May's Session

The May 4th session, "Fajitas de Mayo," featured a menu in celebration of Cinqo de Mayo and a discussion of the future for educational technology. Jason Sparks, Director of Instructional Technology, led off with a report from the ECAR Study of Undergraduates that gave us a snap shot of where students are now with regard to the use of technology. We watched the Horizon Report video to see what that organization is predicting for technology usage in higher education--one year out, 2-3 years out, and 4-5 years out.

Reference Librarian Ruth Torstenson Le Masters gave examples of trends that are here already or will be within the year--the e-book and mobile technology--mashing these trends with some of the data in the College of 2020 Report. Carol Daul-Elhindi, Instructional Services Librarian, followed with a look at augmented reality and game-based learning, technologies that are expected to be main stream in 2-3 years, again tying these predictions to those made in the College of 2020 Report. Similarly, Spartz gave us a look at gesture based computing and learning analytics for a glimpse into what we might expect 4-5 years from now.




Greg Sobolewski, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Theology, talked about how Saint Mary's can engage future students not just to become competent users of technology and well equipped job seekers, but also to become spiritually sophisticated.

Marilyn Frost closed with congratulatory remarks for the attention faculty and staff have paid to these issues during the Chat Chow sessions, providing a wonderful end of the year wrap up for the sessions.

The Chat Chow team would like to thank all those who presented this year, as well as all those who attended the sessions. We are looking forward to a bringing you more programming next year. Watch for a survey coming around that will solicit your ideas for new topics, dates, times, etc.

Missed this session? Watch it now on Tegrity. Take a look at the Power Point here for links to more information about these new technologies (great U Tubes!)