Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to join about
150 faculty and staff colleagues participating in West Chester University’s RECAP conference. RECAP is an
annual conference held each May at West Chester University, showcasing “the use
of technology to enhance teaching and learning in higher education.” The
conference dates back to 1996, when the acronym for the conference was coined
(Resources for the Electronic Classroom: A Partnership). Our conference this
May was the 21st RECAP – a pretty impressive run!
Over
the years RECAP has grown to involve faculty from Pennsylvania's State System
of Higher Education and regional higher education institutions, and to reflect
advances in technology related to teaching and learning in higher education.
There are many
wonderful things about RECAP, starting with the enthusiasm of all of the
organizers and the participants. I also truly appreciate how it takes place
right after WCU’s spring commencement, which means we attend the
conference while still in the afterglow of watching another group of students achieving
a major life milestone and knowing that we played our part in that success.
Commencement is always such a great reminder of why we teach and why we apply
our technology and course design expertise to the teaching and learning goals
of our universities.
The thing that I love the
most about RECAP, though, is the way that the typical walls between faculty
members and technical staff members fall away for a day. We share thinking on
course design, on technology tools, and on ways to make online or hybrid
courses as personal and interactive as face-to-face courses. We all come
together with common purpose, in the belief that when we combine students who want to
learn, an expert faculty member who is passionate about his or her subject, and
the right mix of course design and learning tools, we bring out the best in all
involved in the learning process. The result really is greater than the sum of
the parts.
At this year’s conference, we were fortunate to have an
invited keynote by Marc Andonian of Gartner to open the day. Marc, who is a
Gartner Vice President and Executive Partner, has decades of strategic IT
experience, much of it involving higher education. Marc used two of the Gartner
frameworks, the Hype Cycle and the Market Clock, to put the conference session
talks into a useful context, encouraging attendees to think about the maturity
of the ideas and technologies. With that helpful context, attendees might be
better able to decide which ideas and technologies warrant their attention and
investment.
When the day’s sessions were done, I got the chance to close out
the conference with a Recap of RECAP. We looked back on the day and the
comments heard from attendees via Twitter and other feedback mechanisms, and in
an interactive session attempted to tie it all together with observations from
all sixteen sessions.
I very much hope that all RECAP attendees came away feeling
as inspired as I did, ready to try some new ideas and technologies and to grow
as educators and educational technologists. New students continue to arrive at
our campuses each year and it’s exciting to think that we can bring great new
ideas to help them on their college and life journey.
Links:
- https://www.wcupa.edu/recap/
- http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp
- http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/it-market-clock.jsp
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