Archive for the ‘CIC’ Category

Jeff Swain at Purdue’s TLT Symposium

Earlier this week we asked Jeff Swain to attend the CIC LTI Committee meeting on the campus of Purdue University. Typically either John Harwood or I attend, but given travel schedules we asked Jeff to go and represent PSU. Reading his thoughts and reflections it sounds as if the CIC LTI grou is thinking about a lot of the same things we are … particularly as they relate to LMS/CMS issues and the fallout from the BlackBoard patent ruling. The best part for me reading Jeff’s report were his opening thoughts …

I attended my first CIC Learning Technology team meeting yesterday and I came away with two major impressions. First, I was proud to see how much Penn State, and ETS, has to offer. The education technology units at other Big 10 schools are very interested in what we’re doing and they are closely watching our progress as we navigate the web 2.0 world, which is now in its adolescence and, therefore, experiencing the typical growing pains as it moves from infancy to adulthood. Second, I was excited to see how much we can learn from watching what the other CIC schools are doing. We’re all reading the same tea leaves, making decisions based on our interpretations, and implementing a plan of action. All in the name of improving the teaching and learning experience.

I know that when I have attended these meetings in the past I feel the same way and am always trying to think of ways to meaningfully connect with peers at other Institutions. The other thing Jeff is doing while he is at Purdue is attending their TLT Symposium to learn from what they are up to. Jeff is currently serving as the program chair for our own Symposium and will take over as the overall chair next year. He seems to be learning quite a bit and has been doing some podcast interviews with the people he is meeting there. He talks microblogging, spends time with Ed Evans of Purdue, and Albert Simon from Marshall University. All worth a listen.

CIC TechForum

Several members of ETS visited Indianapolis to take part in the CIC TechForum 2007 conference.  This two day event brings together schools from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation to look at professional development, emerging technologies, and other issues facing the IT organizations within the organization.  It is always a good thing to spend time working with colleagues from around the country thinking and talking about how we can move our collective agendas forward.

In the coming days, we’ll post links to the presentations given by ETS staff.

Off to the CIC Learning Technologies Conference

As Jeff Swain points out over at the ANGEL Community Hub, many ETS staffers are off to the CIC Learning Technologies Conference this week. We are well represented and will hopefully provide some great insight into the types of things ETS is doing to support teaching and learning with technology. I am sorry I cannot attend as I am still on “new baby house arrest” and not traveling like that … here’s to hoping the folks out in Minnesota are podcasting their sessions! From Jeff’s post: