Track Descriptions

Teaching and Learning

Today’s 21st century students spend their entire lives surrounded by computers, videogames, and cell phones. They are digital natives but many are sitting in classrooms facing teaching from the early 20th century. Creating an environment to meet the needs of our students requires versatile methods and innovative techniques to ensure that all students achieve. In order to remain effective, instructors are in constant search of strategies and tools to improve their students’ academic experience while providing real-world relevance in our global society. This track is devoted to assisting faculty in that search and also stimulating discussion concerning instructional technology to enhance student learning.

Presentations in the Teaching and Learning track will explore ways technology can enhance traditional and non-traditional teaching and learning in higher education. Topics, focused on instruction to facilitate student learning, may include:

• Emerging and Innovative uses of Web 2.0 (and beyond) technology in the classroom
• Instructional Use of Audio/Video Podcasting
• Communicating with Blogs, Wikis, Nings and Forums
• 21st Century classrooms
• Distance learning: methods, technologies and assessment
• Connecting with the remote learner with the learning community
• Effective Uses of Course/Learning Management Systems
• Instructional design principles for online courses
• ADA compliancy strategies
• Professional Development to support teaching and learning
• Library Services
• Types of software packages that support teaching and learning in the mobile environment

Technology and Sustainability

Green IT: What does it mean? Colleges and Universities are always at the heart of new social, economic and cultural advancements. Sustainable technology will be no different. Technology is integral to our lives but how can we minimize the negative environmental impact of resource consumption and maintain the same or increased level of service and access? Managing the environmental impacts and the benefits of IT should be an imperative in every organization of the 21st century. Topics may include:

• Best practices and solutions
• Reducing energy consumption and e-waste
• How to know and manage your Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data center infrastructure efficiency (DCIE)
• Green hardware and software
• Optimization, virtualization and consolidation
• Hardware and software solutions
• Reallocation and proper disposal of end of life equipment and EPA considerations
• Telecommuting and its implications
• The cost of going green

Emerging Technologies:

Given the pace of technology innovation, keeping up with developments is often more than just a challenge. Networking and emerging technologies play an important role in the day-to-day administration of higher education’s information technology networks. What are potentially useful emerging technologies and practices that institutions can use to enhance existing systems or to aid in growth? Topics may include:

• Advanced networking and telecommunications, such as Internet2 and VoIP
• Middleware
• Streaming media
• Network infrastructure and equipment
• Wireless technology and management
• Bandwidth management
• World Wide Web and Web administration
• Web 2.0/3.0 and beyond
• Hosted computer services
• Cloud computing
• Grid computing technologies
• Portals
• Virtualization
• Content management systems
• Biometrics
• Types of hardware used in the educational setting
• Infrastructure or network needs to support mobile computing in higher education.

Getting the Message Out:

Communication and collaborative technologies are more important to institutions than ever with rapidly changing user expectations and an increasingly mobile campus community. Developing, finding, and using communication technologies require careful and thoughtful consideration to assure effective communication and collaboration. How can institutions, support staff, faculty and others use these technologies to increase communication, collaboration, and engagement with various campus constituencies? Topics may include:

• Web technologies – Web design, development, planning, usability, accessibility, writing, promotion
• Social networking technologies – social networks, blogs, wikis, forums, microblogging, social bookmarking
• Institution communication technologies and plans (including emergency, public relations, etc.)
• Multi-campus collaboration
• Web conferencing
• Instant messaging
• Campus Communication Technologies – IT forums, help-desk
• Podcasting and other audio/video communication
• Peer-to-peer technologies
• Impact on the IT organization
• Other related subject areas

Legal and Ethical Issues:

Computers in education open up global sources to the teaching and learning environment while also availing opportunities for copyright infringement, plagiarism and pushing the limits of the fair use doctrine. Conflicting needs between the dissemination and distribution of information and the legal and ethical parameters of copyrighted material present many legal and ethical questions on college campuses. The issue of privacy in the electronic environment also presents itself to this audience. Student information can be stored in online databases, in course management systems, and on network connected faculty computers.
How can the institution of higher education meet the legal and ethical demands of faculty and students in the 21st century? Topics may include:

• Copyright of online course materials
• Copyright infringement
• Intellectual property
• Fair use
• Ethical use policies
• Campus accountability for hosting student pages
• Technological control of illegal file sharing
• Images and text for in class vs. online use
• Distance education and transmission/broadcast technologies
• Student privacy law (FERPA) and student data
• Cheating
• Open source: what does it mean?
• Educating students about privacy in a digital and mobile age
• The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)