UCSC To Participate In All University Conference On Technology In Education

Nearly 20 members of the campus community will travel to Los Angeles next week to attend the All University Conference (AUC) on Teaching, Learning, and the New Technologies.

Taking place March 25-26 at UCLA, the conference will bring together faculty, administrators, students, as well as library, computing, and instructional development staff from each of UC’s nine campuses.

Those attending will discuss the possibilities and challenges faced by each campus in incorporating new information and communications technologies into the heart of the teaching mission.

The conference provides an opportunity to "generate momentum for instructional technology at UCSC by shining the spotlight on what’s happening here already and focusing energy on how best to adapt and utilize the technology in our environment," said Fred Siff, associate vice chancellor for Communications and Technology Services.

A main goal of the UCSC contingent is to find ways to "communicate the message that technology in teaching and learning has changed in the last few years and is no longer limited to just remedial instruction or CD-ROMs," Siff wrote in a letter to the UCSC planning group after the campus’s first planning dinner in February.

"Academic courses now increasingly include e-mail lists, class newsgroups, course Web sites, and multimedia term papers, all of which have the potential to increase the level of interaction among academic course participants–the human dimension that is often considered missing when technology is involved–as well as between course participants and course materials," Siff wrote.

The conference will be used as a springboard into related programs, information sessions, and exhibits to be launched at UCSC in the spring and fall.

Some of the ideas being discussed are:

• An educational forum where those who attended the conference will share what they’ve learned with members of the campus community.
• A "Cyber Quarter" in fall 1997, with awards for faculty who use the new technology in teaching; an instructional software exhibit or demonstrations by UCSC faculty; and educational components in a number of classes about the impact of the new information technology on society.
• A survey of current efforts to use instructional technology on campus.

Attending the conference for UCSC will be Chancellor Greenwood; Executive Vice Chancellor Michael Tanner; Roger Anderson, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Susie Barber, Instructional Computing; Jim Bierman, Theater Arts Department; Jan Dickens, Media Services; Jorge Hankamer, Division of Humanities; William Hyder, Social Sciences Division; Galen Jarvinen, Planning and Budget; Tim Johnson, University Extension; Patrick Mantey, Board of Studies in Computer Engineering; Susan Schwartz, Department of Earth Sciences; Fred Siff, Communications and Technology Services; Trish Stoddart, Board of Studies in Education; Eileen Tanner, Teaching Support Office; and M. Victoria Gonzalez-Pagani, Language Program. In addition, Charles McDowell, chair of the Board of Studies in Computer Science, and UCSC student Jocelyn Phegan will speak on a panel about their experiences with technology in a variety of teaching and learning settings. Beth Riddle, director of Instructional Computing, is on the technical advisory committee for the conference.