NERCOMP EVENT
The Online Campus Community - How Online Interaction Enhances Campus Life
 |
Significant IT time and resources are spent supporting technology for discrete academic and administrative use (courseware, registration systems, etc.). However, university life extends well past individual courses and academic achievement, spanning years of social interaction, dialog, and development. Students progress through several different phases (prospective, accepted, student, then alumni); what online resources are developed to foster this sort of growth? How is the campus community experience enriched through online interaction? What role can technology play in enhancing university life by building campus community?
Our exploration will cover:
* What is an online community; how does it relate to real life campus community
* What does online interaction offer that extends beyond traditional community discussion?
* Bridging gaps in campus life: extending beyond the classroom, beyond the semester and across discipline lines. Blending the academic and social - how do we create interaction that fosters complete growth?
This SIG features a mixed format, including presentations, audience demonstrations, and discussion. We welcome attendees to bring their ideas, experience, and plans to share with all. We anticipate a true collaborative effort, with interactive discussion trumping straight lectures.
Workshop Organizer/Host: Ian Rifkin and Dave Wisniewski of Brandeis University
Date/Time:
Thursday, January 19, 2006
9:00am - 3:30pm
Registration begins at 8:00am
Location:
Southbridge Hotel & Conference Center
14 Mechanic St.
Southbridge, MA
Special instructions:
Special instructions here.
Pricing:
NERCOMP Members: $92
Non-Members: $192
|
Additional Information
Event Schedule:
8:00am – 9:00am Registration and Coffee
9:00am - 9:30am Welcome and Introduction - What makes a(n online) community?
Speakers:
Ian Rifkin, Web Specialist, Brandeis University
David Wisniewski, Senior Web Architect, Brandeis University
Students use social software to interact after (and even during) class; What can universities do to capitalize on this desire? Does the implementation of social software mean a university has created online community? What does it even mean to have a 'community' - is it simply a group of like-minded people? We'll explore what makes up a community, and see why adding an online component can enrich interaction.
9:30am - 10:15am SloanSpace: Building an Academic Community
Speaker: Alfred Essa, Executive Director, .LRN Consortium
SloanSpace is a comprehensive open source portal used at MIT Sloan for course management, online communities, and research collaboration. We will present a case study describing the platform, its original goals, implementation challenges, current state, and lessons learned.
10:15am – 10:30am Break
10:30am - 11:15am Discussion - Managing the Population
Moderators:
Ian Rifkin, Web Specialist, Brandeis University
David Wisniewski, Senior Web Architect, Brandeis University
An integrated community solution that provides cradle-to-grave user services is a nirvana that may not be present anywhere. If a seamless integration is not in place, how do universities transition these groups? What differences are there in the 'online communities' (both in terms of tools offered and in terms of interaction / use observed) for each of these groups? What different politics and structures do the online communities traverse in the organizational structure of the university? Do these political structures present hindrances that the technology can easily circumvent?
11:15am – 12:00pm MyBrandeis - Building a Community for Collaboration and Information
Speakers:
Zach Shaw, Web Developer, Brandeis University
David Wisniewski, Senior Web Architect, Brandeis University
Starting in 2001, Brandeis University began an exploration of online information by implementing an online events calendar. Because we chose software that was a development framework, we soon expanded the system to function as a centerpiece for collaboration and campus information. Campus groups each have their own space, including calendar, membership, and news. Student Government tracks funding requests and club creation, bulletin boards provide interaction and support spaces, polls keep the system tied into current events (campus thoughts / issues), and flat screen TVs in student centers promote current and future happenings.
Over the years we've seen continual growth in number of users and features. Growth through accidental discovery has led to creating new and innovative uses by staff and faculty. We'll provide a guided tour through the system and services that we have in place, discuss our development model and how student involvement positively shapes the system, and how we think online interaction have benefited the Brandeis community.
12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm - 1:45pm The SocialWeb - Building a Community Across - and Beyond - Universities
Speakers:
Kristine Caputo, Associate Editor, College Web Communications,College of the Holy Cross
Jayne Fox, Editor, College Web Communications, College of the Holy Cross
Amy Marr, Director of Web Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Troy Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Daedal Creations, LLC, Social Web
Keeping a campus informed of events by collecting details and maintaining an online events calendar by hand can be a time consuming task. Scheduling systems can organize a campus, but aren't efficient in promoting open events without the additional clutter of private meetings. Created in 1995, the Social Web is a distributed data entry events promotion system being used by colleges in the Worcester area to maintain department and university wide calendars for their sites. Using an automated system increases accuracy and consistency of event information, up-to-date and searchable calendar pages, and allows distribution in multiple formats to meet your user's needs. Through data sharing between universities and local organizations, students can find events at other local colleges or places and events throughout the area to provide a wider range of options to enhance student life.
1:45pm - 2:30pm Discussion - Tools to Build a Community
Panelists: All Presenters
What tools are in place across the spectrum of schools in attendance? What aspects have you implemented from one system, and added from another?
What tools do you use to create community on campus? Are they pre-packaged, or part of another campus infrastructure computing environment? Developed in-house? If this is a vendor offering, to what extent have you customized the tools? What facets do you wish you have? What facets do you have that are contributing to community strength?
2:30pm - 3:15pm Sharing your experience - Demos and Discussion
We'll widen the discussion and invite the audience to participate and share their solutions and experiences. What are you doing that is working particularly well? What online interactions have you observed that surprised you? What were you hoping would happen that hasn't taken off? Come prepared to share and to listen.
3:15pm - 3:30pm Wrap Up and End
Speaker:
Kristine Caputo
Kristine Caputo is the Associate Editor, College Web Communications at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. In this capacity she also serves as the Editor of College’s electronic alumni/parent newsletter, Holy Cross e-news. Previously she worked as the Assistant Director, Media Relations at the College, where she represented Holy Cross on the Colleges of Worcester Consortium Community Relations Committee. Kristine received her B.A. from Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass. and is currently working towards her master’s degree in professional communications at Clark University.
Speaker:
Alfred Essa
Alfred Essa is Executive Director and Founder of the .LRN Consortium, a non-profit organization committed to advancing innovation in educational technology through open source principles. Alfred was formerly CIO at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he was responsible for strategy and management of all information technology operations and initiatives.
Speaker:
Jayne Fox
Jayne Fox is the Editor, College Web Communications at the College of the Holy Cross, where she previously served as Head of Reader Services for the college libraries as well as co-instructor in the Web as EducationalTechnology course. She received her M.B.A. from the School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo (1984). After having held corporate management positions and operating her own business she went on to obtain her M.L.S. from the School of Communication, Information and Library Science at Southern Connecticut State University (1994). Ms. Fox has been involved in technology implementation and training since 1984. She has conducted numerous professional and academic workshops on various aspects of World Wide Web research, site design, and maintenance. Her professional affiliations include CASE, IWA/HWG, Beta Phi Mu, and Mensa.
Speaker:
Amy Marr
Amy Marr has led Web development at WPI since graduating in 1996 with a B.S. in technical communications. She also holds an M.S. in marketing & technological innovation. She specializes in information architecture and writing for the Web.
Speaker:
Ian Rifkin
Ian Rifkin is a Web Specialist at Brandeis University, where he facilitates the creation of websites and supports the myriad of content editors and requests from across campus. Ian serves as one of the administers of the myBrandeis system, a community system founded in 2001 for information and interaction. His background includes instructional technology and developing resources for faculty as part of the Instructional Technology Resource Center at Brandeis. He holds a BA in Anthropology / Internet Studies, where he focused his studies on understanding the dynamics of online communities. He is an avid photographer and has an extensive background in broadcast radio, having been involved in WBRS for over 4 years.
Speaker:
Zach Shaw
Zach Shaw is a Web Developer at Brandeis University, has an MA in computer science from Brandeis University and a BA in computer science from Manhattanville College. His focus at Brandeis University is web application development.
Speaker:
Troy Thompson
Troy Thompson is the founder and maintainer of the Social Web, a community service dedicated to "Bringing people together through Events, Places, & Common Interests". He started the Social Web in 1996 to promote events within the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Since then, participation in the Social Web has grown to many universities, community organizations, cities, and institutions working together. In addition to running The Social Web, Troy is the CEO of Daedal Creations, LLC, a Worcester area web design firm, photographer, and an active member in the cultural and non-profit community.
Speaker:
David Wisniewski
David Wisniewski is Senior Web Architect at Brandeis University, where he works on web systems integration and implementation. David was one of the founding implementers of the myBrandeis system, a community system founded in 2001 for information and interaction. Under his guidance, the system grew from an initial position of a events calendar to encompass individual and group interaction. David's work has included web development and instructional technology at Bates, Purdue, Harvard, and Brandeis, working at both the departmental and the university level. His entrance to the field of instructional technology began in 1991 when he first developed geology tutorials for laboratory use on the Macintosh.
David is currently working towards a master’s degree in anthropology, concentrating on contemporary cultural anthropology and online communities. His limited spare time is divided between research, photography and old home restoration.
Related Media Files:
http://64.3.162.168/media/PedagogyTroy.ppt
Contact Information:
Lisa DiMauro
860-345-2081
ldimauro@wesleyan.edu
Hotel Information:
Please call the Southbridge Hotel directly at 508.765.8000. The room rate is $99.
|
|