"Engaging the Learner "
12th Annual
Instructional Technology Conference
April 1-3, 2007

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2007 Featured Speakers

• George Strawn , National Science Foundation’s Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Richard Van Eck , Graduate Director of Instructional Design and Technology at the University of North Dakota (UND) 
• Ron Bleed , Vice-Chancellor Emeritus for the Maricopa Community Colleges

George Strawn
"Change: the constant of modern times "
Historians tell us that the human world has experienced more change in the last 200 years than in the previous 5000.  And perhaps the next 100 years will produce (at least) as much change as the last 200. In this talk, I will focus on "big changes", including the revolutionary changes wrought by IT in the last 50 years.  I will also speculate on how IT may affect the Learning industry and learners in the next 50 years.  In this discussion, the future of the education industry will be compared and contrasted with the history of the agriculture industry.

As the National Science Foundation’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Dr. George O. Strawn guides the agency in the development and design of innovative information technology—working to enable NSF staff and the international. Since joining the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1991, Dr. Strawn has served NSF in numerous roles. For the four years prior to his appointment as CIO, Dr. Strawn worked in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), serving three years as the Executive Officer and one year as the Acting Assistant Director. From 1995 through 1998 he was Director of the CISE Division of Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research where, among other things, he led NSF's efforts in the Presidential Next Generation Internet Initiative, an initiative that created the first national high performance network testbed.

Notably, Dr. Strawn was the NSFNET Program Director from 1991 to 1993, overseeing the progression of the NSFNET backbone network from DS-1 capacity to become the first national DS-3 Internet network. From 1993 to 1995, he continued in a part-time capacity with NSF and was involved with defining and deploying the "new" (privatized) Internet architecture.

Prior to working at NSF, Dr. Strawn was a computer science faculty member at Iowa State University (ISU) for a number of years, where he also held several administrative positions. From 1986 to 1995 he served as Director of the ISU Computation Center. Dr. Strawn also has held several positions in the computer industry and has worked as an information technology consultant in both private industry and government. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from Iowa State University and an undergraduate degree from Cornell College.

Richard Van Eck
"Digital Game-Based Learning and the Future of Education: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Getting Restless"

Does the growing use of games in learning signal a new pedagogical approach to educating the Net Generation, or are we mistaking the medium for the message as we did 30+ years ago with media in the classroom? Many argue that the Net Generation uses and interacts with media in ways that are incompatible with existing traditional classroom models. Digital game-based learning (DGBL) may be both compatible with Net Gen-ers AND represent one of the most effective technology-based learning paradigms. But what does it mean to integrate DGBL in the classroom? We’ll examine the theory and rationale behind the effectiveness of games; what the past can teach us about if, how, and when to implement DGBL; and what doing so will mean for our schools.

Richard Van Eck grew up surrounded by books and technology. He always felt that technology was a useful tool, but not a field of study. It wasn’t until he had completed his master’s degree in English and was working as the program director for the Media Arts and Communication program that he recognized his interest in technology as a learning tool was becoming more like a vocation and that he was mastering the tools but not necessarily the process of technology integration. His experiences with books, games, and technology over the years had gradually awakened in him a deep belief that school could (and should) be as engaging, rewarding, and effortful as reading books or playing games, and that technology could play a role in this.

After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of South Alabama, he worked at the University of Memphis where he continued and expanded his research on games, learning, and interactive media. He became a member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems in the FedEx Institute of Technology. While at Memphis, he also served as the committee chair for the Center for Multimedia Arts and conducted research on the ability of games in public education to change attitude toward technology, mathematics, and science for girls. He currently serves as the Graduate Director of Instructional Design and Technology at the University of North Dakota (UND). He redesigned the curriculum to align the master’s programs with national standards, including the creation of nine new courses and a certificate program, and put both degrees and the certificate online as hybrid learning environments that use video and audio conferencing for real-time course sessions and a CMS developed by UND for asynchronous course sessions.

Over the years, Dr. Van Eck has collaborated and developed many award-winning educational games and products. He has become internationally known for his research on digital game-based learning. He continues research and development on game-based learning projects more recently including a study of video game play on visual processing and performance in air traffic control operators, and development of an air pollution educational game tied to the national science standards.

Ron Bleed
" Engaging the Learner by Designing New Spaces"
Engaging the Learner by Designing New Spaces

Ron Bleed is the former Vice-Chancellor of Information Technologies for the Maricopa Community Colleges. Prior to being named Vice Chancellor, Dr. Bleed served in the role of CIO and executive for one of the largest higher education systems in the country for twenty-five consecutive years.

Dr. Bleed received the highest leadership award “Excellence in Leadership” from EDUCAUSE in 2005, was elected as Chair of the EDUCAUSE Board for two terms, started the League for Innovation’s computer conference, and facilitated the merger of CAUSE and EDUCOM into EDUCAUSE. Dr. Bleed conducted the original research that identified the high concentration of enrollments in the “top 25” courses which brought focus to strategies for instructional innovation. He was an early promoter of the concept of “hybrid” courses through writings, presentations, and communities of interest. He also conducted early research and brought awareness to the reality that the biggest barrier to student success because of life interruptions is the traditional course schedule. Dr. Bleed is also noted for his writings about designing new social learning spaces.

Over the years, Dr. Bleed has been appointed to corporate advisory councils at Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Adobe, DEC, AT&T, Information Associates, ORACLE.