来源网站:http://education.illinois.edu/uli/about.html  

The Ubiquitous Learning Institute (ULI) is a center for research and inquiry into the changing conditions and possibilities of learning, as well as a site for pedagogical redesign and innovation.

ULI是一个研究中心，关注持续变化的条件以及学习的可能性的调查和研究，同时也是一个关注教学再设计和创新的场所。

In an era when people can carry the Internet in their pocket, teaching and learning must obviously be reconsidered. The increased use of handheld and portable devices, along with pervasive wireless networking, means that structured learning opportunities are becoming an "any time, anywhere" enterprise. We talk about this shift in terms of ubiquity: the traditional divide between formal and informal contexts of learning is breaking down. Technological as well as social, cultural, and institutional changes mean that learning is a continuous possibility across spatial and temporal barriers. Learners of all ages expect, and often need, structured learning opportunities in a "just in time" mode; this puts new meaning and vitality into the traditional idea of "lifelong learning."

在当前这个人们可以很轻易地连接到互联网的年代，教学和学习都必须经过重新审议。不断增加的手持式和便携设备以及随处可见的无线网络意味着结构化的学习机会正逐渐变为“随时随地的”事情。我们用泛在这个术语来表示这种转变：正式和非正式环境下的学习之间的传统的分界线正在消失。技术以及社会、文化和制度变迁意味着学习是一个持续的超越时间和空间障碍的事物。各个年龄段的学习者都期望并且需要以一种“适时的”模式展现的结构化学习机会；这为“终身学习”这种传统观念带来了新的意义和活力。

For formal educational institutions this means developing new e-learning pedagogies that match the changing styles and rhythms of learning for all students, on-campus and off-campus. It means developing blended courses and programs that bring these diverse student populations into close connection with each other, and using their diversity and distributed locations as an educational resource in the classroom. And it means developing new knowledge and new conceptual understandings of what this transformed learning environment will look like. Students can access course lectures, discussion forums, teaching assistants, and so on, in a variety of synchronous as well as asynchronous modes. What does this mean for rethinking the distinctive benefits of being in that particular space and time we call a "classroom" and "class period"? What can be done there that can't be done in other distributed venues; and, in turn, what can be done in those other venues as well or better than in classrooms?

对于正式的教育机构来说这意味着建立新的数字化学习的教学法，这种教学法与变化的形式以及所有学习者（不论是校外的还是校内的）学习节奏相适应。这意味着开发混合式课程和项目在这些分散的学生之间建立紧密的联系，并且将他们的多样化和分散的地理位置作为课堂中的教育资源。并且这还意味着发展对这种转化的学习环境的新认识和新概念的理解。学生可以以实时或非实时的方式进入课程讲座、讨论区、联系助教等等。这对于被我们称作“教室”或“学时”的特定的、时间和空间的优点再思考又意味着什么呢?有哪些事情只能在那里而不能在其他分散的场所做的呢？而且，又有哪些事情能在其他场所做的跟在教室里一样甚至更好的呢？

This model also has many substantive implications for the possibilities of what is often called "situated" or "authentic" learning, linking classroom content with "real world" problems and contexts. What might it mean for a new set of relationships with employers, for students who work or for workers who want a structured program of study and professional development? How could this create a new system of relationships with high schools and community colleges? What might this mean for a different use of summers, weekends, and break periods?

这个模型也由于“情境”或“真实”学习的可能性而具有很多实质性的意义，“情境”或“真实”学习是将课堂内容与“真实世界”问题和背景相联系。这对于雇员之间的一套新的关系，对于工作的学习者或者对于那些想要结构化课程的学习以及职业发展的工作者来说又意味着什么呢？这将如何创建出高中以及社区大学的新的关系体系？这对于暑假、周末以及休息时间的不同方式的使用又意味着什么？

The mobility of these devices, and how they are used, have two other important implications for student learning. Ubiquity influences, and interacts with, the content and styles of learning: first, the rise of an increasingly visual culture, and the particular ways in which handheld devices encourage increased interaction with video and multimedia; and second, how these devices have given rise to an increase in social networking technologies and practices, which support increasingly collaborative learning activities. How learning is changing in this new environment, and how teaching and course design need to change in response, raise a host of empirical questions that desperately need rigorous and systematic investigation. A critical part of ULI is a cross-campus and interdisciplinary research program that can create new knowledge and understandings of learning and pedagogy. We view this as a kind of "R&D initiative" that engages in rigorous research into these new patterns of student learning, and then feeds that knowledge back into the processes of faculty development and new course and program design.

这些设备的移动性以及它们如何被使用对于学生的学习还有另外两层重要的含义。 无处不在的影响以及和学习内容与方式的相互作用：第一，渐增的视觉化环境的产生以及利用手持式设备促进与视频及多媒体交互的独特方式；第二， 这些设备是如何带来社会化网络技术和实践的增长，而这些支持了日益增长的协作学习活动。学习在这样的新环境下是怎样变化的？教学和课程设计又该做出怎样的应对？这产生了一大堆的实证问题，迫切需要严谨的、系统的研究。ULI的一个关键部分是个跨学校和跨学科的研究项目，旨在创造对学习和教学的新认识和理解。我们认为这是一种“研究与开发的主动权”，是对于学生学习新模式的很严谨的研究，之后将这些认识用于师资队伍建设和新课程及项目设计的过程中。

We believe that the University of Illinois' e-learning effort should be oriented primarily around academic quality, innovation and experimentation. We are in the midst of a radical reinvention of higher education, and we need to study it as we go. This is not simply a matter of helping campus units "put their courses online," but engaging them collaboratively to rethink and redesign pedagogy in creating a new generation of on-campus, online, and blended courses and programs. These changes will not only help us better serve on-campus as well as "online" or "distance" students. They will also offer faculty a more interesting and forward-looking reason for incorporating e-learning technologies into their teaching - whether of an on-campus or online variety.

我们认为伊利诺伊大学数字化学习的努力将主要围绕学术质量、创新和实验。我们处于激烈的高等教育再创新的行列中，我们需要一面前行一面研究。这不仅仅是帮助校园机构将课程放到网上，还包括使他们参与到协作再思考与再设计教学法以创造新一代校内、在线以及混合式课程与项目中来。这些改变不仅仅将帮助我们更好地为校内以及在线或远程的学生服务，他们还将为教师将数字化学习技术整合到他们的教学中提供更有趣和前瞻性的理由，而不论他们是校内还是网络的形式。

We begin with the assumption that the processes and the motivations of student learning are changing because of both technological as well as wider social and cultural trends. We need to understand those changes in order to develop a new set of approaches to higher education if we are to keep pace with where our students are going. That is a mission worthy of a great university.

我们有这样一个设想：学生的学习过程和动机因为技术以及更广泛的社会和文化趋势而发生改变。我们如果想要跟上学习者前进的脚步就需要理解这些改变来帮助建立一套高等教育的新途径。这是一所好大学应当肩负的使命。

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies
Barbara Means, Yukie Toyama, Robert Murphy, Marianne Bakia, Karla Jones

http://ifap.ru/library/book440.pdf

Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction. Learning outcomes for students who engaged in online learning exceeded those of students receiving face-to-face instruction, with an average effect size of +0.24 favoring online conditions. The mean difference between online and face-to-face conditions across the 51 contrasts is statistically significant at the p < .01 level.4 Interpretations of this result, however, should take into consideration the fact that online and face-to-face conditions generally differed on multiple dimensions, including the amount of time that learners spent on task. The advantages observed for online learning conditions therefore may be the product of aspects of those treatment conditions other than the instructional delivery medium per se.

2010 Horizon Report: A collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report.pdf

The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing. Institutions must consider the unique value that each adds to a world in which information is everywhere. In such a world, sensemaking and the ability to assess the credibility of information are paramount. Mentoring and preparing students for the world in which they will live, the central role of the university when it achieved its modern form in the 14th century, is again at the forefront. Universities have always been seen as the gold standard for educational credentialing, but emerging certification programs from other sources are eroding the value of that mission daily.

Assessment for Improvement: Tracking Student Engagement Over Time
Annual Results 2009, National Survey of Student Engagement
http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2009_Results/go.cfm?what=AR

Course management and interactive technologies were positively related to student engagement, self-reported learning outcomes, and deep approaches to learning. Course management  technology was most strongly related to student-faculty interaction and self-reported gains in personal and social development. It is possible that the use of this type of organizational technology encourages contact among classmates as well as between students and their instructors. Interactive technologies corresponded most strongly with students' self-reported gains and the supportive campus environment benchmark. Students who use interactive technologies are also more likely to say their campus environment is supportive and contributes to their knowledge, skills, and personal development.

 
The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009
Shannon D. Smith, Gail Salaway, and Judith Borreson Caruso
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/TheECARStudyofUndergraduateStu/187215

Although a majority of respondents to the ECAR student survey don't identify themselves as what we call early adopters or innovators, it appears that a revolution in undergraduates' use of the mobile Internet has already begun. A quarter of the respondents to this year's study told us they are using handheld devices weekly or more often to access the Internet. This level of use may not be taxing the support capacity of higher education IT departments at the moment, but if the numbers of users increase, as they likely will if the cost of mobile Internet access drops, institutions could be quickly overwhelmed with demands for technical support and development of new mobile services. Will student adoption outpace institutional support capability, or will institutional support rise to the challenge of student demand? Perhaps institutional implementations of mobile services will encourage even more student use of the Internet from handheld device.

Nicholas C. Burbules

Director
Nicholas C. Burbules is the Gutgsell Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His primary research focuses on philosophy of education; critical social and political theory; teaching though dialogue; and technology and education. He serves as the Editor of Educational Theory.

Denice Hood

Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies
My current research interests include issues of teaching and learning in online postsecondary learning environments. Specifically, I am interested in the intersection between adult learning, cognitive and social factors that contribute to academic success, cultural aspects of pedagogy and the policy implications.

Vanna Pianfetti
 

Assistant Dean for Learning Technologies
Evangeline S. Pianfetti (Vanna) is the Assistant Dean for Learning Technologies at the University of Illinois, College of Education in Urbana-Champaign. She is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education. Currently, she is the principle investigator for the I-LLINI Partnerships grant that aims to improve middle school student performances in core content area through the meaningful integration of mobile technologies.  Vanna is a Smithsonian Laureate for classroom innovation in technology and a Gold Award winner in the ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers competition for a technology enriched curriculum she designed with teachers from Urbana Middle School in Urbana, Illinois.

Jane Blanken-Webb
 

Graduate Assistant
Jane Blanken-Webb is a PhD student in Philosophy of Education in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has worked on a number of initiatives dealing with technology and education including an NSF grant with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Her primary research focuses on aesthetic experience, John Dewey's philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory.