Oct 18, 2018 | Home Page, Uncategorized
Author of four New York Times bestselling books, Dan Heath will deliver the keynote address at the 2019 Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology.
Symposium is scheduled for Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. It is a free event for all Penn State faculty, students, and staff.
Keynote speaker Dan Heath
Dan, along with his brother Chip Heath, has co-authored four of the most-read business books of the last decade. Including their most recent work, The Power of Moments—an exploration of why certain experiences can jolt, elevate, and change people, the Heath brothers’ books have sold over two million copies and been translated into 33 languages.
A senior fellow at Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Dan Heath has given keynotes for leaders in government, healthcare, defense, and business across 26 countries and six continents. In 2013, he was named one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company Magazine and was ranked among the 50 most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50.
Heath’s keynote address is presented in partnership with Penn State University Libraries.
The Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology annually brings together ideas and people with the power to transform education. The day’s events include presentations, discussions, networking, awards, and more.
Registration for the 2019 Symposium is now open.
Oct 5, 2018 | Home Page
Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State is excited to introduce its four TLT Faculty Fellows for the 2018-19 academic year—David Hunter, Kathryn W. Jablokow, Karen Kackley-Dutt, and Alan Wagner.
“We have a sensational group of Faculty Fellows this year. They are exceptional scholars in their respective disciplines, and their innovative ideas have the power to create positive change at Penn State and beyond,” said Kyle Bowen, director of innovation with TLT. “Our staff is eager to support their projects and help bring them to life.”
This year the TLT Faculty Fellows were chosen from dozens of applicants. Each fellow will work for one year with a dedicated team of TLT staff in order to realize the goals set forth by each of their projects. The undertakings by this year’s fellows include topics covering data science, digital fluency, immersive experiences, and robotics.
David Hunter – Data Science
A professor of statistics in the Eberly College of Science at University Park, Hunter aims to mobilize a data science community encompassing all of Penn State.
“Data science has developed into a discipline that influences nearly all modern academic fields,” Hunter said. “Despite its pervasive reach at Penn State, we are lacking a cohesive presence that can bring together faculty and students who are working toward similar goals.”
His project intends to deliver a web presence that will aggregate all the data science activities throughout the University and publicize programs that are ready to accept students. Additionally, Hunter plans to create a database of faculty members that would enable students interested in data science to locate scholars within their disciplines.
Kathryn W. Jablokow – Digital Fluency
Digital fluency is commonly understood as the ability to use technology to create new knowledge, while also using problem solving to resolve challenges brought about by that knowledge. At Penn State Great Valley, Jablokow, professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering, wants to help instructors avoid reinventing materials designed to develop students’ fluency in creative thinking and problem-solving.
“As someone who has taught in the domain of creativity from an engineering perspective at University Park and Great Valley for more than 25 years combined, I’ve observed this pattern time after time. A faculty member wants to encourage creative thinking in their classroom and hurriedly creates materials to do so. However, they don’t realize that something similar already exists within another department or campus at Penn State,” she said.
In order to disrupt that pattern, Jablokow aspires to create a “Compendium of Creative Fluency” that will make concepts, practices, activities, and materials covering creative fluency available to all Penn State students and faculty. Additionally, because creative fluency is important across disciplines, the materials will be functional for all subjects.
Karen Kackley-Dutt – Immersive Experiences
Kackley-Dutt, a biology professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, believes that threats to Earth’s biomes—large regions that share similar climates and communities of organisms—can be neutralized, in part, by increased advocacy. To inspire new advocates, she will use her project to create immersive environments that let students experience far-away places through interactive 360-degree video and virtual reality.
“Marilyn Vos Savant stated that, ‘To acquire knowledge, one must study, but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.’ This project will provide students the chance to observe Earth’s biomes for themselves. By observing and virtually experiencing a variety of biomes they will become more connected to them,” said Kackley-Dutt.
Field researchers world-wide will help Kackley-Dutt compile resources for her immersive environments. They will receive Biome Boxes filled with cameras, tripods, instructions for using and returning the equipment, and recommended best practices.
Alan Wagner – Robotics
An assistant professor of aerospace engineering at University Park, Wagner wants to utilize robots in social situations, such as interactive games, to study their influence on ethical behavior in their human counterparts. His project intends to use findings from these studies to inform the development of explicit programming that can combat academic integrity issues in modern classrooms.
Research has shown that educators work in an environment where up to 30 percent of students attempt to use unpermitted technology-based resources on tests. Additionally, online services exist that offer to complete students’ academic work. Wagner and his team will explore how robotics, artificial intelligence, and targeted programming can slow the erosion of academic integrity.
“Our hope is that these systems can generate ‘nudges’ that encourage ethical behavior among students, or possibly cause them to reflect on the ethical implications of their actions,” Wagner said.
Sep 19, 2018 | Home Page
Save the date for Canvas Day 2019 on Friday, March 15, 2019, at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. We are interested in your ideas as we build our schedule of events.
What kind of teaching experiences do you want to hear about from your colleagues at the Canvas Day conference? Let us know your ideas by taking our brief survey.
If you are interested in presenting, we will make a call for session proposals in October. We will also open registration next month. See you in March!
