Penn State Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium 2013

Yes, I know the title is a mouthful, but Penn States Teaching and Learning with Technology conference was today, and it was my last undergraduate research conference! I did an oral presentation in the morning with Dr. Guertin (Dr. G), and a poster/computer monitor presentation later in the afternoon.

Our presentations were titled “The iPad as a Data Collection Tool for Fieldwork and Dissemination of Student-Created Content with iBooks Author”. In laymans terms, this means that Dr. G and I were explaining how we made iBooks with iBooks Author and used them for educational purposes (my projects). Also, Dr. G took a group of students to Puerto Rico for fieldwork for a class she was teaching, which explains the data collection part. This was our abstract:

Students at Penn State Brandywine in general education, Earth science, and independent study courses have successfully documented field experiences and created environmental case studies in iBooks Author, demonstrating successful integration of multimedia technologies and critical thinking questions for use on the iPad. This session will review the management of one set of iPads for multiple courses, and the challenges and successes of student training on the use of iPads and iBooks Author.

Examples from the talk and links to my books (if you haven’t downloaded them yet) can be found on the website Dr. G made for the presentation: http://sites.psu.edu/ipads4earthbw/ (and of course are also available on the PAESTA website)

This conference was different than any other I have attended because it was comprised of all Penn State teachers and a few students. This made the conversations flow more easily because I didn’t have to necessarily explain the class abbreviations (like COMM is for communications, and the like) or explain who notable people at the University are, considering everyone is affiliated with Penn State. This conference was also my first oral presentation, and I was glad to present in such an informal way with “friendly” faces.

As I previously mentioned, this was my last conference, as I will be graduating in May with my Bachelors Degree! I am very excited to move on to the next step, and I am grateful to Dr. G, who has helped me throughout my undergraduate research career.