Syllabus Conference on Technology in Higher Ed Features SCIL Speakers

Syllabus, the only monthly magazine that focuses exclusively on the use of technology in higher education, featured SCIL Director, Roy Pea and several staffers at its tenth annual conference in July 2003.

Conference attendees had the opportunity to see, feel and experience the latest education technology in action in Wallenberg Hall, home of SCIL.

The keynote address, High Performance Learning Environments: Dreams and Developments was delivered by SCIL Director, Roy Pea. In his address, Dr. Pea argued that while much emphasis in e-learning has elaborated uses of networks to support distance learning, we also must focus on the values of enhancing place based learning using collaborative computing and large displays for knowledge building, as well as embedded "take-the-pulse" assessment activities embedded in learning work. ( Presentation Slides in Quicktime)

Breakout sessions included:

Extreme Learning: Stanford’s Wallenberg Hall (Robert Emery Smith, Director, Technology Services, SCIL, Stanford University) discussed the design and evolution of the classrooms in Wallenberg Hall, home of three research organizations, fifteen traditional classrooms, and five advanced resource classrooms designed and operated by the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning.

Got Teaching? Faculty Using Innovative Classrooms (Dan Gilbert, Academic Technology Specialist, SCIL. Stanford University, and John B. Nash, Associate Director, Evaluation, SCIL, Stanford University) focused on the efficacy of advanced resource classrooms in support of faculty goals. Gilbert and Nash report on findings resulting from twenty weeks of observation in twenty courses and interviews with seven faculty members.

Exploring the Pedagogical Implications of Electronic Portfolios for Students, Faculty and Institutions (Helen Chen, Research Scientist, SCIL, Stanford University and Cynthia Mazow, Learning Designer, SCIL, Stanford University) This paper and outline described preliminary findings and ongoing research efforts on the pedagogical implications of e-portfolios for faculty, students, and institutions at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, and Vanderbilt University.

T13 Evaluating a Distance Learning Implementation (Reinhold Steinbeck, Associate Director, Learning Design, SCIL, Stanford University) In this breakout session, Steinbeck shared the design of a technology supported Distance Learning Initiative between Stanford’s Institute for International Studies and several Russian universities, and describe our evaluation that addresses the feasibility, costs, and student, instructor, and institution outcomes.

Dog 'n' Pony: Multiscreen Presentation Software (John Murray,Computing Systems Information Analyst) Dog 'n' Pony helps lecturers make presentations in technology-rich classrooms with multiple computer controlled displays. With Dog 'n' Pony, the lecturer controls a presentation at one screen and the Dog 'n' Pony software on each co-operating computer reacts by taking some event specific action which potentially updates its display

Models and Imaging in Archaeological Computing. (John Rick: Professor of Anthropological Sciences, and Claudia Engel: Academic Technology Specialist, Stanford University) featured a state-of-the-art classroom equipped with resources that enable students to collaboratively work on data and computing-intensive archaeology research projects and to prepare them for the complexity of their future work in the discipline.

Proteus: A Practical Application of Universal Design in Education (Shelley Haven and Allan Chen: Academic Technology Specialists, Stanford University) featured a system originally conceived to better accommodate students with disabilities and learning differences but now used to enhance the classroom experience for all students by allowing learners to choose how they interact with information.

Developing Visual Rhetoric (Corinne Arraez , Academic Technology Specialist, Stanford University) demonstrated the collaborative technology used by students in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric to develop visual rhetoric.

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