UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An expert who studies technology’s effects on higher education will give Penn State online instructors a look into the future of academia with the keynote address at the annual Penn State World Campus Faculty Convocation on Sept. 26.
Bryan Alexander, former senior fellow at the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, will explore trends across technology, education, economics and politics to build scenarios about what’s to come in online higher education. The talk, titled “Dystopias and How to Avoid Them: From the Present to the Future of Higher Education,” is set for 8:45 a.m. in the Dean’s Hall of The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.
The talk is one of several sessions on the theme of the future of higher education.
“This is the best time in human history to be a learner,” said Alexander, who also compiles the monthly newsletter Future Trends in Technology and Education. “It's also one of the most challenging times in recent history to be a teacher.”
This year’s Faculty Convocation is the fourth annual for the event, which is supported by World Campus to offer resources and training to its online teaching community. Registration is free.
Sessions consist of workshops for using Penn State Web tools such as Box, Sites and screen-casting for online videos. Other sessions will explore contemporary faculty topics, such as student conduct and student research.
“The Penn State World Campus Faculty Convocation is a gathering around the trends and ideas of online teaching and learning,” said Andrew Tatusko, assistant director for faculty development at World Campus and an organizer of the event. “It offers online faculty an opportunity to gather together with teaching and learning practitioners from the Penn State community and beyond.”
Alexander’s keynote address is supported by the Penn State Center for Online Innovation in Learning and is one of the lectures in the center’s Fischer Speakers Series.
The schedule of sessions and registration information is available online at http://wcfd.psu.edu/?p=1501.