Developments in digital technology are creating all kinds of new learning possibilities, requiring additional competencies in the classroom. These technologies offer new sources of competitive advantages in meeting the needs of the digital learners who are entering colleges and universities in increasing numbers.
Today, from 1:30 to 2:30pm in N109, Seymour Schulich Building, Schulich Professors Jean Adams and Ron McClean invite the York community to find out more about the wide array of innovative Web technologies they are using in their classrooms. Adams and McClean will share some of their experiences in making use of these Web-based products to deliver course content to 
a large introductory class they teach.
Both professors have been exploring blended learning strategies that have enabled them to move from a traditional "lecture" format to more of a student-focused pedagogy that integrates face-to-face interaction with online content, online polling and online collaboration.
Right: Professor Jean Adams (centre) with the students in her introductory class. Adams and her colleague, Professor Ron McClean, are using new Web-based products to engage students and empower their learning.
Their session today will start with a hands-on experience using HP Tablet PCs to explore new ways to engage student learning. Participants will learn about how Adams and McClean use NewMindsets provocation-based online content, HP pen-based interactivity, and DyKnow polling and collaborative software for promoting critical thinking and collective learning in the classroom. This will be followed by an open discussion about new technology and how it can be used effectively to revolutionize teaching and learning practice for advancing higher education in today’s dynamic knowledge economy.
Right: Jean Adams
This highly practical session, which is sponsored by York’s Institute for Research on Learning Technologies, is free and open to all University community members. It offers participants first-hand exposure to the use of innovative technology to create dynamic classroom experiences that empowering student learning.
Adams is a faculty member at Schulich School of Business and associate co-director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies. She has worked closely with Schulich Professor Gareth Morgan in the design and bottom-up build of NewMindsets online content, which lies at the core of her blended learning research in academic and workplace contexts. Adams received a University-Wide Teaching Award in 2009 and the Governor General’s Gold Medal in 2005 from York University.
Left: Ron McClean
McClean is the academic director of Information Systems & Technologies and a faculty member at Schulich School of Business. His research is focused on using Web 2.0 technologies to support effective virtual collaboration and collective learning. McClean’s approach to the use of technology in the Seymour Schulich Building set a solid platform for the exploration of blended learning strategies that are in use today.