UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The keynote speakers for the 2016 Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) will be Nicholas Jones, Penn State executive vice president and provost, and Mimi Ito, author and globally recognized expert on how people use mobile technologies and new digital media. Both keynotes will provide insight on transforming education through engaging learning experiences for students.
This year’s symposium is free of charge and will be held March 19 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. To learn more about the event and to register, visit http://symposium.tlt.psu.edu/.
Jones, who will kick off the day with the morning keynote address, began serving as Penn State’s executive vice president and provost in July 2013. As provost, he is the University’s chief academic officer responsible for the administration of all of Penn State’s research and educational programs, and for the general academic welfare of the faculty and students. In his role as executive vice president, he serves as the chief executive officer in the president’s absence, and he is centrally involved in most University operations.
Ito will close the symposium with her afternoon keynote presentation. She is known internationally for her expertise on how people use mobile technologies and new digital media in their everyday lives. She serves as research director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub and chair of the Connected Learning Research Network, both part of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning initiative that investigates how today’s digital and networked media can be mobilized for the longstanding goals of progressive education. She co-led the Digital Youth Project, a landmark study of the ways young people use new media as part of the initiative. She is co-author of the book based on the study: "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media."
Her newest book is "Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning, Commerce, and Politics," written with co-authors and previous TLT Symposium keynote speakers danah boyd and Henry Jenkins. She is also John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning, and a professor-in-residence, Department of Anthropology and Department of Informatics, at the University of California, Irvine. She has two doctorates from Stanford University, one in education and one in anthropology.
In addition, the full agenda of the event has been released and can be viewed at the TLT Symposium site. This year’s agenda features 36 concurrent breakout sessions, covering a variety of education technology subjects and highlighting practical use of these technologies at Penn State. This includes six breakout sessions focused entirely on Canvas, the LMS replacement for ANGEL at Penn State.
The symposium is sponsored by Information Technology Services and Teaching and Learning with Technology. Ito’s afternoon keynote is sponsored in part by The Center for Online Innovation in Learning (COIL) Fischer Speaker Series.