSE Conference

Several Teaching Commons contributors recently attended the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference, which focuses on the use of technology in higher education. Here are just a few of the pedagogical and technological highlights from the conference:

Keynote speaker Michael Wesch shared his thoughts on the role of new media in contemporary teaching. As part of his presentation, Professor Wesch shared two YouTube videos that he and his students made together (which have been viewed a combined 15 million times!): "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us" and "A Vision of Students Today."

An open-source photo and document organizer called Gallery is a potentially useful tool for those teaching classes that focus heavily on images.

There was quite a buzz in the air about the emerging open textbook trend, which is summarized in "7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook Publishing."

The popular (and free!) screencasting program Jing allows teachers to record video of their computer screen as well as audio, which is useful for disseminating specific instructions, feedback, or short explanations to students.