Educause, Day Three, Part One

The workshop sessions continued to be excellent. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point, but pushing forward!

An Immersive Learning Experience via the Alternative Reality Model

David Lee Fulton,Web Developer, User Services Mississippi State University 
Ronald Jason Tiffin,Sr. Web Developer, Team Leader Mississippi State University 
Amy H. Berryhill, Mississippi State University

What the program said:
Engaging incoming freshmen in activities has a positive impact on the overall freshman experience. The Freshmen Common Book Committee at Mississippi State University decided to try a different approach. Using alternate reality gaming as a model, the committee designed an "Immersive Learning Experience" and viral marketing to engage students with clues, mystery, and rewards.

My take: this was a fascinating presentation. These folks basically constructed a theme based scavenger hunt. The prizes they had were "real" and "valuable," and not everyone got them. The second year they changed that and the game was no longer successful.

Distance vs. Distributed Education: Bringing the Campus to the Student
Dr Neil Gershenfield

What the program said:
Advances in integrating the worlds of bits and atoms are challenging assumptions of scarcity that are implicit in the organization of advanced technical education and investigation. MIT's Neil Gershenfeld will discuss the ideas behind this revolution and their implications for improving educational opportunities. Realizing this promise will require revisiting many current practices, including accrediting networks rather than locations, organizing individuals instead of institutions, formalizing informal learning, and creating corresponding career paths.

My take: I think I only understood a quarter to a half of what this man talked about...materials that are computers, that change as they compute... Wha????? But he did talk about an incredible network of open labs all over the world that I think NTID has to be a part of. I will be take g this back to work with me.