Recently in 2007 Category
I was asked to come and talk to a group from PSU's Student Affairs about how a publishing platform -- like the Blogs at PSU -- could form the basis for personal portfolios. I am a part of the ePortfolio team here at the University and have been making the pitch for some time that a blogging environment is ideal for a personal portfolio. We had a great discussion and I think we'll be working together more as we flesh out our move to integrate blogs into the existing ePortfolio space.
PDF of my slides are available here.
I was asked to spend an hour discussing some of the things we have been working on that impact teaching and learning with technology. I spent the time sharing information on several of our larger initiatives that are designed to let faculty do interesting things in and around their classrooms. I have attached my slides as a PDF ... it is 4 MB. Download the file here.
I had the pleasure of presenting to a group of faculty from the SMEAL College of Business yesterday. We spent the better part of an hour and a half talking about the many opportunities we provide here at the University to integrate technology into teaching and learning. The time was well spent with lots of great questions and ideas being thrown around. I reshuffled my PSU Platforms for Digital Expression presentation and added some ideas on how to use ANGEL as the hub to all of the new things we've been doing.
Next Tuesday I will be giving a talk at the Broadband Advisory Committee in Lewisburg, PA talking about Web 2.0 and the need to be prepared to deal with the shifts in web usage. I'll share some insights into general trends in technology as it relates to the behaviors of young adults and the web. Should be an interesting change of pace for me.
Last week I was lucky enough to give a guest lecture in my good friend, Bart Pursel’s, IST 110 class. I used to teach IST 110 nearly every semester while I was at the College of IST. As a matter of fact, I had a big hand in the design of the course — my team built the first hybrid offering of the course that took full advantage of the web, a problem-based learning approach, and new ways of thinking about how faculty and students should interact. Let’s just say I feel very attached to the course and the kinds of students it attracts. This class was no different — 50 or so very smart students all wanting to talk, engage, and discuss nearly every point I tried to make. Bart is doing a great job with the students … introducing them to all sorts of technology — from blogs and wikis to podcasts and virtual worlds. He is taking a week by week approach to ask them to work and interact with different technologies throughout the semester. Each time I said, “do you know about X” they would all say yes. It was nice talking to students who seem to be in the know.
I spent the better part of an hour discussing emerging trends related to mobility, social tools, and user generated content. We talked quite a bit about FaceBook and how the students see the environment. Lots of good questions and a great conversation.
Allan Gyorke and I presented a session at the CIC TechForum titled, "Open Communication and Web 2.0." What we covered was our process for innovation and engagement. It seemed to be well received by the audience. I decided to do something different in sharing this presentation -- I have added it as multiple formats.
On September 25, 2007 I will be presenting and leading a session titled, Implementing Disruptive Technologies into the Learning Process to members of the Technology In Business Schools. This is a follow-up session I gave face to face at the annual meeting hosted by Penn State's Smeal College of Business. This is a totally online experience, so it should be fun and interesting.
I am delivering the same slides as I did with only a few small modifications. Find them here.
On September 19, 2007 I will spend a few minutes providing an update to the e-Education Council related to Digital Commons, Blogs, and the Community Hubs. All three of these projects are making solid progress and are attracting solid attention. I am linking it here as a PDF. Download file ... any thoughts for me, send them along.
Day before yesterday my colleague, Allan Gyorke, and I gave a talk to the Instructional Design and Development group at the Penn State World Campus related to Digital Expression. It is a talk I’ve done before and it really focuses on the platforms PSU has been working to deliver for the last 18 months or so. The talk frames the need by looking relatively deeply at the changing characteristics of our undergraduate resident population — they are very mobile, very smart, and very plugged into social spaces (read, Facebook). I use a bunch of PSU statistics gathered by our assessment team as well as numbers from the Pew Internet and American Life Project team. It is a talk that provides an overview of our goal to create a platform that can support digital expression.
Slides and more thoughts can be found at my Learning & Innovation blog.
On August 14th, I've been asked to present to an online audience about PSU's use of iTunes U. I plan to discuss how iTunes U (and podcasting in general) has sparked the imagination of faculty and staff across Penn State. The webcast is sponsored by SABA ... it should be an interesting event for me as I have never participated as a presenter at one of these types of events. Here's the program:
“Pressures on Higher Education IT: How we Move Forward to Embrace Web 2.0 and Beyond” Matthew Jett Hall; Assistant Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services and Associate Chief Information Architect; Vanderbilt University
With society's mass adoption of the digital life style in North America, Europe, and Asia, higher education must address both the ways in which it provides commodity IT services and embraces new tools for mobile learning and social networking of the digital generation. Matt will discuss some of the pressures facing central IT organizations in this context.
"Penn State on iTunes U: Driving Adoption through Innovation” Cole W. Camplese,
Director, Education Technology Services, Penn State University
In this session, Cole Camplese will discuss Penn State University's use of iTunes U as the centerpiece to providing scalable podcasting infrastructure at a large university. We'll look at how faculty, staff, and students have quickly adopted podcasting as a way to share academic content anytime, anyplace.
“Web 2.0: Re-inventing Learning” Ben Willis, Senior Manager, Learning and Collaboration Product Strategy, Saba Software
Ben will introduce the seminar with an overview of Web 2.0 and how collaboration technologies are changing the way students – and adults – learn. Ben will walk us through the shift that is taking place in how we collaborate, connect and capture information in today’s digital and connected world.
