Collaborative Learning on Display at Educause 2012

Collaborative learning was on display this week at Educause 2012 in Denver.  As colleges and universities are embracing technology to enable more dynamic teaching and learning, inside and outside of the classroom, it is clear that the “stale, passive lecture model” is transforming to a collaborative model of instruction.

A just published eCampus News special report on collaborative learning details how universities such as Duke, San Jose State University, Case Western, and West Texas A&M are embracing video, flipped learning and social collaboration platforms, like Cisco’s recently announced WebEx Social for Higher Education, to help faculty and students interact  “in much richer ways’.

With WebEx Social, users can quickly identify subject matter experts, gather group feedback, co-author documents, immediately with ready access to mentors, relevant communities based on their course of study, class syllabus, reading lists, and links to informational videos.

West Texas A&M uses Cisco Lecture Vision to record lectures and post them online for distance learning. Duke and Case Western are using Cisco TelePresence to create interactive lecture halls and “active collaboration” rooms where students and professors learn from each other while interacting with subject matter experts from around the world.

At a time when employers have higher expectations for recent college graduates, it is exciting to see how colleges and universities are stepping up to ensure students are prepared with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.