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[RRE]New Media in Higher Education and Learning
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 10:04:32 -0700
From: Bill Dutton
An International iCS Conference on
New Media in Higher Education and Learning
Organized by
The Annenberg School for Communication University of Southern California, USA
and
Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit (CIRA) University of Teesside, UK
On behalf of Information, Communication and Society (iCS) Journal to be held 27-30 October 1999
Visit http://www.usc.edu/go/newmedia
New conceptions of a 'Virtual University', competitions for the most 'Wired University', and a resurgence of interest in distance education reflect some ofthe many calls for change in higher education and learning. They are being heard around the world and manifested in experiments and strategic plans from private industry, educational institutions, and national Administrations.
Advocates for change have raised fundamental questions about the adequacy of traditional approaches to higher education and learning. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as the Next Generation Internet and Web, could enable fundamental transformations in education paralleling developments in the restructuring of business processes, commerce, and government. These new media could have even more profound implications for the reinvention of educational institutions, given the centrality of knowledge creation, acquisition, and dissemination to conceptions of the information age, the 'knowledge society' and to the learning process.
Key Topics and Issues
Amid an ample amount of hype about the promise and pitfalls surrounding the role of new media in higher education and learning are some major questions that this conference aims to address:- Will universities move from institution-centered to more student-centered learning? What would this shift mean to the structure, organization, reach, and quality of higher education?- Have innovations in the use of ICTs in higher education demonstrated genuine promise for improving the learning process? Are students satisfied and does their performance improve? What can be learned from the experiences of other educational sectors, such as Kindergarten through 12th grade, or private and corporate training programs?- Will distance education complement and strengthen existing educational institutions, enhancing their efficiency and enabling them to reach larger numbers of students? Alternatively, will virtual universities' remain peripheral to mainstream higher education, creating a two-tier system?- Will we witness the growth of a select group of globally networked elite universities which offer instruction and accreditation via the Internet and a network of satellite institutions?- Does the involvement of the multimedia industry and many new information providers, represent a resource, or a threat, to the control of traditional gatekeepers in higher education, blurring distinctions between the producers and users of educational content? Will these new actors improve higher education?- What are the costs and benefits of becoming a wired university? Are most universities under- or over-scaling their investments in ICTs? Is investment in technological fixes undermining investments in more critical infrastructures or services, ranging from books to teachers?
Invited speakers include:
Phil Agre, Professor, UCLA Walter Baer, The Rand Corporation Lord Asa Briggs, former Chancellor of the UK's Open University Manuel Castells, Professor, UC Berkeley Nicholas Garnham, Professor, University of Westminster John A. Silvester, Professor and Vice Provost, USC
Invited Speakers and Participants
The conference organizers are inviting a small number of featured speakers and papers to ensure that discussion addresses a broad and constructive set of issues. The sessions will be limited in size and structured to involve all participants -- academics and practitioners -- in a wide ranging discussion. The conference will begin on Wednesday, Oct 27th, 4-5 pm at the Annenberg School with an @Annenberg session presented by Professor Anthony Giddens, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, on the topic 'Globalization and Communication'.
Publication
Lectures and papers delivered at this iCS conference will form the basis of a special symposium issue of Information, Communication and Society (iCS). Papers not incorporated in the iCS symposium will be given an expedited review for other issues of iCS, Prometheus, and the Social Science Computer Review.
Registration and Fees
The number of participants at this conference will be limited to facilitate discussion of the issues. All participants are asked to prepare a brief (1-2 page) position paper for distribution to other conference participants. A registration fee is being used to off-set the costs of this conference. The sponsors of this conference, which include The Annenberg School, CIRA, Taylor Francis/Routledge and The Getty Center, are contributing their facilities and supporting the registration fees of keynote speakers, those whose papers have been competitively selected for presentation, and students. All others preparing position papers and participating in the sessions are asked to pay a registration fee of $250 to cover the cost of food, beverages, other conference materials and travel to special events.
To guarantee your registration or propose a paper for presentation to this iCS Conference on New Media in Higher Education and Learning. Please send a title, draft abstract and a brief biography by 1 August 1999, at the latest, to:
Professor William H. Dutton Annenberg School for Communication University of Southern California University Park Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281 USA email: wdutton@usc.edu
Brian D. Loader, Co-Director CIRA University of Teesside Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS1 3BA UNITED KINGDOM email: b.d.loader@tees.ac.uk
More information on the Web at (www.usc.edu/go/newmedia) ```
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