Technology changes almost faster than people can keep up with it.
The computer you bought last year is too slow and can’t play that video of your grandkids; your digital camera doesn’t produce high-enough-quality images; and heck, your cell phone isn’t mp3- or video-equipped, so why even bother?
Technology is also making rapid strides in the classroom. But instead of being left out of the loop, several entities are joining forces to present the third ITeach symposium, Jan. 12 in Eads Hall. A workshop and support day will follow on Jan. 13.
The symposium is open to University faculty, but advance registration is requested.
ITeach is a collection of resources around the topic of teaching with technology and a collaborative effort by the Teaching and Technology Partnership — The Teaching Center, University Libraries and The Teaching Lab in Arts & Sciences.
“ITeach includes an array of sessions on timely topics that are all intended to promote active discussions about the art and science of teaching,” said Dennis J. Martin, associate vice chancellor and associate dean of Arts & Sciences. “This is a great chance for faculty to take a step back and interact with colleagues from across the University to explore both the latest trends in classroom technology and the essential elements of teaching and learning.”
Some of these elements highlighted in this year’s symposium include the use of clickers for classroom response; peer-led team learning; Telesis course-management system; tablet PCs; and the digital library of the future.
“Google, Yahoo and the proliferation of mass digitization of libraries offer previously unimaginable research opportunities for humanist and social scientists,” said Shirley K. Baker, vice chancellor for information technology and dean of University Libraries. “Faculty can hear the inside story about how these and other projects that will affect resources available to them.”
And don’t think each of the 16 individual sessions will focus on specific academic areas or are otherwise narrow in scope.
Rather, people from all walks of the University will be able to come away from nearly every presentation having gained some sort of knowledge that will help make his or her job easier.
“There is a session for faculty in every area at the symposium,” said Kathy Atnip, director of academic services and The Teaching Lab in Arts & Sciences. “Sessions on using electronic response devices, ‘clickers’ in biology should be useful not only to instructors in the sciences but also to those in many other disciplines.
“Similarly, the session on ‘taking humanities problems in bytes’ will describe ways to use modeling and simulation, usually the domain of science and engineering, to shed light on challenges in teaching history and literature.”
The first campus-wide ITeach symposium was hosted in January 2002, attracting an audience of more than 170 faculty members and offering a selection of presentations, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and informal opportunities to engage in discussions.
Since then, ITeach symposia have been held on a biannual basis during winter break. About 150 people attended the 2004 symposium.
The specific sessions for this year were chosen with the common theme of the process of designing and refining teaching, according to Atnip.
“The types of technologies discussed have been ‘field-tested’ by our faculty, and valuable feedback about their effectiveness and challenges will be presented,” she said. “Some of these examples include the aforementioned clickers in biology, the interactive SMART-boards in many classrooms and the Telesis course-management system developed by the University.”
For more information, a complete listing of the sessions or to register, go online to artsci.wustl.edu/~iteach/iteach2006.