Monday, January 16, 2012

2012 AECT International Convention - Visit to Louisville

World's largest baseball bat!

The 2012 AECT International Convention planning team made a short (2 day) site visit to Louisville, KY in December 2011. We made visits to the Muhammad Ali Center, the Louisville Science Center, and marvelous attractions on Museum Row on Main. Prior to our tour of Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, we seized the opportunity to have our photo taken in front of the world’s largest baseball bat. The Galt House Hotel (our convention venue) was beautifully decorated for the holidays.  Walking through the hotel and checking-out the rooms needed for our concurrent sessions, panels, roundtables, and poster sessions, brought back many fond memories from our 2009 convention at the Galt House.  As a matter of fact, I still remembered many of the rooms and the presenters who used them (shades of Simonides and Method of Loci, I suppose?).
Speaking of rooms, staying at the Galt House also refreshed my memory about the spacious guest rooms in the Galt House. Not only are the guest rooms large (most notably the reasonably-priced suites), but they are also impeccably clean and comfortable. Hint: If you have some additional funds for your stay in Louisville, be sure to pay a little extra for a suite; it’s worth the price.
Hitting a home run with Big Pappi's bat.


On the planning end of things, our 2012 convention planning team (consisting of planners from divisions, affiliates, committees, and other partners) started working the last day of our Jacksonville convention and has already met via Adobe Connect. Division/affiliate descriptions have been updated and the All-Academic proposal submission site is up and running.  Soon, I hope you will take some time to prepare and submit a proposal (or two).  Doing so will reduce your stress as the March 2 closing date approaches. More importantly, getting your proposals submitted well in advance will reduce MY stress (and high blood pressure) as I wait for all of those last minute submissions. I'm excited about our 2012 convention. Let's knock it out of the park!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Two IDT students lead team from Olathe North HS to $50,000 Battle of the Brains win!

IDT students Rhonda Reist and Amy Johnston led a team of students from Olathe North HS to a $50,000 Battle of the Brains win! Congratulations to Rhonda and Amy (and your very bright students!)

By next summer visitors to Science City will be exploring how mechanical power is transformed into energy — by running in giant hamster wheels to generate electricity.

That fun yet educational concept by
juniors and seniors at Olathe North High School won top honors at the Burns & McDonnell Battle of the Brains competition. It also earned them $50,000 and the privilege of seeing their project, “Unplugged,” installed as a working exhibit in Science City at Union Station.

Kansas City Star article and video at - http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/21/3278497/olathe-north-wins-battle-of-the.html

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Webinar - A Conversation with the Eminent Scholar about the Secrets of Designing Games for Learning

Thursday, Dec. 8, Noon (Central)
Dr. James Paul Gee is a Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies
at Arizona State University. He is also a member of National Academy for Education. Professor Gee has published numerous articles and books on the topic of designing games for learning. His recent books “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” and “Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays” are highly acclaimed resources for designers to learn the foundations of game designs.

Sponsored by AECT

Register at https://cc.readytalk.com/r/e9n5mre1h9zx

Monday, November 28, 2011

Developing iPhone and iPad Apps - New IDT class for Spring 2012

IT 743 XA  Developing iPhone and iPad Apps, Spring 2012, 3 credits.

Co-taught by Dr. Dusti Howell (ESU IDT)  and Dr. Rob Gibson (ESU TCS)
Enroll today!  (This course may be used as an elective for your IDT MS program)

Description below:
In this class we will begin by making adjustments to current apps before creating our own apps. Next, we'll follow step-by-step directions to build simple apps. We will then style an app so that it looks good and users can easily navigate through it. Also, we will learn to use the  touch screen, the accelerometer, shortcuts and cheat sheets to create apps the easy way!

NOTE :  This class requires users to have an Apple computer running Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) or Lion (OS 10.7).  PC computers running Windows OS can not run the Xcode 4 software used in this class. There is a bit of programming involved in this class. Previous knowledge of programming is helpful but not required.
The course book and online videos are fantastic at showing the user step-by-step directions on creating apps.
A few Apple laptops may be loaned to users for this class. Please email Dusti Howell   (dhowell@emporia.edu)   for more information.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The ESU IDT Dynasty Continues!

ESU Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) master of science students Michael Stewart and Jason Baker were selected as one of three winning teams in the PacifiCorp international design and development competition, sponsored by Pacific Power and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. With the other two finalist teams, Stewart and Baker presented their winning instructional design and development solution at the November AECT 2011 International Convention in Jacksonville, FL.

The PacifiCorp design and development competition involves having teams of two students design and develop a detailed written solution and oral report in response to a quite complex instructional design case study.  During the year-long competition, twelve teams competed in the first round of the competition and 6 teams moved forward to the second round, with three teams being selected as winning finalists.  ESU IDT teams have achieved winning finalist status in 4 out of the last 5 years of the competition.

Some history:
2007 - ESU IDT's first team, Sandy Valenti and Steve Harmon - winning finalist team
2009 - ESU IDT team, Liz Ermis and Jennifer Gibson - winning finalist team
2010 - ESU IDT team, Michael Schwind and Rob Ervin - winning finalist team
2011 - ESU IDT team, Jason Baker and Michael Stewart - winning finalist team

All of the ESU IDT faculty and over 15 IDT students and alumni attended the convention in Jacksonville, FL to cheer them on.