7 Things You Should Know About...

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) offers an informative monthly series on emerging learning technologies and related practices called 7 Things You Should Know About... Each 2-page brief is provided as a PDF document and features a concise, jargon-free explanation of a specific technology or practice. The series is very helpful if you are interested in keeping abreast of new technologies or seeking models for quickly and clearly sharing information about these topics with students, colleagues, or administrators.

All previous briefs are available on the ELI Web site, with topics including Lecture Capture, Flip Camcorders, Second Life, Skype, RSS feeds, Twitter, Data Visualization, Creative Commons, Google Earth, Mapping Mashups, Virtual Meetings, Blogs, Clickers, Wikis, Collaborative Editing, Social Bookmarking, and much more. Accompanied by an introductory scenario to illustrate an educational application, each brief is presented with the following sections:

1) What is it?
2) Who's doing it?
3) How does it work?
4) Why is it significant?
5) What are the downsides?
6) Where is it going?
7) What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Other resources on teaching, learning, and technology issues are available at the main ELI Resources page.