Speaker explains the benefits of E-learning
In order to meet the challenges of education today, e-learning must play an important role in educational policy, said Ingeborg Bo, a distance education advocate from Norway who spoke to Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences students Thursday at their weekly Brown Bag presentation.
Bo, who is a senior fellow for the European Distance and E-Learning Network, spoke on the need for better quality in instructional technology and told of the increasing benefits for education through social media. Educational technology, she said, can make a difference in places such as the most rural parts of Norway, where people want an education but sometimes cannot access it.
Through the Internet, she said, education can help students on an individual level, and the results of e-learning can be the same or better than those of a normal education.
To the Instructional Technology students, she said, “Let us be proud of what we are doing. Let us have confidence in what we are doing.”
Bo’s presentation is one of many hosted by the Instructional Technology Student Association every Thursday from 12-1 p.m. as part of their Brown Bag Presentation series.
“We call them Brown Bags because they occur during the lunch hour, and students are encouraged to bring their lunches to eat while presenters give their talks,” said Whitney Olsen, the doctoral vice president for the Institutional Technology Student Association. Any interested student can attend.
The lunch series has been happening since the ‘90s, said ITLS professor Nick Eastmond, and it was started to help students recognize the marketability of their skills and to show them the benefits of the department. He explained that instructional technology students figure out ways to deliver educational messages using current media and technology, and the presentations help to encourage that.
“For a lot of years we used audio-visual things, slides, overheads, things like that. Now it’s gone to computer assisted instruction, combining video with computer, video disk work, and teaching how to design instruction on special distant education type classes,” he said.
The IT student association has played an active role in providing other students with information and encouragement in their field. That, he said, is one of the reasons why the presentations are held.
Olsen said the series showcases industry professionals, scholars, faculty members and notable students who offer insight on the job market and discuss their research projects and publications.
Previous speakers include Heather Leary, a doctoral candidate, Neal Leger from the Faculty Assistance Center for Teaching, and Jack Aplanalp of the U.S. Navy with Jim Hadley, who presented via teleconference on what instructional designers in military and commercial fields should know.
These presentations are not just for ITLS students, Olsen said. “Obviously, the presentations are geared towards students of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, which is a graduate-only program,” she said. “However, anyone interested in or involved in information technology, psychology, education, computer science, library and media science, graphic design, and other related fields stand to gain much from Brown Bag presentations.”
Linda Sellers, the president of the ITSA, said there are three main types of speakers who come: business and industry representatives, scholarly professionals and those with involvement in the military or instructional design. Through the series, students can gain further knowledge of their chosen field and a chance to socialize with other students.
Not only do students on campus get to hear the presentations, but students off campus get to as well. Eastmond said there are more students enrolled off campus in the program than those on campus, and they can watch the presentations in real time on the Internet.
Once a month they host a big speaker and often have some sort of refreshment, Olsen said, but the value of the presentations comes through the information students can gain.
Any interested students are invited to visit itls.usu.edu. which has a calendar of future presentations.
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