Ohio Chancellor Eric Fingerhut to Speak at UC Higher Education/Technology Conference

Technology and the “give and take” it engenders on college campuses will be the focus of a national conference, titled “Vision2020,” to be held on the University of Cincinnati campus campus August 6-8, 2008. The conference is sponsored by UC and Apple, Inc.
 
A complete roster of conference presentations is available online, but highlights include
 

• An address, delivered electronically by Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, on technology in higher education as it affects Ohio, to be delivered at 9:05 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 6.

• Keynote by Angus King, former governor of Maine, who developed a program to provide a laptop computer to every 7th- and 8th- grader in the state, so as to help those students become the most computer literate in the world. Also speaking are UC President Nancy L. Zimpher; Larry Johnson, CEO of New Media Consortium, which includes 250 world-class universities, colleges, museums, research centers, and technology companies; and Chad Wick, president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks Foundation.

• Technology’s impact on design education and work will be addressed by UC’s Anton Harfmann, associate dean in UC's nationally and internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. A significant example he will employ is the university’s student-built solar house that was exhibited last year on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

• Technology’s impact on research presentation and information sharing via online journals, to be presented by UC’s Mike Zender, associate professor of design.

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s development, deployment and long-term visions for MIT Mobile designed to provide information and services anytime, anywhere.

• The nuts and bolts of how the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism is transforming instructional operations based on technology.

• The University of Maryland’s pilot to provide 200 freshmen with iPod touch devices this fall to deliver academic content, emergency management and mapping. Similarly, Abilene Christian University will provide an iPhone or iPod touch to every incoming freshman this fall and will report on making such an effort work from the perspective of an educator, administrator and IT professional.

• The University of South Florida’s College of Education has uploaded more than 3,400 educational podcasts, and these digital resources have been accessed by educators throughout the world. USF is now expanding this effort university wide.

• Education majors at Ball State University produced videos of their teachers’ performance (videotaping their own teachers in the classroom) as a feedback mechanism to their own instructors. 
   

Represented will be universities and colleges from across the country, coming together to present and discuss their innovative uses of Apple technology for instruction in regionally, nationally and internationally recognized programs related to design, education, journalism and more. In addition, participants will report on best practices regarding technology as a tool in emergency management and communication.
 
“UC is hosting the Vision 2020 conference because of the international stature of a number of our programs on campus, programs that seek out the ‘easiest-for-students-and-teachers-to-use’ technology," said UC's Anton Harfmann of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). "We're thrilled to participate and learn from the other presenters as we all share our visions for how technology will help enhance teaching and learning in the future."

In discussing technology’s impact on design education, Harfmann will provide examples from within the established curriculum and special projects to be found at UC. For instance, he said, “When we built a solar house on campus, we abandoned traditional architectural models early on in the process. We instead developed very detailed digital models, designed down to every beam, screw and bolt. When in the building phase, the students would be on site with their laptops opened constantly. The only reason the house worked in the end – with all its new uses of solar-related technology – was because of the precision of the digital plans and models. That’s just one example of the intense mark of the digital on a physical design project.”

He added that working in the two environments – the digital and the physical – is a challenge often leading to both creative tension and, ultimately, creative success.

Other participating colleges, universities and companies will include

• Florida Community College, Jacksonville, Fla. 
• Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla. 
• Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan. 
• Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles 
• KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Cincinnati 
• New Media Consortium, Austin, Tex. 
• Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City 
• The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 
• San Jose State University, San Jose, Calif. 
• The University of the Arts, Philadelphia 
• The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. 
• Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va. 

• Visit the “Vision2020” conference home page 
• Register for the conference