Teaching and Learning with Technology

Technology Day 2004 -- Engaging Student Learners

March 31st was Technology Day at BMCC.What a day it was! The multi-faceted conference was co-sponsored by the TLC’s sub-committee on technology

>> Video of the event
(Real Player)
>> Event Program
>> Event Flyer

along with representatives from Title III, The Visible Knowledge Project (VKP), Distance Learning, the Office of Instructional Technology, and the Media Center.

The conference, aptly titled “Engaging Student Learners”, showcased the “best of the best” in terms of technology use in the classroom at BMCC.There were twenty Electronic Poster Sessions where faculty from departments across the campus demonstrated their innovative uses of Blackboard, Electronic Graphics, Student Videos, Primary Historical Documents on the Internet, and more, to a lab packed with fascinated and indeed engaged faculty and staff. At the same time, in another lab, Electronic Information tables were staffed by representatives from a plethora of departments and initiatives including Career Development, the Disabilities Office, Distance Learning, and the Helpdesk.

The centerpiece of the conference was the keynote address by Dr. Frank Moretti, Executive Director of the Center for New Media Center for Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. Undaunted by technology glitches, Dr. Moretti spoke eloquently and passionately about the history of technology use in the classroom. He talked about the model used at Columbia, whereby faculty from across the campus integrate technology into their courses in consultation with the Center.The audience was able to see the fruits of this type of collaboration on screen as he displayed a literature course that integrated chapters of the reading so that students engage both lecture notes and the actual text on the same screen.

Dr. Moretti then moderated a panel of our own technology innovators. Sharona Levy, Nannete Van Loon, and Mete Kok spoke about and demonstrated their uses of Blogs, PowerPoint, and Net meeting technologies. Technology Day was a resounding success. It is all too rare that faculty are afforded the opportunity to learn about the pedagogically innovative and creative activities of our colleagues. That, combined with the dynamic and stimulating keynote address, remind this writer that the ground is fertile here—and that all of us, faculty and staff, need more opportunities such as this.

-Lisa Rose, Social Sciences and Distance Learning