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Sixth Annual Rensselaer Colloquium
on Teaching & Learning
May 15 - 16, 2006
The Office of the Provost held the Sixth Annual Rensselaer Colloquium on Teaching and Learning on May 15-16, 2006. This year's colloquium brought to Rensselaer some exciting keynote speakers from Harvard, Berkeley, UIC, Union College, SUNY Albany, and WPI. The colloquium was open to all faculty, staff, and graduate students.Program
Day 1
May 15
Emerging Technologies and Education
Refreshments available
Welcome & Introduction BTC Auditorium
Prabhat Hajela,
Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Brad Lister
Director, Anderson Center
Morning Keynotes (ID# M1) BTC Auditorium
Chris Dede
Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Emerging Educational Technologies and Neomillennial Learning Styles
Emerging digital media are shaping users' motivations, attributes, and social patterns into types of learning styles quite different than those based on sensory, personality, or intelligence factors. "Neomillennial" students seek learning situations that interweave face-to-face interactions with shared virtual experiences across distance and time (distributed-learning). This session will demonstrate examples of middle and high school distributed-learning experiences based on immersive game-like educational simulations (multi-user virtual environments, augmented realities) and will discuss implications of students' neomillennial learning styles for higher education.
Prof. Dede's fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. His funded research includes a grant from the National Science Foundation to aid middle school students learning science via shared virtual environments and a Star Schools grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help high school students with math and literacy skills using wireless mobile devices to create augmented reality simulations. Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education's Expert Panel on Technology, and International Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study. He serves on Advisory Boards and Commissions for PBS TeacherLine, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, and several federal research grants.
Break
Dr. Andrew Johnson
Electronic Visualization Laboratory
Computer Science Department
University of Illinois at Chicago
Pixels, Pixels, Everywhere, But Do They Help Us Tnink?
We are currently in the midst of a revolution in resolution with flat panel displays, digital still cameras, video cameras, and projectors regularly gaining more and more pixels. At the same time commodity computers and their graphics cards are increasingly capable of making use of this added resolution. For scientists, developers, educators, and students this provides the ability to see both context and detail simultaneously in large data-sets, and helps encourage collaborative work in shared spaces. This talk will discuss some current work in this area and where we may be headed in the future as displays get larger and pixels get cheaper.
Andrew Johnson is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and member of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research focuses on the development and use of advanced visualization displays (virtual reality, augmented reality, large tiled displays) for collaborative work and learning.
Lunch - BBQ on the BTC lawn
Afternoon Plenary Session (ID# M2) BTC Auditorium
Jaron Lanier
Visiting Scientist, Silicon Graphics
External Fellow, International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley
Former Lead Scientist, National Tele-immersion Initiative
Will the new digital collectivism confound the artist hero?
Day 2
May 16
Undergraduate Research and Learning Communities
Morning Speakers: BTC Auditorium
Refreshments, Welcome & Introduction
Thomas C. Werner (ID# T1)
Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Sciences
Union College
Undergraduate Research: Past, Present, and Future
Arthur C. Heinricher (ID# T2)
Professor, Mathematical Sciences, WPI
A Project-Based Learning Community for Science and Engineering
Learning Communities seem to be hot topic in colleges and universities today. There are many variations on the theme, from linked courses to cohort scheduling to first-year seminars tailored for specific interest groups. The content and structures vary, but the key seems to be strong connections between academic life and social life on campus.
The Project-based Learning Community (PLC) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a one semester program for first-year students which integrates math, science, and humanities. Students receive credit for standard courses but need not attend standard lectures.
The heart of the PLC is a sequence of six inter-disciplinary projects. These are all team projects with themes ranging from poverty in America to highway safety to the environmental impact of dams. In one project, the students read the play Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht at the same time that they are studying linear motion in Physics and derivatives in Calculus. The project teams can choose then to study any aspect of Galileo's work One group of students chose to research the impact of the Catholic Church on the development of science while another group tried to duplicate Galileo's experiments to measure acceleration (using only materials available to Galileo). This is all in a 2-week period, with an oral presentation and written report at the end.
The presentation will describe the basic structure of the PLC, how students are recruited, how students are guided, and how student progress is evaluated. Information from assessment of the program is strongly positive. For example, students do as well as (or better than) students from regular courses on common final exams. The students do report difficulty in transitioning back into regular classes for the second half of their first year; they don't know what to do with all of the free time!
Arthur Heinricher joined the Math Sciences faculty at WPI in 1992. His research in stochastic control theory has been funded by the NSF and the Office of Naval Research.
He is currently Director of the Center for Industrial Mathematics and Statistics at WPI and has worked with more than 100 students on more than 30 different mathematics projects with business and industry. He is the principal investigator on WPI's Research Experience for Undergraduates in Industrial Mathematics and Statistics. He is the co-organizer of the Mathematics in Industry Institutes for High School Teachers at WPI and has worked with high school teachers for five years to develop industrial math projects that are accessible to high school students.
In addition to work on industrial mathematics, he was the co-principal investigator on a project designed to build interdisciplinary links between introductory courses in mathematics, science, and engineering at WPI. This work, funded by the NSF, is part of the foundation for a program designed to bring the challenge of project-based learning into the first year at WPI.
Break
Nadeen Thompson, Chris Moore,
and Marie-Pierre Huguet (ID#T3)
Course Development Team, RPI
Technology, Blended Learning, and RPI
Technologies alone do not necessarily advance learning. Well-integrated technologies and practices often do. With learning principles and practices in mind, emerging technologies are being used to support blended learning in various, powerful ways. This panel presentation will focus on those that have been effectively implemented at RPI. After a brief overview of emerging technologies and blended learning in higher education, the panelists will discuss why they selected a specific technology and how they used it before sharing some of the benefits and challenges they encountered in the process. Joining two of RPI's course developers, Marie-Pierre Huguet and Chris Moore, will be Roger Grice (Language, Literature & Communication), Tom Haley (Mechanical, Aerospace & Nuclear Engineering), Greg Hughes (Lally School of Management and Technology), Carl McDaniel (Biology), Bill St. John (Lally School of Management and Technology), and Frank Wright (Lally School of Management and Technology).
Dianna Newman (ID#T4)
Director, The Evaluation Consortium
SUNY at Albany
Learning Communities: Can't live in them! Can't live without them!
Learning communities in undergraduate settings are no longer a luxury; today's students, the parents of our students, and potential employers expect our graduates to have more experiences than can occur in the typical classroom setting. This presentation will overview some of the expectations of learning community members, sponsors, and advocates as well as the developmental process that our students bring to the setting. In addition, it will provide an overview of some of the faculty stresses that occur as learning communities are established and areas that will need department and administrative support.
Dianna Newman is Director of the Evaluation Consortium at the University at Albany/SUNY and Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology. As an evaluator, she has participated in documenting successful and unsuccessful implementations of learning communities for the last 10 years. As a result of this involvement, she has in-depth information to share on what different stakeholders expect from learning communities, why we have to have them, what community members expect to get from their involvement, and the impact of these communities on learning, teaching, and institutional support.
Lunch - BTC lawn
1:00 - 4:00
3 Afternoon Workshops
Afternoon Workshop 1 (ID# T5) BTC Auditorium
1:00 - 2:00
Adobe Breeze
Bill Sherman
Strategic Account Manager
New York Education
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Thomas Person
Senior Web and eLearning Evangelist
Adobe Corporation
Breeze Meeting: 1-1:30PM
Meetings, Seminars, and Event Planning with Adobe Breeze Join us for an in-depth overview of the synchronous components of the Breeze 5 system. Learn how simple it is to use Breeze Meeting to set up a room for an online meeting or a larger event. You'll also learn how the new Breeze Events application can automate registration management, tracking, email invitation distribution, and event reminders.
** Please feel free to bring laptops. You will be able to follow along as a participant during the Breeze Meeting demonstration.
Breeze Presenter 1:30-2PM
E-Learning and Professional Development with Adobe Breeze Leverage your existing PowerPoint assets to create and publish rich online presentations and courses with Breeze Presenter. It's simple to add interactive simulations and demonstrations to Breeze using Macromedia Captivate, or use the enhanced integration features of Breeze 5 to combine many types of content created with Flash, Dreamweaver, or Authorware into a single Breeze curriculum. Use Breeze Training to manage learning content and measure effectiveness through quiz development and reporting tools.
2:00 - 3:00
Lecture 123
Jeff Gozdieski
Lecture 123
Lecture123 provides a electronic publishing platform that allows the user to deliver a rich audio visual experience to any Java enabled device. Currently Lecture123 delivers to any computer via the lecture123 web standard. Content is also converted to MPEG 4 and delivered to the iPod Video and audio products. Podcasting quality presentations made easy. (Beta versions are also being broadcast to cell phones and other portable devices.)
With an electronic Whiteboard, PC or Tablet PC the user can record a session that captures the presentation, voice and all electronic annotations.
Lecture123 allows instructors/epublishers to present/record sessions with voice, PowerPoint and whiteboard slides, and annotations (e.g. hand drawn highlighting, equations, diagrams, text). Publish the session for collaborative playback on the web, anytime, anyplace. Students click to ask questions during playback. Questions with instructors' answers are seamlessly integrated into the original presentation benefiting all participants. All content including slides and questions/answers (QA) is searchable, e.g. as a study tool.
Please feel free to bring laptops. You will be able to follow along and create your own video podcast!
Jeff Gozdieski, of Lecture123 business development, has 15 years' experience in K-20 educational technology solutions, sales, and sales management at Sun Microsystems. He is a former CEO of Enhanced Software Solutions, a computer consulting firm that developed an integrated MRP system for dental colleges. Mr Gozdieski was a consultant in developing the business plan strategy for the Rutgers Univ. Teoma startup which was purchased by Ask Jeeves in 2000.
3:00 - 4:00
iPods in the Classroom
George Cook
Apple Consulting Engineer
Apple Digital Campus Exchange
A comprehensive view of podcasting from defining podcasting to creating a podcast to sharing your podcast with the world. George will show how to create a podcast on both the windows and Macintosh platforms using cross platform tools along with some of the latest peripherals you will need to create high-quality podcasts.
George Cook is a national resource for Apple Computer specializing in digital media applications and is an expert in the field of podcasting.
Afternoon Workshop 2 (ID# T6) 3206 CII
Technology and Blended Learning Course Design
Nadeen Thompson, Marie-Pierre Huguet, Chris Moore, et al.
What is Blended Learning? What does blended learning have to do with technology? Are emerging technologies good or bad in the design/delivery of courses?
In this 3 hour workshop faculty will participate in exercises and a game/simulation to answer these three questions and to focus on applying the technology and information in their own course designs.
Pre-requisites:
- Teaching experience
- Ability to work in a collaborative team
- A sense of humor
Afternoon Workshop 3 (ID# T7) Lally 102
Integrating Professional Development Objectives into the IT Core Curriculum
David Spooner, Michael Danchak, Greg Hughes and Atsushi Akera
Organized in a round-table format, this workshop builds on our efforts during last year's colloquium to build collegiality among the IT faculty, and to coordinate our instructional activities and objectives to extend the coherence of the IT program's core curriculum in new directions. Discussions will focus in two areas: design of a new first course in IT that will entice students into the program, and folding professional development objectives into the H&SS and Management courses in the core curriculum. Specific aspects of professional development that we will discuss include leadership, entrepreneurship, user-centered design, economic and financial awareness, and project-based learning.
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The Lois J. & Harlan E. Anderson Center
for Innovation in Undergraduate Education
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
CIUE 3119 CII
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180-3590
518.276.4831
518.276.4852 (fax)
http://ciue.rpi.edu