Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology

The Penn State Digital Commons has been a huge hit at the University. Find out how you can get in on the action by downloading this Symposium 2008 Podcast and checking out the session notes.

In this interview, Theresa Clemente from Penn State Wilkes Barre reacts to the keynote presentation, talks about her use of her campus's Digital Commons facility, and her interest in all of the sessions.

Laura Guertin at Penn State Brandywine uses podcasting and Google Earth in her earth and geoscience courses to help students grasp science principles. She has discovered that when students use these technologies, the quality of their science improves, they care more deeply about the subject matter, and they are eager to share their learning with a wider audience.

In 2005, Guertin began to record her classroom lectures in MP3 format. She makes them available to students via iTunes U (https://itunes.psu.edu/), allowing them to engage in course content outside class.

Kathleen Taylor Brown at Penn State Greater Allegheny helps communications students gain a competitive edge in the industry by both grounding them in theoretical foundations and having them plan and produce podcasts and videos.

Today’s journalism, she says, is often “backpack journalism.” Communications professionals who were once supported by production crews now often carry their own cameras and microphones and record, edit, and produce their own pieces. “You may be both in front of the camera and behind it,” explained Brown. “It’s not just writing the copy anymore; it’s writing, producing, and putting that end product out there,” she said.