Earlier tonight, I went to the BostonCHI meeting, which was held at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge, Mass. Tonight’s topic was about moving from “eBooks to Learning Books,” and the talk was given by Dr. Boris Goldowsky and Lisa Spitz of the Center of Applied Technology (CAST). If the topic sounds interesting, I’d check out their video, when it is posted, from the BostonCHI video library.

Their talk got me thinking about a few other topics, including the use of technology in a classroom environment. Although it hasn’t been that long since I was in high school, the most we ever used technology to learn was if the teacher showed a YouTube video in class.

It’s a little different in college, when a large portion of students bring laptops to class. Many students use GoogleDocs, and now Google Wave, to collaborate on projects. And, particularly with computer science students, I’ve noticed an increasing use of Twitter. Students not only use hashtags of course names to ask classmates questions outside of class, but also during class to share links to websites and videos with more information. Some classes even have their own Twitter pages to share information about content and assignments. (Here’s a brief article on how Twitter is used among students.)  In one class, we’re even using a course wiki for notes, assignments, questions and comments about the lecture.

Tonight’s BostonCHI meeting demonstrated a great way to use technology to aid learning, whether through computers or eReaders. One of the coolest – and simplest – examples is using Google’s My Maps to plot the locations of characters in novels. They also showed this goofy video illustrating how textbooks just can’t compare to a Wikipedia page for interacting with material. These applications seemed useful, though most schools would not have the resources to let every student use a computer in class, so they would primarily be used for at-home assignments. And according to an article from FastCompany, teenagers don’t blog or use Twitter.

College students have taken it upon themselves to use technology to aid learning and collaboration, but in grade school, students need to rely on teachers to incorporate technology in the classroom. Without the money for computers, digital whiteboards, and other such hardware, however, it seems difficult to really enact a high-tech multimedia teaching philosophy.