Virtually
There:
Teaching, Learning and Technology for the 21st Century
sponsored by
Hal Schlais, Faculty Liaison, Office
of Learning and Information Technology, UW System
Gary Alexander, Academic Planner, Office of Academic Affairs, UW System
This symposium aims to enhance the UW System's planning process for infusing instructional technologies into teaching by seeking the perspectives of faculty members and administrators from across the System. Two nominated individuals from each campus team will join their colleagues to examine models for faculty development and curriculum integration from institutions in and out of Wisconsin; to discuss the roles and responsibilities of System Administration, institutions, departments and individuals; and to identify incentives and rewards that will encourage departments and individuals to move forward with technology planning.
A Slow Revolution Speeds Up: Teaching and Learning in the Computer Age
Steven Gilbert
Director, Technology Projects
American Association for Higher Education
The effective use of technology to enhance instruction is often linked to the concept of integrating technology into the curriculum. The purpose of this session is to introduce faculty and computing support personnel to resources, strategies, and tools for using technology to enhance instruction. Topics to be addressed include: forms of technology, curriculum integration models, technology integration strategies, cases that raise the issue of whether or not technology has been integrated, resources to assist faculty in planning for the use of technology in their courses, strategies for advancing systemic integration efforts, targets for aligning technology to enhance teaching, targets for aligning technology to enhance learning, and methods of assessing technology integration efforts. Participants will receive print and electronic resources that will facilitate their own technology integration efforts and serve as a resource for others. The session will involve large- and small-group discussion and hands-on experience with selected products.
Presentation software offers a bewildering array of choices for faculty members. Moreover, the time involved in selecting and learning a particular software package can seem daunting. Even then, producing a classroom multimedia presentation does not automatically guarantee improved classroom instruction. This workshop, a "preview" of a more extended "train-the-trainers" workshop being developed for the UW System, focuses on getting faculty started on the right foot with presentation technology. We'll redeliver short segments of our recent workshops for UW-Madison faculty on computer-enhanced presentations, and address issues involving the effective use of the presentation technology as well as the selection of hardware and software. You'll also see how we've packaged the Madison workshops as training materials for faculty on your UW campus. This workshop will be of particular interest to administrators and to participants involved in technology-related faculty development.
This panel will examine different models for integrating technology into the curriculum. Perspectives range from an institutional focus where a center trains and supports faculty in the uses of technology, to a college where technology will shape major curriculum changes, to a plan that weaves technology through a series of core general education courses that cross departments and colleges. This session will allow participants to engage in conversations that challenge us to move from a collection of technology-related experiences and activities in courses to a coherent definition of technology literacy in the curriculum.
In this provocative talk, Jane Ewens will offer her observations, concerns and questions about teaching and learning in technical times. Among these questions are: What is it about physical presence that deepens the way we understand and communicate with each other? Are there consequences of trading physical presence for the screen and keyboard? Or does technology free us to focus on the heart of teaching and learning? Is it possible that the virtual reality encounter brings a desire for unmediated reality, i.e., does the technical create a longing for the non-technical? Might the classroom become an exotic, foreign country, a rare commodity in terms of its unmediated reality? Would Socrates have had a home page? Note: Versions of this talk have been presented at two previous UTIC conferences. We are offering it twice (in this and in the next set of concurrent sessions) because of the enthusiastic responses it generated at these earlier programs.
In this session, the UW System's Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs will present an overview of the System's Strategic Plan for Information Technology, including plans for development of a systemwide learning and information technology infrastructure. He will also consider some broader issues, such as the impact of technology on the nature of faculty work and on faculty incentives and rewards, and the search for the "right" balance of technology in teaching--a question we're all uncertain about, and that is both more and less complicated than we think.
This session will describe ways in which information technology can directly support active learning - learning by actively seeking solutions to problems by exploring data and testing hypotheses or strategies. Such support requires data appropriate to the discipline and appropriate tools for students to manipulate this data into useful information to answer a question or solve a problem. Using examples from a number of disciplines, and tools which range from simple to complex, we will illustrate pedagogical strategies and design decisions which foster active learning.
Libraries have been transformed by new technologies, such as on-line catalogs, databases, electronic full text and the Internet. In this program, Kathy Pletcher will present simple ways to create electronic library assignments that meet the pedagogical objectives of your course/program, and help students develop information-searching skills that will be important throughout their lives. Specific examples of learning activities and critical thinking exercises will be shared, with time set aside for discussing sample exercises and their learning outcomes. The faculty response will be provided by Charles Matter, the student response by Alex Garrett.
This panel will provide three institutional perspectives on faculty development and the infusion of technology into the curriculum. One perspective will examine programs that are in place and working, while another will explore how to operate a program successfully with limited resources. The third will provide a departmental perspective, focusing on a department-based faculty development project that funded the creation of an instructional improvement cadre/support group for faculty using technology in their classrooms.
A repeat of the session offered in the previous time slot. See above for abstract.
This session describes a two-year project to completely "re-engineer" the instructional design of a course, using modern instructional design methods such as collaborative, problem-based, and active learning, teaching styles linked to student learning styles, embedded continuous assessment/feedback, and learning theory, in a distance education environment enhanced by instructional technologies. For background, see the recent article in AAHE's Change magazine (March/April 1996), which describes the project.
This session is designed to engage participants in a critical evaluation of technology and liberal learning. Among the questions to be discussed are: Can the multimedia classroom deepen liberal learning? Are the humanities well served by the university's shift to higher forms of technology? Is the humanist's sphere of influence narrowed or broadened by technological advancement? Given the practical implications for teaching and the politics of "right-sizing" university faculties, humanists should seize the present opportunities to demonstrate both the enduring qualities of humanistic training and the immediate need for more liberally educated citizens in the so-called Information Age.
This panel explores several approaches to assessing the impact of technology on teaching and learning. Lisa LaSalle will address the issue of effective teaching and learning using technology to teach the same course at two different sites. Meg Dwyer will present the results of two student subject experiments that investigated the effects of hypermedia in student learning. Don Mowry will present the results of an assessment project that examined the effectiveness of using technology to deliver a single course at three sites, using four faculty across those shared sites. His comments will focus on what technologies proved most effective at remote and local sites, as well as how to initiate and sustain collaborative relationships with other teaching colleagues at different campuses through shared teaching efforts.
Lucinda Roy
Professor and Associate Dean, Curriculum, Outreach & Diversity
College of Arts & Sciences
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Steven Gilbert
Director, Technology Projects
American Association for Higher Education
This workshop will bring campus team members together to work on defining their institution's teaching and learning goals for information technology and to begin or advance the process of identifying strategies, including faculty development strategies, for progressing toward those goals. Participants will also be introduced to the American Association for Higher Education's Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR) program, a national program that encourages, guides, and assists individual campuses in developing their own campus-wide planning and support systems for effectively integrating technology into teaching and learning, while controlling costs. The TLTR model emphasizes broad representation of faculty and academic support services in the planning process in order to serve the needs, capabilities and preferences of a wide range of students and faculty.
The Office of Professional & Instructional Development, formerly the Undergraduate Teaching Improvement Council, is part of the Office of Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin System.
This page can be reached at: http://www.uwsa.edu/opid/conf/tech96.htm.
Last updated: June 19, 2002 .