- published: 27 Sep 2012
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Interactive Learning is a pedagogical approach that incorporates social networking and urban computing into course design and delivery. Interactive Learning has evolved out of the hyper-growth in the use of digital technology and virtual communication, particularly by students. Beginning around 2000, students entering institutes of higher education have expected that interactive learning will be an integral part of their education. The use of interactive technology in learning for these students is as natural as using a pencil and paper were to past generations.
The Net Generation or Generation Y is the first generation to grow up in constant contact with digital media. Also known as digital natives, their techno-social, community bonds to their naturalized use of technology in every aspect of learning, to their ability to learn in new ways outside the classroom, this generation of students is pushing the boundaries of education. The use of digital media in education has led to an increase in the use of and reliance on interactive learning, which in turn has led to a revolution in the fundamental process of education.
Increasingly, students and teachers rely on each other to access sources of knowledge and share their information, expanding the general scope of the educational process to include not just instruction, but the expansion of knowledge. The role change from keeper of knowledge to facilitator of learning presents a challenge and an opportunity for educators to dramatically change the way their students learn. The boundaries between teacher and student have less meaning with interactive learning.
Eric Mazur (b. November 14, 1954) is a prominent physicist and educator at Harvard University. Mazur is known for his work in experimental ultrafast optics and condensed matter physics and a national leader in science education. Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Mazur studied physics and astronomy at Leiden University. He passed his "doctoraal examen" (equivalent to a master's degree) in 1977 and continued his graduate studies at the same institution. In 1981 he obtained his Ph.D on a thesis entitled "The structure of non-equilibrium angular momentum polarizations in polyatomic gases". Although he intended to go on to a career in industry with Philips N.V. in Eindhoven, he left Europe at the urging of his father, Peter Mazur, to pursue a postdoctoral study with recent Nobel laureate Nicolaas Bloembergen at Harvard University.
After two years as a postdoc, Mazur was offered a position of assistant professor at Harvard University. In 1987 he was promoted to associate professor and obtained tenure three years later in 1990. Mazur currently holds a chair as Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics jointly in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and in the Physics Department. He is also the Dean of Applied Physics.