EDUCAUSE vice president to speak at SU on the ‘Net Generation’

EDUCAUSE vice president to speak at SU on the ‘Net Generation’February 16, 2007Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

EDUCAUSE Vice President Diana G. Oblinger will present “Educating Students of the Net Generation” Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. in the Kilian Room, Room 500 of the Hall of Languages. Her presentation is co-sponsored by SU’s Information Technology and Services and Office of Faculty Development, and is the kick-off event for the Spring 2007 FACSS Focus Series. FACSS Focus highlights current topics and best practices in instructional technology. Oblinger’s lecture is open to the campus community.

Oblinger will discuss ways to engage technology-savvy students who listen to iPods and talk on cell phones while walking across campus and for whom multi-tasking is defined as Googling, text messaging, IMing or playing online games while listening to a class lecture, doing homework or hanging out with friends. The presentation will help participants find ways to better understand and respond to the needs of their “plugged-in” learners.

A national leader in teaching and learning with technology, Oblinger has held positions in business and academia, serving as vice president for information resources and chief information officer for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, on the faculties of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Michigan State University, as Microsoft’s executive director of higher education and as director of IBM’s Institute for Academic Technology.

She has received awards for outstanding teaching and research, is the author or co-author of dozens of articles, co-editor of six books and co-author of “What Business Wants from Higher Education” (American Council on Education/Oryx Press, 1998), which received the 1999 Frandson Award for best literature in continuing education.

In addition to Oblinger’s presentation, the Spring 2007 FACSS Focus series will include three workshops:

• “Getting Published through Blogs,” March 6 at 2:30 p.m., presented by Mark Trodden, alumni associate professor of physics in The College of Arts and Sciences;
• “Building Interactivity Into Instruction,” March 21 at 1:30 p.m., presented by Susan Long, associate professor of managerial statistics in the Whitman School of Management and director of the TRAC Research Center in the Whitman School and the Newhouse School, and A. Randall Wenner, director of broadcast journalism facilities in the Newhouse School; and
• “Digital Storytelling Using E-Portfolios,” April 3 at 1:30 p.m., presented by Sean Kessler, instructional technology analyst in the School of Education.

The three workshops will be presented in Room 272 of Newhouse II. Registration information for the workshops is available on the Web at http://www-fcms.syr.edu (click on “faculty development”) or by calling 443-2604.