The 2008 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference Experience

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Ralph Shank, Media Specialist for Information Technology Services at UIS, attended the 2008 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago and shares some of his experience attending sessions with the University of Illinois at Springfield campus community:

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University of Illinois @ Springfield

The 2008 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference Experience

Ralph Shank

One University Plaza, MS BRK 180 Springfield, IL 62703

T 206-8350 F (217) 206-6287

[email protected]

http://www.uis.edu/its

The 2008 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference New Directions in Higher Ed IT: Navigating the Course While Still Drawing the Map
Challenging IT Leaders to Mashup, Twitter, Tag, and Poke: New IT Strategies for a Digital Society
Susan E. Metros - Deputy CIO and Associate Vice Provost, University of Southern California Susan began her keynote much as the previous year’s was begun, speaking about the history of education and the changes that have come over time. She quickly came to our present situation though, addressing the question: Who are our students? In answering this question, she laid out some basic phrases that the students of today might use to express their feelings. Computers aren't technology.” - Computers are becoming so ingrained in our everyday lives that they aren’t viewed as technology any longer. The Internet is better than TV.” - The Internet and the services we can now find on the Internet are so easily accessible that students are turning away from television. The Internet is where to find students and where to communicate with them. Doing trumps knowing.” - Students want hands-on experience. They would rather learn by doing than listen to a lecture and attempt to figure it out later. Trial and error trumps logic.” Another subject that Susan brought up was the change in today’s student in terms of multitasking. All the different technological avenues they can now access have turned them into a different breed of student that we must come to understand. From statistical research at the University of Southern California, the following results were presented: 75.8% of students now own a laptop. The same numbers also own a music/video player. 24% of them have wireless as their primary connection. 83% use a Course Management system. Email is the most used technology. Students prefer moderate over extensive use of IT in courses

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Susan continued by defining what “Literate Human Beings” are and the many different steps we can take to engage these types of students and to help them and others in our communities to become literate human beings. Literate Human Beings: Possess core communicative and quantitative skills Read, write, speak and listen, have quantitative analysis skills, and use information resources and technology What can we do?: Social networking and collaboration (communicative and quantitative skills) Google apps (integrate and apply knowledge) Undergrad Research OSU Research on Research e.g.(ePortfolio) ePartnerships UG/Faculty Teach critical thinking Learning/course management Options besides course management: Course application on Facebook - private study groups - student puts this up, THEN instructor can claim the course! Google Sites (business, bands, courses, etc.) iPhone applications Build a participatory culture (e.g. OSU digital union) Gathering place, new media production, showcase and workshop, learning communities, emerging technologies test-bed and showroom, corporate sponsors (e.g.) USC'S Institute for Multimedia Literacy Scholarly Multimedia production Academic programs in Multimedia scholarship Integrate and apply knowledge Knowledge sharing - iTunes U You Tube Channel Intellectual breadth, depth and adaptability Media Manager - organize and share information (for faculty) Media collections, art collections, history collection Find new ways to teach and learn Level of academic challenge

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Active and collaborative learning Student-faculty interaction Pachyderm* - an open source tool Sophie* - an open source tool (multimedia digital books) Create new learning spaces (e.g.) USC MOMS General Use Classrooms (monitoring, tech help system) wall unit with a laptop Croquet* - peer to peer interaction Second Life Understand diverse cultures and societies Global connections, international education, connect students across borders, connect campus students to foreign students, transportable satellite internet system (to communities that have not connection, local outreach – gidget (technology pipeline for women), new partners Uphold values and ethics Green computing Credibility, validity, and ethical implications Susan closed with a wonderful statement that we should all, as IT professionals and faculty members, keep in mind. Think about the goal instead of the tool. This includes convenience, collaboration, communication, engagement, interaction, mobility, accessibility, literacy, accountability, security, effectiveness, and efficiency Audio from this keynote session can be found here: http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/ podcastchallengingitleade/46499

How to Use What We Know: 21st Century Faculty and Students
Bradley Cohen – Assistant Director and Coordinator for Curriculum Development, University of Minnesota J.D. Walker – Coordinator of Research and Evaluation Services, University of Minnesota Bradley and J.D. presented information gained from a number of focus groups and large class evaluations held at the University of Minnesota. This was a large - scale research project that searched

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for answers from faculty and students concerning the use of technology in their courses and on campus. Faculty expressed positive reactions in their preferences and concerns, stating that the majority of the technology presented to them has much potential in the learning environment. The biggest concern for faculty is TIME: time to use, time to learn to use, and a lack of standardization. Some things that Bradley and J.D. have tried that have worked are: Recognition of faculty efforts Committing faculty members to large amounts of time to develop skill and understanding (learn and implement tool in 3 years, etc.) They found that having a process like this in place helps to make the transition to new technology much smoother. Some important points that Bradley and J.D. brought up were: RESPECT faculty time. This was important for them in their relationship with faculty when the importance on faculty time was noted. Keeping face to face experience. Many faculty members wanted the face to face time with an IT professional to learn new technologies. Faculty like to learn from each other. Once a faculty member has adopted a new technology and learns to use it well, invite them to teach their peers. When the focus came to students, Bradley and JD spent time on specific points: experience and attitude multimedia views of learning mobile technologies One of the answers they shared with us was that students are big fans of anything that is not text. This includes: animations video audio simulations visualization tools (The faculty response to these tools is muted - they see themselves as producers rather than users/viewers)

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Student views of learning were as follows: They were very fact focused. Learning is the transfer of facts from professor to student in an efficient method to them. Performance on exams is the sign of having learned There is a great concern to know the right answer They see technology as a means for delivering information efficiently Students use technology more as consumers than as producers Bradley and JD took steps when dealing with faculty concerning new technologies: Fostered media-rich design and development Focused on information design Emphasized new faculty role in team approach to instructional design Explored student-generated content. (This keeps the faculty from feeling that THEY are the producers) The found that with faculty, these were the needs, issues, and ideas that were brought up by faculty: Need for support. Type of support: local, face to face Lack of models/examples Preferred way of learning: talking with colleagues Data for these surveys/research can be found here: http://dmc.umn.edu/surveys Other resources, including the PowerPoint from this presentation, the survey information and faculty development programs can be found at the bottom of the page here: http://www.educause.edu/MWRC08/Program/13797?PRODUCT_CODE=MWRC08/SESS04

TechSmith Corporation and Michigan State University – Lecture Capture for the Masses
Richard Boys, Product Manager, TechSmith Corporation Geraud Plantegenest, Manager, Blended Curricular Learning Resources (B-CLR), Michigan State University Richard and Geraud started off by giving us some of the cheaper or free software options available to us with: Camtasia Relay Snag it - capture screen on PC - cheap Jing - cross-platform - free -

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Morae* - gather data about webpage, test processes The focus for this particular session was on Camtasia Relay though. Very similar to our Apreso solution, it is: Cross-platform Anywhere, anytime, automated The presenter clicks record and then clicks send when they are finished. Everything goes to the server. The faculty member creates a profile for their course, session, or web. Profiles contain information about what you need, mp4, flash, windows media, etc. and Camtasia Relay creates files for them. There is an email notification once the process is completed Richard and Geraud present this as being a good solution for non-technical presenters. There is no new hardware. It is all software based. There are post production options for Camtasia Relay created videos, including timeline editing. You can add full motion video to timeline, and link to blackboard like we do with Apreso. For more information about Camtasia Relay, visit this link: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasiarelay A PDF containing more information from the presentation and about Camtasia Relay is located here: http://www.educause.edu/MWRC08/Program/13797?PRODUCT_CODE=MWRC08/CORP02

Examining the Partnership for the 21st Century with a Spotlight on Technology and Humor
Peter M. Jonas, Chair, Doctoral Studies, Cardinal Stritch University Peter was one of the most delightful sessions from the entire conference. His use of humor and his instruction for its integration into technology and teaching was a joy to watch. He came to us from a teaching/faculty view instead of an IT professional and it was great to see. The basis for his idea was to enhance the learning environment with short, funny, videos. He created a new word for this by saying Pedagogy + Video=Videagogy. He made a great point by telling us to USE the technology; to integrate it, not just hand it out to students. Some points/methods that Peter provided to us concerning how to approach the student in the learning environment were: self-directed instruction

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project based assignments emphasis on standards differentiated instruction collaboration CIDS - Customized Investigative Design (students design and create the content, faculty make it available) Peter also provided us with a handout that outlined his “Ten Laws of Humor”, and mentioned his book, “Secrets of Leadership and Learning to Humor”. The Power Point for Peter’s presentation can be found here: http://www.educause.edu/MWRC08/ Program/13797?PRODUCT_CODE=MWRC08/SESS12

Apple and University of Illinois – iTunes U: Tips for Getting Started
William Duff, Higher Education Development Executive, Apple, Inc. Edward Glaser, Research Programmer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Munindra Khaund, Coordinator, Instructional Support and Training, University of Illinois, Springfield Richard Wolf, Research Programmer, University of Illinois at Chicago This session, which featured our very own Munindra Khaund, went very smoothly. The room was filled to capacity and it was obvious that many were interested in the implementation of iTunes U from the many different levels of development that were presented. An introduction to what iTunes U is and how universities are using it was given by William. The technical, programming side of the operation, the beginnings of implementation were addressed by Edward and Richard, then Munindra did a wonderful job of clearly explaining our beginnings, methods, and how we came to be where we are today with iTunes U. Many of the questions that followed were directed towards Munindra, and his iTunes U policy was a big highlight for many people looking for information. A PDF from this presentation is available here: http://www.educause.edu/MWRC08/Program/13797? PRODUCT_CODE=MWRC08/CORP06

Leading Ahead of the Curves
Brad Wheeler, VP for IT, CIO, and Professor, Indiana University The final keynote session for the conference was truly uplifting, informative and exceptional. The premise of this presentation was that there are three curves—technical possibility, social desirability, and economic feasibility over time, that describe the forces that shape college and university IT challenges. The consumerization of technology, insourcing and outsourcing, edge or
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leveraged services on campus, and multi-institutional community source are timely opportunities for IT leaders who can wisely discern these curves. Brad immediately changed one of his own points in the beginning of his presentation, crossing out Technical “Possibility” and replacing it with Technical “Maturity”, showing us a graph for the level of “coolness” a piece of technology has over a period of time. He began with a curved line heading upward, but revised this to show a stair-step reaction over time as being more of a reality for technology. We had a good laugh at Social Desirability when he brought up “gotta have it” as a level over time; basically a plateau that never changed. This is true for many new technologies, leaving little room or time for testing when the demand is high Brad moved on to speak about 5 factors he felt will change everything for us. These were: Web 2.0 – style apps Software as a service (SoaS) Global – class computing The “consumerization” of IT Open-source software An important question that Brad brought up was was this: Can our actions substantively affect the shape of the curves or do we just adapt as they are revealed? He then proceeded to show us examples of “curve benders” to answer this question. Charles M. Vest – President of MIT has shown us the early emergence of the “meta university”. Open materials and platforms that allow higher education worldwide to be constructed and enhanced. Indiana University doesn’t have nearly this much content available to the public, but they do have a gateway to shared content at http://open.iu.edu There is scholarship info, podcasts, and courses available here. In Search of Certitude “projecting our expertise to our community” Brad used examples in www.chacha.com (a “ask a question, get an answer” site. This option is free, imperfect, but good enough. At Indiana University you can ask a librarian online or chat with a librarian. This is 100% certitude. His suggestion is a combination of the two of these. Within this idea, a person would experience a “guided search”, where they did a normal search of “search.ui.edu” and received a 100% certified answer from the support center, library, or science research area. Incorporating ads in this area would create revenue for the school and create a new platform for the 21st century. The more the search leaves the algorithm area and moves towards a direct connection to an expert, the higher the certitude.

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In the next section of his keynote session, Brad talked about Community Source: Developing and Building Software to Control our Destiny. He gave the example of “The Bazaar”, a chaotic area containing open source software where many different developers can add content, in comparison with “The Cathedral”, an organized area where solid, commercial solutions are presented. This, according to Brad, leaves an large empty gap in between these two. What he sees a need for is what he referred to as “The Pub”, or a combination of the two, a “Community Source” hybrid with institutional investments for institutional results. Another important factor that Brad approached was Licensing Terms for the Higher Education community and how we need to sit down and work out new agreements with the commercial sector for “per user” and “upgrade” situations. Brad began and ended with a cartoon strip explaining what we do as IT professionals. On the chalkboard was a diagram that showed three steps: 1. 2. 3. the campus cyberinfrastructure then a miracle occurs cloud computing nirvana

At the bottom it says “I think you should be more explicit here in step two”. Brad ended by telling us that we should BE that miracle in step two. A PowerPoint of this presentation, along with a podcast can be found here: http://www.educause.edu/MWRC08/Program/13797?PRODUCT_CODE=MWRC08/GS02

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