Panel Discussion: Ohio Higher Education Computing Conference 5/17/17

Today I participated on the opening panel at the Ohio Higher Education Computing Conference. I was invited to represent the point of view of a research intensive private institution. I was joined on the panel by Brad Wheeler, CIO at Indiana University, Mike Hofher, CIO at The Ohio State University, and Craig Bantz, CIO at Ohio University. I was originally going to fly to Columbus, but with the amount of travel I have done lately, both Brad I appeared remotely via Skype while Mike and Craig were live on stage. The technology worked perfectly.

I don’t know if the event was recorded, but after a brief introduction where we shared trends driving our work we were asked to respond to the following questions:

  • Today, we’re exploring the myriad ways that technology can have an impact. What are the emerging practices or tools that excite you, less for their hype or supposed promise, and more for the evidence that they contribute to cultivating knowledge, drive efficiencies, simplify process, or reduce IT barriers?
  • Thinking toward the horizon, what direction(s) might institutions like Indiana, Chicago, and OU take to impact future of higher education? Or: if we were to have this conversation five years hence, what are the considerations, issues, or topics you hope that we’re addressing?

Keynote: AIKCU, Somerset, Kentucky on June 12, 2015

I was invited to keynote the annual Association of Independent Kentucky University Technology Conference. It was my first time visiting this part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was really excited to see so many eager participants all thinking about a very broad selection of topics. In addition to the keynote session, I held a separate break out that was really just an extended question and answer session. We talked quite a bit about preparing our campuses in a systematic way for the changes hitting us all — mobility, finding challenges, faculty development needs, student expectations and so much more. Truly a great time.

Keynote: NJEdge, Spring Lake, NJ 7/25/2013

Later this week I will head out to the beautiful New Jersey shore to provide the keynote for this year’s NJEdge Summer Luncheon. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share insights into new forms of conversations happening online in the support of teaching, learning, and scholarship. We will explore the notion of the “conversation” as it exists across the social Web to see how we, as educators, can take cues from this emerging dialogue. It is our responsibility, not to dismiss these discussion forms (and forums) as passing fads, but to realize the embedded pedagogies that exist within these emergent spaces — pedagogies we must understand to fully imagine what the future of digital media means to scholarship. While we will clearly discuss these new forms of conversations occurring online, we will also explore recent disruptions not just to individual classrooms, but to the entirety of the academy. With the accepted rise of MOOCs and the vast amounts of dollars being poured into education technology startups by venture capitalists, we will work to expose the landscape as it exists today and help shape a discussion about what this means to us all going forward.

Keynote: Albright College, Reading, PA 5/23/2013

Next week I will be traveling to Albright College to provide the keynote for their annual Teaching and Learning Showcase. I am really looking forward to spending some time talking with faculty and staff about various topics. I have been asked to speak about emergent forms of teaching and learning and how recent trends have disrupted the traditional notions held within education. While I will clearly speak to new forms of conversations occurring online, I will also discuss recent disruptions not just to individual classrooms, but to the entirety of the academy. With the accepted rise of MOOCs and the vast amounts of dollars being poured into education technology startups by venture capitalists, I will work to expose the landscape as it exists today and help shape a discussion about what this means to us all going forward.

Panel: Common Solutions Group Spring Meeting: Providence, RI 5/16/2013

This week will be quite a new adventure for me as I head to Providence, RI for my first ever Common Solutions Group meeting. CSG is something many of my colleagues from Penn State have been a part of for quite some time. This group deals with much more of the overall IT services in our larger portfolio, but as the MOOC space has moved onto our campuses CSG needs to engage in the conversation. I will be sharing time with a whole host of people I know and respect deeply. I am hoping it is going to be as interesting as I anticipate.

Keynote: Penn State Regional Colloquy, Penn State Behrend 5/8/2013

I was lucky enough to be the morning keynote at our Behrend campus in Erie, PA. I absolutely love interacting and working with faculty from various locations of Penn State. I enjoyed the keynote session very much, but it was the informal conversation that I hosted afterwards that really made me smile. Talking with a smart and engaged group around teaching and learning is pure joy.

In this regional colloquy, Penn State Behrend faculty members will showcase the learning environment that had helped them engage students in their classes. These sessions will reflect the recent changes in learner characteristics, particularly how students learn using recent technologies. The event is intended to start a timely conversation on how to engage students in traditional classrooms, online, or via a combination of both. Featured speakers include Cole Camplese, Director of Teaching and Learning with Technologies of Penn State and Kris Wheaton, Associate Professor of Intelligence Studies of Mercyhurst University.

Invited Presentation: Krause Innovation Studio, Penn State 12/14/2012

This morning I get to spend time talking with my colleagues from across Penn State at an event hosted by the College of Education in the Krause Innovation Studio. The Studio is directed by my very good friend, Dr. Scott McDonald. Scott also happens to be both my collaborator on the Disruptive Technologies in Teaching and Learning grad course as well as on sabbatical! So, while I am excited to talk about our course, the spaces we evaluated in the Occupy Learning program, and discuss how we are thinking of leveraging this work going forward I am a bit disappointed that I cannot present with him. I will have a chance to share a whole new presentation discussing Occupy Learning and how we worked to better understand the affordances of physical teaching and learning spaces across our campus. As a bonus I get to do it in the Learn Lab classroom where Scott and I taught last spring semester.

Learn Lab Teaching