Ken Niemi
Vice Chancellor/Chief Information Officer
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
Keynote Speakers
Connectives and Collectives: Learning Alone, Together
George Siemens
Monday July 21st, 2008
9:00 – 10:00 AM
The continued popularity of social learning theory is augmented by the recent development of participative technologies such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Learners can readily access and contribute to the concepts and ideas of others. Most educational institutions are concerned with evaluating the activities of individuals, rather than the activities of "the many". This session will explore how learners and educators can form learning networks, striking a balance between learning as individuals and learning in groups. Emphasis will be placed on a) changes to how information is created, shared, and disseminated, and b) how connections with other learners and educators are formed with the aid of technology.
George Siemens is Associate Director of Research and Development with the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. He is the founder and President of Complexive Systems Inc. (www.complexive.com), a learning lab focused on integrated learning structures to meet global strategy needs. George is a prominent writer and researcher on learning, networks, technology and organizational effectiveness in digital environments. He is the author of Knowing Knowledge, an exploration of ways the context and characteristics of knowledge have changed and what it means to organizations today. He maintains www.elearnspace.org, www.knowingknowledge.com, and www.connectivism.ca. George is an international speaker and consultant, detailing the changes universities, colleges, and corporations must make in order to address the challenges of an increasingly complex world. Additional background information is available at this site: http://www.elearnspace.org/about.htm.
Beyond Essays: Web 2.1 and the World of the Multimedia Collage - Kids, Digital Tools and Art the 4th R
Jason Ohler
Wednesday July 23rd, 2008
8:30 - 10:00 AM
Question: What kinds of literacies do students need to be able to work, innovate and communicate in the modern world?
Answer: Whatever literacies enable them to "write" whatever media they "read" so they can be active media creators rather than passive media consumers. Whether students are learning onsite or online, literacy has always meant being able to consume and produce the media forms of the day, whatever they may be. For centuries this has meant essays and reports filled with words and paragraphs. Now these compete and collaborate with images, sounds, music, video, and other media that has given birth to the new communication default: the multimedia collage, including web pages, digital stories, and even PowerPoint presentations. We need to help our youth migrate from text centrism to media collage literacy, from a largely text centric Web 2.0 to Web 2.1, which integrates visuals and other art forms into everyday language. To do this, art must become the 4th R and the story form must be used as a key communication form.
This keynote provides an overview of the move to media collage literacy, and includes several examples of student produced digital stories and new media narrative.
Dr. Jason Ohler is a speaker, writer, teacher, researcher, and lifelong digital humanist who is well known for the passion, insight, and humor he brings to his presentations, projects and writings. He has been an online teacher since the early 1980s and works both online and in classrooms at home and internationally to help students develop digital stories, new media narrative and the literacies they need in the digital age. His new book, 'Digital Storytelling in the Classroom', reminds us that he is first and foremost a storyteller, telling tales of the future that are grounded in the past.
"The goal is the effective, creative, and wise use of technology... to bring together technology, community, and learning in ways that work. And while we are at it, to have fun."