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DSU Participates in Online Conference

Madison -- For some people, attending a conference means traveling by car or plane, staying in a hotel, and sitting in conference rooms, discussing issues face to face with others in your field. Not so, for Lisa Wilcox, DSU’s Learning Technology Consultant, and Mark Haas, professor for the College of Liberal Arts. Last week, the two participated in the second annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference – "Trends and Issues in Online Instruction". The conference was expected to draw over 1600 participants nation-wide and, although it was managed in Hawaii, the conference was conducted entirely online. Participants chose from many selections, including listserv forums, reading papers, and watching online presentations.

Although sponsored by community colleges, this conference focused on many issues that are facing Dakota State University. DSU’s newly established Distance Education Office is working hard to develop state-of-the-art programs and help instructors and professors make a smooth transition to teaching online.

Wilcox spent three days monitoring a forum, "Easing the Transition to Alternative Delivery: A Forum for Learning Technologists." Her forum focused on issues such as: What technology helps in transition? What are the changes in pedagogy? What kind of fits are there between pedagogy and technology? She had over fifty people signed up for her forum.

"The forum was conducted over a listserv for three days. My role was to facilitate discussion on these issues by asking questions, keeping people on topic, and putting forth additional topics of discussion," said Wilcox, "A major theme was how to support faculty in their distance education/alternative delivery efforts. The gist of this discussion points to different levels of support for different environments. Much of this revolves around training. I think the faculty want a hands on role in the creation of their classes, and we need to make sure that they have the training and the tools to do the hands on."

Haas, on the other hand, presented his paper "Growing A Culture: Analyzing Computer Communication in the Academy Through Genre." Participants were invited to analyze his paper and provide comments.

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