February 23, 2006

Purdue conference to highlight advances in educational technology

Conference presentations, most of which will be made in Stewart Center, will revolve around the theme "Transforming the Learning Experience." Presenters will showcase how advances in technology encourage active learning, increase student engagement and redefine what it means to be in the classroom, said conference coordinator Jody Reigel.

The conference includes tours of the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization. Workshops will explain how the virtual reality environment harnesses multiple technologies to translate massive amounts of data into formats easily understood by humans, thus helping researchers and educators become significantly more effective.

Panel discussions will include detecting plagiarism, improving the effectiveness of online distance education and using interactive "clickers" in the classroom. Purdue has equipped the majority of its classrooms to make use of the remote-control-like devices that allow students to give instructors instant answers to questions and receive real-time feedback to their responses.

"Purdue has repeatedly forged a leadership role in such technologies," said John Campbell, Purdue associate vice president for teaching and learning technologies. "By sharing successes with fellow educators within Purdue and throughout the world, we will be able to more efficiently reshape how education is conducted. This conference is also an opportunity to import the best practices developed by others."

During his keynote speech, North Carolina State physics professor Robert J. Beichner will describe how the use of instructional computer animations and other technologies are changing education. Beichner will speak at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Stewart Center, Room 322.

Based on instructional models introduced at universities with small class sizes, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Beichner's Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs model has been replicated at dozens of universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Instead of using the typical lecture/lab format, introductory physics classes are taught in studio workshops that allow teams of students to engage in activity-based instruction that involves collaborating with peers on interesting tasks and interacting with faculty. Beichner says the project tackles problems associated with large lecture courses, including low attendance rates, low student retention, poor conceptual understanding and poor problem-solving skills.

The ninth annual conference is sponsored by Teaching & Learning Technologies, a division of Information Technology at Purdue. The division includes the Instructional Development Center that promotes the use and development of teaching and learning technologies though services such as faculty consulting, faculty training, teaching and learning grants, and outreach and communication.

"Our TLT area works very hard to identify technologies that have a positive effect in the classroom," said Bart Collins, director of instructional development. "While technology in and of itself might be considered "cool," the main goal and end result is improving education by allowing students to learn material in a variety of ways."

The conference is free and open to anyone with an interest in instructional technologies. Last year, the conference attracted more than 600 attendees and 22 corporate sponsors from across the country. Conference information, including a schedule and how to register, is available online.

Corporate sponsors, such as Adobe Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Development Co., Sun Microsystems Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Dell Inc., Gateway Inc., eInstruction Corp. and WebCT Inc. will be on hand to demonstrate their products.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@aol.com

Sources: John Campbell, (765) 494-1289, john-campbell@purdue.edu

Jody Reigel, (765) 496-6788, jody@purdue.edu

Bart Collins, (765) 496-3685, bcollins@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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