Introduction
Lucinda Lea, 1997 Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference Co-Chair
In the midst of the first Mid-South Instructional
Technology Conference a year ago, those of us involved in planning the conference
found it such an exciting and rewarding experience that we began thinking
about doing it again in 1997. Adding to the momentum for a second annual
conference was the fact that the conference participants that first year
found their experience a very positive and valuable one.
The 1997 Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference has proved equally
exciting, providing an opportunity for many of the region's dedicated and
innovative higher education professionals to come together and share ideas
and expertise. Rethinking Teaching and Learning Through Technology, this
year's conference theme, articulates our belief both in technology's role
as a tool for education and in the basic reexamination of teaching and learning
that this tool necessitates.
Middle Tennessee State University and Southeast Missouri State University
are once again sponsoring the conference as a team effort, providing a stimulating
environment for exploring new ideas and possibilities for teaching and learning.
Our partnership was formed out of the American Association for Higher Education
(AAHE) Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable program. A conference
highlight this year is a special workshop introducing Teaching, Learning,
and Technology Roundtables that will be conducted by Steven Gilbert, director
of technology projects at AAHE.
At the Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference, University, college,
community college, and K-12 faculty, librarians, and administrators discuss
and demonstrate the impact of emerging information technologies on the education
process. Participants gain insight and share knowledge in more than 50 concurrent
sessions offered in the eight tracks of Assessing the Effectiveness of Technology
in Teaching and Learning, Distance Learning/ITV, Faculty Development, Harnessing
the Web for Instruction and Research, Instructional Technology Case Studies,
The Internet: An Electronic Course Delivery System, Technology and Pedagogy,
and University/K-12 Partnerships in Instructional Technology. Also offered
are interactive workshops, electronic demonstrations, and three featured
speakers.
In the keynote address, Burks Oakley II, professor in the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering and the associate director of the Sloan
Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), discusses the program at UIUC in which networked
computers are used to implement innovative teaching and learning environments,
providing increased access to learning materials and to people. This new
approach to teaching and learning has been termed Asynchronous Learning
Networks (ALN).
In The Web: A Classroom Sans Walls, featured speaker Alistair B. Fraser,
professor of meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University, discusses
how the delivery of course material has changed forever as two roads--access
and animation--converge. Fraser poses such questions as how the development
of high-quality interactive resources available via avenues such as the
World Wide Web will affect the evolution of the teaching profession and
what the consequences of publishing pedagogical resources on the Web may
be.
The plenary session conducted by AAHE's Steven Gilbert, Certificates, Chips,
and Sweatshirts--Education, Technology, and Change, provides an overview
of national trends and recommends strategies for using information technology
more cost-effectively and thoughtfully to improve teaching and learning.
These proceedings give a comprehensive view of the excellent presentations
of the 1997 Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference. Dennis Holt,
conference co-chair, and I thank all the attendees, presenters, and staff
whose work, interest, and enthusiasm make this conference such a rewarding
experience.