News 2011: UMass Dartmouth faculty leveraging technology to enhance learning

News 2011: UMass Dartmouth faculty leveraging technology to enhance learning
UMass Dartmouth faculty leveraging technology to enhance learning

April 1 forum to feature "Educating the Net Generation" author

UMass Dartmouth faculty are constantly looking for new ways to leverage technology to enhance their teaching and will continue that effort April 1 by welcoming one of the nation's leaders in educating the "net generation" to campus to discuss emerging trends in higher education teaching. 

In 2010, UMass Dartmouth received a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to develop blended learning on campus. This opportunity, according to Academic Director of Online Education Jen Riley, demonstrates how the campus is "investing in faculty development, which in turn is bringing curricular innovations into the classroom using technology that not only engages students, but enhances their learning experience." 

Charles Dziuban, the Director of the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Central Florida (UCF), will present a lecture entitled, "Technology Enhanced Learning: Opportunities and Challenges" at the University's Woodland Commons on April 1 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dziuban's presentation, which will focus on blended learning practices and trends, is part of the first annual Teaching and Technology conference featuring faculty work in blended and online teaching. 

Dr. Dziuban, a faculty member since 1970 at UCF, received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.  Since 1996, he has directed the impact evaluation of UCF's distributed learning initiative, examining student and faculty outcomes as well as gauging the impact of online courses on UCF.   

He has published in numerous journals including Multivariate Behavioral Research, The Psychological Bulletin, Educational and Psychological Measurement, the American Education Research Journal, the Phi Delta Kappan, the Internet in Higher Education, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, and the Sloan-C View. 

In 2000, Chuck was named UCF's first ever Pegasus Professor for extraordinary research, teaching, and service. He has co-authored or contributed to numerous books and chapters on blended and online learning including Handbook of Blended Learning Environments, Educating the Net Generation, and Blended Learning: Research Perspectives, which he also co-edited. In 2005, Chuck received the Sloan Consortium award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an Individual. In 2007 he was appointed to the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy Policy Council. In November of 2011, he was named an inaugural fellow of the Sloan-C Consortium. 

For more information contact Jeannette E. Riley, Ph.D., 508.999.8279. jen.riley@umassd.edu