Research
Learning & Teaching
The Sara Fine Institute examines all
facets of the role of technology in teaching and learning:
K-12, higher education, life long and informal learning. Specifically,
we are interested in exploring how teachers and students at
all levels of education are actually using the technology
and the impact it is having on them, how the use of technology
is affecting their preferred style of learning, changing the
choices they make in how they approach and interact in the
teaching/learning process, how it is changing student/faculty
relationships, and how technology is enabling students to
learn from each other. Technology removes the barriers of
time and space. What implications does this have for the teaching
and learning process? Technology creates new ways of looking
at information through visualization and stimulation. What
is the transformational impact of being able to approach knowledge
and disciplines from these new angles? What are the cross-cultural
issues in using technology for teaching and learning, and
how do we address them through new models of technology-based
pedagogy? What is the role of the traditional university versus
the new virtual university? What is the role of distance education
in informal and life long learning?
Collaboration
In the early days of the personal computer,
and then in the early days of the internet, many expressed
concerns that technology would be an isolating force, encouraging
people to retreat from social contact and interaction. In
reality, technology has become a powerful tool for people
to collaborate with others and has enabled many to find and
join with others who share their specific interests and skills.
The Sara Fine Institute is exploring how technology can assist people in forming collaborative groups, and how technology can be designed and used to sustain these groups. This includes studying when physical co-location is important and when it is not, and how especially new multi-media technology applications can be used to provide virtual co-location when it is essential to the collaborative process.
Knowledge creation, communication & community
This theme area of the Institute will address the requirements
and challenges of the electronic capture, compilation, storage,
access, preservation, and retrieval of knowledge. This newly
emerging area of knowledge management is raising many issues
of the knowledge world as both non-digital and digital. How
will we integrate these two worlds? How are they interdependent,
and how can we support and manage these interdependencies?
How is technology changing the process of the creation of
knowledge, especially in research and scholarship, and what
impacts does this have on the distribution and archiving of
this new knowledge?
Technology is also raising questions of knowledge communication and the formation of knowledge communities. Many disciplines, especially many of the professions, have changed dramatically as technology has become nearly ubiquitous, especially in the sciences. How can technology be used to support the needed life-long advising, mentoring and enculturation that can only be created through interacting with other people in one's discipline?
Under-represented populations in science & technology
There is increasing concern by many in academic and international leadership positions that there are a number of populations who continue to be under-represented in the fields of technology and science. The Sara Fine Institute will be examining what channels we can use to identify and recruit minorities and women into these rewarding careers, and to increase the skill base of all of these populations.
Leadership & Management
Today's information-intensive world has created new challenges for even the most skilled leaders and managers. Today's leadership and management involves not only people, machines, and finances, but also enormous amounts of information that ensure constant change. These new information based "ecosystems" are requiring new models of organizational behavior, patterns, and structures.