Keynote Speaker
High Quality Learning: It's about Nature (technology) AND Nurture (pedagogy)
Curt Bonk
Indiana University, USA
Abstract:
Emerging technologies - such as electronic portfolios, blogs, wikis, podcasts, ebooks, digital object repositories, computer games and simulations, and wireless and mobile computing - are generating waves of new opportunities in higher education, K-12 schools, corporate training, and other learning environments. Higher education instructors, especially teacher educators, are always pressed for time and yet they encounter new technologies that they might incorporate into their teaching on a daily basis. Educational technologies, as genes are to human beings, instill a wondrous nature of possibilities for learning. However, this is an interactional model and, as any solid teacher educator knows, nurture is equally important. In fact, the effective use of these educational technologies involves far more than simply shoveling tutorials, readings, and slideshows onto a web site or deciding to use a new technology in one's teaching. Instructors must be trained how to motivate online students as well as how to address their individual learning styles and adjust learning methods and assessment to the learner-centered expectations of Generation X and millennial students. As enrollments in online courses surge, today's students - immersed in an increasingly digital world - are seeking richer and more engaging learning experiences. Amid the rising tide of expectations, instructors are exploring innovative ways to use technology to foster interaction, collaboration, and excitement for learning. The current debates about e-learning will not be won by technology advocates, promoters, and zealots, nor by those who are more hesitant, resistant, and reluctant to incorporate technologies into their teaching. One may get excited about nature (technology), while for others it is all about nurture (pedagogy). But, as this talk will show, it is both that matter. Neither nature nor nurture can be ignored.
Biographical Information:
Curt Bonk is a former corporate controller and CPA, who, after becoming sufficiently bored with that, received his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin. He is now Professor of Instructional Systems Technology and adjunct in the School of Informatics at Indiana University (IU). Dr. Bonk is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Advanced Distributed Learning Lab within the Department of Defense. He has received numerous teaching and mentoring awards from IU as well as the CyberStar Award from the Indiana Information Technology Association, the Most Outstanding Achievement Award from the U.S. Distance Learning Association, and the Most Innovative Teaching in a Distance Education Program Award from the State of Indiana. During the past two years, Dr. Bonk has presented more than 200 talks around the globe related to online teaching and learning, including ones at universities in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Finland, Ireland, Singapore, Spain, Iceland, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates. Curt has more than 150 publications on topics such as online learning pedagogy, massive multiplayer online gaming, collaborative technologies, synchronous and asynchronous computer conferencing, and frameworks for Web-based instruction and evaluation. His highly popular “Handbook of Blended Learning Environments: Global Perspectives, Local Designs,” was published by Pfeiffer Publishing in 2006. His upcoming book with Jossey-Bass titled, “A Web of Learning (Part I): 100+ Ideas for Online Learner Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing,” will explain his online learning preferences framework, R2D2. Finally, he is President of CourseShare and SurveyShare and can be contacted at cjbonk@indiana.edu or via his homepage at http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/.
More Info
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