On Friday, March 2, Canisius College hosted a small conference called Digital Day and local academics came together to share their scholarly work and experiences using various technologies in the class to improve teaching and learning.  Our keynote speaker was Dr. Tamara Rosier, Ph.D. and she joined us via tele-conference to present on Metacognition.  So you may be asking…..What is metacognition?….. It was described as recognition on the part of the learner that learning has taken place,or is taking place.  By applying metacognitive strategies instructors can help students learn to know.

The video describing the application of metcognitive principles was presented in a digital format that was introduced at the conference called Prezi.  It is an alternative to power points and similar presentation formats.  The key to a successful Prezi presentation is not to move around the screen too quickly, since it seems to produce a feeling of sea-sickness.

This is the official introductory video explaining Prezi.  You can also visit the web site, http://prezi.com/ and try out this new presentation tool.

The conference had numerous presentations on new digital tools that can enhance teaching and learning.  Screencast-o-matic was an excellent means of recording a lesson from your computer that can be used for online courses or student conferencing.  This is a useful tutorial that walks through the process.

I was pleased to present the IND Studio 5 project that uses Skype to bring guests from Europe into our classroom and critique.  It was very well received and I’ve hopefully inspired other educators to use this simple tool.

The conference concluded with a panel discussion on the Horizon Report which was prepared by the New Medium Consortium.

This is a report that identifies emerging technologies that will enable and improve teaching, learning and creative inquiry as well as highlights key trends.