10/5 Seminar: Curt Bonk

This is a reminder of our seminar on TUESDAY October 5.

Curt Bonk from Indiana University will be our speaker. His talk is titled The Flat World has Swung Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education (full abstract below). You can find out more about Curt at http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk .

This seminar will be at 2:30 in STB G152. It will be broadcast via the usual channels.

If you haven't heard Curt talk before, let me tell you that it's always a treat! He was one of my professors, on my dissertation committee, and has since been a valued mentor and collaborator. I hope to see you there!

Vanessa


The Flat World has Swung Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education
Abstract: Building on Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat, Curt Bonk offers an intriguing look at ten technology trends which he called educational openers. When combined, the first letter of each opener spells the acronym: "WE-ALL-LEARN." This model helps make sense of the role of various technologies in open education, including open courseware, open source software, open access journals, open educational resources, and open information communities. As part of this, he will discuss e-books, podcasts, streamed videos, online learning portals social networking tools like Facebook and Ning, YouTube videos, wikis, and virtual worlds. With such technologies, thousands of organizations and scholars are sharing their course materials, expertise, and teaching ideas globally, thereby expanding learning opportunities and resources even further. As this occurs, members of the media, politicians, educators, students, parents, and others are asking important questions about the quality of such contents. Bonk also addresses questions related to the digital divide and how those without Internet access still benefit immensely from these open learning tools and resources. The economic world of Friedman may be flatter, but the educational world is definitely more open than is was a decade or even a few years ago. Open up and enjoy it!