UNC-CH Information Technology Services

ITS Teaching and Learning to present at TLT conference

ITS’ Megan Bell, Tim Harper and Larissa Schraff will present “The ITS Teaching and Learning First Partners Program: Content Designed for the Digital Native” this March at the Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) conference in Raleigh, N.C.

The presentation showcases work accomplished from a partnership of ITS instructional technologists and campus academic departments to create and deliver electronic content that is integrated into the curriculum.

Bell, Harper and Schraff will discuss a multimedia prototype created for the School of Pharmacy’s Foundations in Pharmacokinetics course. The interactive media module, was designed to enrich the course-learning experience through appropriate, authentic and interactive exercises that provided feedback to the learners and to the instructors.

“Mention the 1980s and people shiver as images of big hair and bad movies come to mind,” said Megan Bell, project manager. “But the late 1980s was also when the higher education students of today were born. Their 1990s childhood was filled with the daily use of technology. It is Teaching and Learning’s goal to create, deliver and assess interactive instructional media for these technology- and media-savvy ‘digital natives.’”

In assessing the prototype’s success following use in the Fall 2006 course, perhaps one digital-age student said it best in his or her response to a follow-up survey: “I actually learned by doing this module… It is much better to use these modules than to read chapters in preparation for class.”

Bell, Harper and Schraff will be joined by School of Pharmacy representatives to discuss instructional needs, technical requirements and design motivators.

The conference will be held at the Hilton North Raleigh March 21-23, 2007. It is co-sponsored by the UNC TLT Collaborative and the UNC Faculty Assembly. “Building Connections - Creating Webs of Relationships to Facilitate and Enhance Teaching and Learning” is the theme of the 2007 conference.

This annual conference, held since 2000, provides a productive forum to network and exchange information about the effective use of technology for teaching and learning (TLT). Participation from people with a broad variety of interests and with any level of TLT experience is encouraged.

To learn more, please visit the conference Web site at http://conference.unctlt.org/.