Apple, MU work on conference.
The conference is sponsored to be useful for 'digital natives.'
April 3, 2007
Zach Fleer, a junior in the School of Natural Resources, points out a northern pintail to ornithology classmates flying above the Platte River on March 10 in Kearney, Neb. Fleer made the eight-hour trip to Nebraska with 25 other MU students to view the Sandhill Crane stopover point during their migration.
MU teamed up with Apple to help college campuses become more digital in the classroom to increase students' learning ability.
The conference, "Reaching and Teaching the Digital Native," began Monday and will continue through Wednesday.
The conference includes representatives from various campuses including the University of Texas-Austin, University of Michigan and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The conference is being held to help campuses alter the classroom experience to be more useful to what the conference leaders call the "digital natives," or students who have been raised in a world in which television, mobile phones, iPods and computers are omnipresent.
The three critical elements in creating a digital campus are leadership, faculty and curriculum transformation and engaging students, according to the invitation to the conference.
The conference is also an interactive experience, as it gave a chance for dialogue between the students and the campus officials trying to reach them.
The tables were turned as the students taught a lecture Monday night and the campus officials were in the auditorium seats taking notes of the lesson.
The students answered questions about students' ability to multitask and the ability to use technology to get students to better prepare for class.
The digital change is already occurring on many campuses, as they use online technology such as Blackboard and WebCT.
"I think it is pretty cool to see your teacher post and tell the student about the latest assignment," freshman Brian Mortensen said.
But not all students are happy with their campus's technological state.
Saint Louis University student Mary Beth Logue described one of her teachers as someone who uses yellow parliament paper.
"I felt like I took a step back in time," Logue said.
The resistance from the professors to use technology in the classroom affects the overall classroom experience for the students.
"Although no professor has told us we can't use our laptops, I have seen the discouragement of using it, especially in small classes," Mortensen said.
Other professors said they feel technology is important in maintaining openness in the relationship between students and teachers.
Randy Reeves, professor of professional practice in the MU School of Journalism, said technology helps the communication with students.
"The problem before was communication with students on a regular basis," Reeves said. "Laptops are huge because now I can operate beyond business hours to help students."
Although professors might feel as if students will not pay attention in class if students are allowed to use technology, Matthew Schmidt, an education technology specialist, said he feels technology could enhance the learning experience.
"When learners actively engage in technology to facilitate their learning, they retain more information," Schmidt said.
According to the conference, teachers who don't use technology sometimes hinder their students' performance in the classroom.
"Laptops were banned from my biology course," Logue said. "My teacher talked fast and went through notes faster. Typing is more convenient."
New technologies are being implemented in the classroom with the use of iTunes playing the dialogues between students in foreign language classes.
"When you have an iPod present when recording students, Spanish was spoken a whole lot more," Schmidt said.
Overall, the conference is meeting its goal in opening a way for various campuses to become more technologically advanced.
"I think it opens up some avenues for thinking about how to implement technology," said Ray Luechtefeld, assistant professor in Engineering Management Department at UM-Rolla.
More April 3, 2007 News Stories
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