The Eighth Annual
Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium
You are warmly invited to attend the Eighth Annual Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) Symposium to be held Saturday, April 1, 2000, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Joab L. Thomas Building, University Park. The TLT Symposium is an annual forum for faculty to share ideas and techniques for improving teaching and learning through the use of information technology. The theme for this year's symposium is "Teaching and Learning with Technology: the Big Picture."
Sessions will cover a wide range of pertinent topics from the humanities to the sciences. "Theme" lunchrooms will be set up so that you may continue discussions related to morning presentations. An afternoon panel made up of students and faculty will compare and contrast the experiences of a face-to-face class with that of the totally virtual course.
Our keynote speaker will be Dr. William H. Graves, professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and CEO of Eduprise.com. Dr. Graves has significant experience working with institutions interested in creating strategies and plans for e-learning. As chairman and founder of Eduprise.com, he leads a group of higher education and technology experts whose objective is to help colleges and universities implement strategies for rapid transition to Web-enhanced and Web-based instruction. He is one of the foremost authorities on the role of the Internet in education.
For more information on the TLT Symposium, please see http://cac.psu.edu/training/TLT/, or contact the Training Group, Center for Academic Computing, by e-mail, seminars@psu.edu, or by phone, (814) 863-9522.
We are pleased to announce the Spring 2000 New Media Colloquia Series, sponsored by the Penn State New Media Centers and the Center for Academic Computing. Penn State faculty will present research and teaching activities, providing rich insights into their use of new media. The suggested format will be a half-hour presentation followed by an open forum discussion on the topic. Feel free to bring your lunch. Beverages will be provided.
Location: Room 141 Computer Bldg., University Park
Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
The series is open to any Penn State faculty, staff, or graduate student interested in seeing how Penn State faculty are using multimedia in their curriculum.
Seating is limited. Register on the Web at http://cac.psu.edu/training. A CAC Access ID is required for registration. The following talks are still available:
March 31: "Teaching 3D Computer Animation;"
April 28: "A Web-Based Learning Environment in Statistics"
For more information about the New Media Centers or the colloquia series, visit http://cac.psu.edu/nmc on the Web.
The Center for Academic Computing (CAC) provides a large number and variety of training programs for the University community including hands-on seminars, Web-based tutorials, lectures, and open houses. The seminars are held at various lab locations on week days and weekends and are offered throughout the year, from January to December. We encourage faculty, staff, and students to visit the CAC training page at http://cac.psu.edu/training and become familiar with all of our training options.
The weekday seminars are usually two to three hours in length, and cover a variety of computer related topics such as operating systems, databases, statistical analysis, basic and advanced Web courses, technology for the class room, UNIX, video, and animation. You can register for these seminars by following the Browse/Register link on the CAC training Web page. Weekend seminars are opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to learn basic topics such as Netscape, Eudora, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Web page design in an informal classroom setting. Anyone interested in attending a weekend seminar is welcome to walk-in. Weekend open houses give users the opportunity to drop in for one-on-one assistance with any of the following topics: Netscape, Eudora, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Web pages. No registration is required for either the weekend seminars or open houses.
In addition to hands-on seminars, University users can take advantage of over sixty Web-based tutorials. The tutorials are designed to make it possible for users to learn skills at their convenience from any location, including office work stations, home computers, or University computer labs. These tutorials direct users through hands-on exercises and simulations of actual applications with simple step-by-step instructions. There are two sets of tutorials. The "Penn State Quick Tutorials" are customized to the public computer labs and intended as a quick tool for those wishing to learn about software specific to the Penn State environment. The "In-Depth Licensed Tutorials" cover a variety of topics including Microsoft Office, HTML, and NT Administration. Each in-depth tutorial requires approximately eight hours to complete and offers optional pre and post assessments.
The training Web page at http://cac.psu.edu/training provides details on all of the programs mentioned in this article as well as valuable links to other on-line learning resources. The CAC also publishes fall and spring seminar brochures that provide much of this same information in print. The brochures can be found at the HUB information desk, the CAC public labs, and the CAC Help Desks during the beginning of fall and spring semesters.