Engaging the Digital Generation in Academic Literacy

Conference blog: http://altcmu.blogspot.com/

This conference will consider the transformation in student learning arising from the ongoing digitization of information and the continuing proliferation of communication media. It is important that those teaching in Higher Education feel empowered to create learning and teaching contexts that embrace such processes when it is beneficial to do so.

The conference aims to explore the potential in communication media for exploiting and sharing information. We are looking for a balanced approach which considers some of the positive gains arising from the digitization of information, for instance: information at an individual's fingertips; quick sharing of information; the ability to synthesize information in a seemingly infinite number of formats; and the power to provide feedback in new and creative forms. The conference will also pursue some of the difficulties and challenges this environment creates for Higher Education, for instance: the divide between staff and student experience; the promotion of deep learning in what appears to be an environment devised for quick scan; the onslaught of multimedia; the difficulty in creating manageable boundaries within the infinite supply of information and format; and concerns about plagiarism.

Keynotes include Tara Brabazon (Professor of Media at the University of Brighton), Steve Wheeler (Senior Lecturer in Education and IT, Plymouth University) and Professor William Wong (Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Middlesex University).

In addition to these keynotes, there will be workshops on a variety of digital literacy issues. These are presented by Middlesex University staff and by selected external staff.

This is a free event so we would strongly encourage people to book early as places are limited.