I'll be heading west to Purdue this Sunday to attend two events: A CIC meeting on Monday and then Purdue's Teaching and Learning with Technology conference Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm very excited about the opportunity to attend the conference, especially since our 2008 Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium is being held March 29th. I'm the chair of our Program Committee this year and next year I'll chair the symposium itself so I'm anxious to see how they do things at Purdue. A couple of points that immediately jump out that Purdue does differently than we do, is the open registration, anyone can attend and the use of corporate sponsors. Currently our symposium is only open to Penn State faculty and staff and we do not use corporate sponsors. But we are interested in exploring both. As our symposium continues to grow, last year we had 250 attendees and this year we have 350 plus a waiting list we have been thinking about what it would take to open up our conference regionally. So I'll be anxious to talk with the folks at Purdue about that.
I'm also interested in several of the presentation and workshops particularly those that discuss how social applications and mobile technologies can be used to enhance learning. A phenomenon that fascinates me is that we're using tools for education that are in the public domain, if you will. What I mean by that is that we've always used technology, from the chalkboard, through the television, through the computer out of context. By that I mean that we took these tools out of out of their intended environment, in particular the TV and the personal computer out of the home, and inserted them into the classroom per se. And that's always been a knock against education. Right or wrong education, and particularly college education was seen as occurring outside the realm of the real world. How many times have you heard, "I learned more in my first week on the job than I did in four years of college"?
Well, we're beginning to see this trend reversed. We're taking devices students use as a natural part of their life such as cell phones, MP3 players as well as applications such as Facebook, Flickr, and blogging services and, instead of bringing them into the classroom, and thus taking them out of context, we're using these devices to send the students back out into the world and be creators of their learning in the context of their lives and reporting back. We've invested heavily in developing these tools at Penn State so it will be a great opportunity to see how another university is addressing issues such as diffusion, adoption, and resource allocation,and logistics.
I'll be sure to blog about my experience. I'm also bringing along the recording device for my iPod in hope of interviewing some of the presenters and the people at Purdue who put on the conference. If 'm successful I'll post the interviews as well.
I'm also interested in several of the presentation and workshops particularly those that discuss how social applications and mobile technologies can be used to enhance learning. A phenomenon that fascinates me is that we're using tools for education that are in the public domain, if you will. What I mean by that is that we've always used technology, from the chalkboard, through the television, through the computer out of context. By that I mean that we took these tools out of out of their intended environment, in particular the TV and the personal computer out of the home, and inserted them into the classroom per se. And that's always been a knock against education. Right or wrong education, and particularly college education was seen as occurring outside the realm of the real world. How many times have you heard, "I learned more in my first week on the job than I did in four years of college"?
Well, we're beginning to see this trend reversed. We're taking devices students use as a natural part of their life such as cell phones, MP3 players as well as applications such as Facebook, Flickr, and blogging services and, instead of bringing them into the classroom, and thus taking them out of context, we're using these devices to send the students back out into the world and be creators of their learning in the context of their lives and reporting back. We've invested heavily in developing these tools at Penn State so it will be a great opportunity to see how another university is addressing issues such as diffusion, adoption, and resource allocation,and logistics.
I'll be sure to blog about my experience. I'm also bringing along the recording device for my iPod in hope of interviewing some of the presenters and the people at Purdue who put on the conference. If 'm successful I'll post the interviews as well.
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