What are Cool Tools?
ATC defines "Cool Tools" as any new (or new-ish) technology, learning space or web application that increases student engagement, supports authentic learning, or provides social networking capabilities. And like the technologies themselves, this definition changes over time as both the technology and it's usage changes.
The Academic Technology Center actively researches many of the "Cool Tools" that educators have been reading about lately. We look at the 'bleeding edge" of learning technologies and some more common tools, try them out, work with pioneering faculty to see what works, what doesn't, and how best to implement these new methods into the classroom. In this section you will find information on Blogs, Digital Storytelling, Elluminate, Second Life,Wikis, and more.
Most of what we investigate can be found in the Horizon Report, a New Media Consortium (NMC) annual report produced in collaboration with the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI). The Horizon Report looks at emerging technology and trends in education in "Time-to-Adoption" increments. These increments are One Year or Less, Two to Three Years, and Four to Five Years.The University of West Florida is a member of both NMC and ELI, so go to their web sites, create an account to take advantage of the many resources available to you.
Here are links to past and current Horizon Reports in PDF format:
Michael White, Ed.D, compiled a list of Social Media Guidelines for faculty wishing to use these tools in their class.
As with any technology, accessibility can be an issue for some students. Please check social media sites or new web applications for their accessibility statement, or contact Karen Barth (473-7291) for assistance.
We also look at technologies and learning environments that faculty have asked us about. If there is a new technology you want us to look into or one you have tried out yourself, contact Karen Barth (kbarth@uwf.edu)