Learning Design Summer Camp from the student perspective
By Kristin Ford The 2010 Learning Design Summer Camp held on Wednesday, July 14 in the IST Building saw an excellent turnout. From my first moments walking into the filled Cybertorium, it was clear that the informal, discussion-based style of the day would help spark discussion amongst learning designers. The conference opened with live music and time for conversation.
I am a senior undergraduate student and communications intern with Teaching and Learning with Technology. While Camp is aimed at learning designers at Penn State, having worked within Teaching and Learning with Technology for six months and having attended this University as a student for three years, seeing the kind of in-depth discussions educators and designers are having to improve courses at Penn State was a wonderful opportunity.
Attending this Camp allowed me to see from a different perspective what goes into choosing technologies that are available to students. While much of my day at Camp was spent photographing the different sessions, I did have the opportunity to attend the keynote presentation, as well as the different speeches and lightening talks in the afternoon.
The one presentation that I found particularly interesting as a student was Sam Richard’s presentation on teaching Sociology 119. I actually took Sam’s Sociology 119 class during the spring 2010 semester, so hearing him speak about the actual teaching of a class that I had taken just recently was very interesting for me. His presentation at Camp focused heavily on engaging students in a large lecture setting, especially through the use of technology.
Sam’s Sociology 119 class was one of the most engaging classes I have taken at Penn State, especially amazing, since it is in such a large lecture setting. Before hearing Sam speak at Camp, I never really thought about all the things he actually did to keep me engaged and interested in a class so large that it would be easy to feel forgotten.
The use of technology in the classroom, with flip cams and blogging, as well as the live poll program, is the kind of things other professors do not always utilize that allowed Sam’s class to keep me constantly engaged and interested.
Hearing him discuss choosing these technologies and why they work in the classroom helped me to better understand from his perspective how he can make a class of 700 students work so well.
Other sessions I found interesting throughout the day were those that discussed how to get professors to use technology in the classroom. From a student perspective, I have seen professors run both ends of the spectrum with technology—from professors using every technology available, to never using a single technology in the classroom. It was great to see the discussion happening between educators and designers on how to get professors incorporating more technologies into their lectures.
Attending this camp gave me a new perspective on how learning design directly impacts so many different aspects of my life as an undergraduate student at Penn State—from classes to the choice of course management system. It was a great experience to be able to see the exciting things that are happening with technology at Penn State as well as how these ideas are being shared between designers and educators to make our experience as students the best that it can be.
