Keynote and Featured Presentations
Keynote Presentations
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Wednesday, April 11 Mark Salzman "And Your Name Is...? The Case for Making it Personal" All teachers know that learning is important, but we also know that it takes effort. To learn something well, a person has to want to learn it. How do you convince someone to want to learn and to believe that the results will be worth the effort? From his experiences as a student of martial arts and music; as a teacher at a Chinese medical college and then at a lock-up facility for juvenile delinquents; as a writer; and, above all, as a stay-at-home parent, Mark Salzman offers a personal view of the learning journey and some thoughts about what makes some of us enjoy that journey and want to stay on it forever.
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Thursday, April 12 Garry Trudeau "Humor and Education" Creator of one of the most controversial comic strips of all time, Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau has been called "the most powerful voice for truth in American journalism." Arguably the premier American politcal and social satirist of the last forty years, Trudeau will share his views on humor and education. Join us for a rare opportunity to enjoy the satirical humor and often biting insight of Garry Trudeau, live and in person. |
Featured Presentations |
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Wednesday, April 11 "Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Adult and Higher Education" Globalization is a complex phenomenon characterized by a technologically-linked worldwide market economy and by the movement of people, services, goods, and ideas across national borders. Globalization has fostered a powerful trend of particular importance to the field of adult and higher education—the emergence of lifelong learning as a unifying concept for our practice. Learning is now life-long and life-wide and occurs not only in educational institutions, but in the workplace, cyberspace, the community and one’s family. Higher education also plays a crucial role in this globalized world in preparing learners to be contributing members of the world of today and tomorrow. Explored in Dr. Merriam’s talk are the challenges and opportunities associated with globalization and how adult and higher education might creatively respond to prepare learners for this fast-paced, high-tech, global world. |
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Wednesday, April 11 "TBD" TBD |
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Thursday, April 12 "Humor and Multimedia to Engage the Net Generation" This Net Generation of students (aka “millennials”) eschew “talking head,” lecture, textbook-based teaching methods. Some have the attention span of goat cheese. We need to find creative techniques to hook them, engage their emotions, and focus their minds and eyeballs on learning. Most are super-savvy with technology and are experiential, participatory, visual, kinesthetic learners. They are wired and wireless for all media. You will complete the Net Gener Profile Scale to understand how closely you think and behave like a Net Gener. You need to gather “intel” on your students to understand and connect with them. This Broadway-style production will demonstrate how you can leverage their characteristics with a variety of multimedia teaching strategies—music, YouTube clips, parodies of TV programs, games, and humor—in your “learner-centered” classroom. The strategies draw on the theories of multiple intelligences by Gardner and Goleman, tapping 4–6intelligences and a variety of learning styles, so EVERY student can learn in ANY subject. This approach can increase student success and retention dramatically. The use of humor and multimedia is based on research from neuropsychology, education, commercial advertising, humor, music, and communications. Whether you’re a newbie or veteran, you will find new ideas to apply to your content to connect with your students and bring what students’ perceive as dead, boring content to life. As the lyrics to the hit song from Aladdin tell us, we need to keep pace with “A Whole New World.” |
Thursday, April 12 "NCIA Leadership Panel Discussion" TBD |
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