Huntington to host technology conference--with a twist

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HUNTINGTON (Ind.)-When you hear the words "technology conference," they usually mean a day's worth of how-to seminars on running specific computer programs.

Not so at Huntington College, which hosts "Pen, Printing Press, Hypertext: The History and Future of Educational Technology" on Sept. 29-30, a conference focused on the philosophical and literary ramifications of the "Information Age."

 
On the other end of the spectrum is Michael Joyce, professor at Vassar College, who is the pioneer of hypertext fiction on the Internet. His essay collection Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics met with widespread recognition, while his hypertext works, such as Twilight: A Symphony and afternoon: a story, established him as the standard of the genre. At Vassar, Joyce teaches classes such as "Hypertext Rhetoric," "Phanopoeia," and "City of Text."

"We're lucky to have those two speakers, with real opposing viewpoints," Doughty said. "I thought, 'Let's start at the top and try to get some big hitters here'."

Into the middle comes James J. O'Donnell, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who is one of the leading thinkers in the relationship between writing, technology and learning. Doughty first met O'Donnell in 1998 when he took a trip to U. of Penn. with fellow Huntington College English professors Dr. Joe Ricke-who will also present at the conference-and Dr. Linda Urschel. The group spent a weekend with O'Donnell and his colleagues, learning techniques for implementing technology in education. 

"He was one of the first people to start using technology in his teaching, more than 10 years ago," said Doughty. "He tried everything-teaching on the Web, using email, etc. He had it all staked out by the time we got there."

"We brought back a lot of information about what they were doing at U of Penn," Doughty added. "Then we got the conversation rolling here, both formally and informally."

The concepts learned in Pennsylvania came to fruition in a variety of ways over the last two years at Huntington College, including required participation in online discussions via email in an attempt to delve deeper into areas that are not covered in class. Doughty, who described himself as "a reckless experimenter at times," has tried a private chat room for class discussion, rather than oral communication. He also tested a virtual syllabus one semester, where the schedule was written and updated as the class progressed and posted online in an attempt to keep in closer contact with his students. 

The increase in technological awareness sprung from a $152,900 grant by the Lilly Foundation in March of 1998, which gave Huntington College faculty the means to attend similar conferences around the country, help fund technology in the classroom, and cover the cost of next month's conference.

Looking ahead to the event, Doughty hopes to reach an audience who are naturally turned off by technology discussions.

"I want educators to understand-if they don't already-what an important issue technology is," he said. "It's a new medium for writing, which means things might change-narratives, figures of speech, etc. From a student's point of view, this is a really important thing to pay attention to because this is what people are talking about now. I want English scholars to be aware that this is a whole new world of opportunity for them, but they need to know what they're walking into."
A complete conference schedule and a registration form are, as one might expect, available online at http://www.huntington.edu/english/conference.htm. 

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