Presentation: September 2008 Archives

I was asked to present during ITS' Forum series about how ETS and TLT are working to engage our communities.  I shared thoughts on our use of Twitter, blogs, wikis, youtube, and other social tools to connect with members of our extended community.  We've taken the approach of trying to connect in as many ways as possible -- using a mix of face to face and web I feel like we're making progress in getting people moving together.  I think one of the things that really resonated was the story of how we took advantage of the ETS Wiki to plan the Learning Design Summer Camp in the open.  I think people were surprised to see how interested people were in helping form the event.

On Friday I presented to the Association of Opinion Page Editors conference in State College, PA.  This group was a very interesting and engaging collection of people from the newspaper world.  I spent a little more than an hour talking about new ways to connect with and engage new audiences.  My overall claim was that there is a new dynamic happening online -- a dynamic fueled by the social web.  I spent time discussing how we see both college students and teens as a demographic that must be engaged in new ways.  I shared insights into Twitter, blogging, and the explosive nature of conversations on YouTube.  It was well received and I enjoyed the overall conversation very much.

The 24 MB PDF of my slides are now available.

Today I will be delivering the lunchtime address at Penn State's College of Arts and Architecture's Designs on eLearning conference.  I am a little anxious as I am integrating quite a bit of media into this talk.  The audience is slightly outside of my typical range, so I will try to make the point that the use of digital media for expression is the basis for the new classroom conversation.  I am however looking forward to it.