Technology and Society Symposium

Mitchell College will host its first Technology and Society Symposium on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 from 9-12. This new event will offer a range of topics and discussions about technology, education, and the concept of digital natives. The keynote speaker for this event is Dr. George Mehaffy who has been influential in higher education and technology for more than twelve years. Recently, he launched the American Democracy Project, a civic engagement initiative involving 240 colleges and universities, in partnership with The New York Times.  Most recently, he organized the Red Balloon Project, a national initiative to transform undergraduate education. He had more than twenty years of teaching and administrative experience in higher education in Texas, New Mexico, and California.  

The Technology and Society Symposium drew its roots from the students and the course work at Mitchell College. Jennifer Sullivan, a behavioral science instructor, worked with a class of ten motivated students from her Technology & Socialization spring semester course. As part of the course, the students developed a survey that measured the types of technology being used on campus  by Mitchell students .The course delved into the implications of technology on society, how people are using technology and what social changes are occurring because of them. “The students are driven and they have really taken ownership of the class project and now the symposium,” Sullivan said. “It has been the collaboration of students, faculty, and staff to make this event important. We wanted it to be student driven, include some professional development, and draw in people who want to see and define where technology is taking us. The symposium was a great way to bring this community together and talk openly about courses, projects, technology, and how things are changing in the way we work, study, and learn.”

Along with the keynote speaker, the symposium will include presentations titled “Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom: Moving Beyond a Brick and Mortar Past”, “How to Learn in a Hybrid Class” to “Expanding Writing Projects with Video.” This program was funded by generous donations from various Mitchell departments and through the S.A.I.L. (Successful Ability-based Integrated Learning) grant.

The event will be open to the public and runs from 9-12 on Wednesday morning. Sullivan laughed when she said, “This is the one event where we won’t ask you to turn off your cell phone, in fact, students will be Tweeting (via Twitter) during the event and posting to the Symposium  website. We wanted to start the conversation with some dynamic speakers and presentations during this half day event, but we would like to grow the concept, with more presentations, bring in technology vendors, and make the entire program an innovative co-curricular event.  We even have talked about having events across multiple campuses – using video and conference technology to make the event inter-connective among colleges across the country.”
Mitchell College is located at 437 Pequot Avenue and is an institution of higher education that grants both associates and baccalaureate degrees to students from the greater New London community, as well as all over the nation and across the world.