The 2008 conference program provides an excellent survey of UNC's work in teaching and learning with technology. During the three days of the conference, approximately 150 sessions will be offered in the categories of formal presentation, panel discussion, roundtable discussion, demonstration, and hands-on workshop.

Our plenary presentations will be:

Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

RICHARD BARANIUK
Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Rice University

Open Access Education - Building Communities and Sharing Knowledge

A grassroots movement is sweeping through the academic world. The "open access movement" is based on a set of intuitions that are shared by a remarkably wide range of academics: that knowledge should be free and open to use and re-use; that collaboration should be easier, not harder; that people should receive credit and kudos for contributing to education and research; and that concepts and ideas are linked in unusual and surprising ways and not the simple linear forms that traditional media present. In this talk, I will overview the past, present, and future of the open access education movement in the context of Connexions (cnx.org), which invites authors, educators, and learners worldwide to "create, rip, mix, and burn" textbooks, courses, and learning materials from a global open-access repository.

Richard Baraniuk is the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University and the founder of Connexions (cnx.org).

Dr. Baraniuk's honors include national research awards from the NSF and ONR, the Rosenbaum Fellowship from the Isaac Newton Institute of Cambridge University, the ECE Young Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois, several best paper awards, the Eta Kappa Nu C. Holmes MacDonald National Outstanding Teaching Award, an MIT Technology Review TR10 Top 10 Emerging Technology award and the SPIE Wavelet Pioneer Award.  Dr. Baraniuk is a Fellow of the IEEE and was selected as one of Edutopia Magazine’s Daring Dozen Education Innovators in 2007.  Connexions received the Laureate Award from the Tech Museum of Innovation in 2006.



Friday at 9:00 a.m.

ROBYN RENDER
Vice President for Information Resources and Chief Information Officer
University of North Carolina

The Three C's of IT Change: Collaboration, Communication, and Consolidation

The sixteen campuses within the UNC system have a long history of working together, sharing resources, and leveraging IT dollars to support the missions of their institutions. 21st century expectations of IT systems and services require a different and more deliberate approach in working together across new boundaries and among new constituents. In this presentation, Render will examine current models of multi-institutional collaboration, communication, and consolidation and share her insights on what may emerge as opportunities for tomorrow.

Robyn Render serves as the UNC president's primary adviser and UNC’s primary spokesperson on matters related to information technology, overseeing strategic planning and policy development for technologies that support the university's instructional, research, and public service activities. Render works with IT officials on the 17 campuses to facilitate collaborative approaches to system-level technology issues as well as with the Board of Governors, the president, and other senior staff members to develop university policies and programs.

Render is past chair of the Educause Board of Directors and is a member of the Cary Academy Board of Directors. She has written and spoken widely on technology and quality management in higher education and has consulted for other universities on the integration of technology in teaching and learning. Her most recent work has focused on IT professional development, organization transformation and business and IT alignment strategies

Render holds a master's of arts degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix and bachelor’s and associate’s of science degrees in information systems from the University of Cincinnati.