February 27, 2008

Teaching and Learning with Technology conference to focus on the student experience

This year's conference will focus on students' interactions with technology throughout their educational experience.

"Enhancing the Student Experience," an event featuring presentations, workshops, poster sessions and vendor exhibits, will be in Stewart Center.           

"We selected the student as our theme because it echoes one of Purdue's strategic planning themes," said Ed Evans, interim executive director of Purdue's Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) unit within the Office of Information Technology. "We are exploring different ways we can better leverage our technology to improve student learning and increase their assessment and retention."

Gloria Rogers, the associate executive director of professional services at ABET Inc., will provide the keynote address on "Using Technology to Facilitate Assessment of Student Learning: Are We Asking the Right Questions?" ABET is the international accreditation agency for educational programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology.

Session topics include social networking sites, mobile learning games, podcasting and vodcasting, wikis, table PCs, wireless video networks, distance learning, WordPress blogging tools, and Second Life virtual world.

The conference also will provide training and demonstrations in popular technologies, such as Adobe's Presenter and Captivate, Blackboard's Vista 4.0, and Horizon Wimba's Pronto Instant Messenger.

Nancy Wilson Head, director of TLT's Instructional Development Center, and Michael Brorby, director of user services and instructional technology at Purdue University Calumet, evaluated this year's presentation proposals.

"This conference will showcase technologies that have proven effective in reaching students," Head said. "It will be an excellent networking event, especially for Purdue faculty and staff from all our campuses. We encourage instructors to reserve some time in their schedule to attend. Our faculty members present more than 50 percent of the sessions, so this is an easy way to explore the current teaching methods and educational technology in use at Purdue."

Evans said, "Educators who attend will walk away with practical examples of how other people are using technology in the classroom."

The 2008 digital content development grant winners also will be announced at the conference, and the 2007 grant winners will give presentations on their programs.

Conference registration is free, thanks to corporate partners Apple, Blackboard, CIM Audio Visual, CoursEval and Xythos Software. The Tuesday night (March 4) dinner sponsor is Echo360. Tickets for the dinner are required due to limited seating. You must register for the conference to obtain dinner tickets.

To register or learn more about the conference, go online to https://tlt.purdue.edu

Writer: Beth Jones, (765) 496-8204, bethjones@purdue.edu

Sources: Ed Evans, (765) 496-6496, edevans@purdue.edu

Nancy Wilson Head, (765) 496-3685, headn@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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