As I earned my Master’s Degree in Educational Technology I learned firsthand about the transformative impact that technology has on the students and instructors. Technology has fundamentally shifted the educational landscape and forever altered how teachers create learning experiences from K-12 to college and beyond.
In the spring of 2017 I had an idea: bring together professors from all across our Oklahoma State University system to share the ways in which they were using technology to transform their teaching. While many conferences of this nature focus on how technologies could be utilized to facilitate richer student engagement and exciting learning experiences, I wanted to create an event where faculty could showcase the technologies they were currently using to transform their classrooms.
Throughout the daylong event OSU faculty members got to experience the exciting technologies being used right on our own campus through presentations, informational sessions, and hands-on demonstrations. The event was a success, and the following year we opened it up to other colleges and universities from around the state.
For the third year of offering the Teaching with Technology Conference we cast an even wider net, reaching out to schools from around the region and inviting schools in Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri in addition to several in Oklahoma. The event was moved to the OSU-Tulsa location in order to better facilitate the types of demonstrations and presentations being offered, and it was once again a major success.
While the OSU Teaching with Technology Conference has been highly successful for its first three years, my goals are much bigger. In the future I hope to attract even more schools from around the region, and bring together faculty and staff who are using technology as well as administrators who make and shape policy and have the power to influence technological changes at school-wide levels.
Participant Response
Simon Ringsmuth and others from ITLE appear to have true passion to help teachers teach. I liked how Simon did a video of behind the scenes of an video in progress i.e. green drop screen (constructed out of green foam board from Hobby Lobby). I like everything Simon does to help me be a better teacher.
Summer 2019
I loved the keynote and the challenge it gave to be forward thinking in our educational delivery. I also appreciated the iClicker presentation because it was practical and something I could immediately incorporate into my classes.
Summer 2019
Dr. Miller’s break out session was full of energy and sparked some great creativity for me for my own teaching. And I gained a lot of new resources from the OER breakout session that I was not aware of previously.
Summer 2019
The conference sessions included common problems with current technologies and contrasted the better options to give learners an idea of what works and what doesn’t.
I loved the amount of time for the symposium. Four total sessions seemed like a great number. Five would be good too — I think any more than that might be too much. I also liked the small snacks; it encouraged networking and chatting. I loved meeting instructors from other universities. I think I learned the most from those intstructors.
Summer 2018
Pretty much everything! The atmosphere was great; the breakouts were phenomenal.
Summer 2018
The breakouts were of a good variety that allowed me to choose good topics of benefit to me.
Summer 2018