Society of Research Administrators International Conference
ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2002, DR. ARCHIE W. EARL, SR., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Of MATHEMATICS, iN tHE SCHOOL Of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AT NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY, in Norfolk, Virginia, presented a paper entitled "The Meeting of Education and Technology: A Critical Assessment of the Distance Learning Strategies in the Higher Education and Library Learning Center Environments." The paper was presented at the 2002 Meeting of the Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International, at the Rosen Centre Hotel, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Earl is the primary author of the paper. The co-authors and contributors are Ms. Stephanie Gray (Naval Medical Research Center), Mr. Douglas Carroll (George Washington University), Mr. Andrew Young (Naval Medical Research Center and Brown University), and Dr. Edward Gabriele (Naval Medical Research Center). The paper will be published in the 2002 conference proceedings.
Dr. Earl began his presentation with the how and why of the meeting of higher education and technology. Before they met, technology needed to educate people to whom it sold products. To accomplish this objective, what better people are there to consult with than those that have been in the business of educating others for millenniums, viz., colleges and universities. They are in the best position to provide technology with the sound educational and pedagogical know-how it needs to accomplish its objective. Higher education institutions and library learning centers, on the other hand, had been trying to educate remote or distance students for at least decades. Many of them launched this quest by offering remote students correspondence courses. Today, modern computer technology affords colleges and universities an opportunity to remotely educate their distance learning students in a newer and more exciting way than the old pencil and paper correspondence course did. Technology can simplify the monitoring and grading processes. Higher education had something that technology needed, and technology had something the higher education needed. And so, they both met on the road of a common need, viz., the need to educate remote students/customers, the road of distance learning. Now they proceed up the road together, hand-in-hand.
He then went into a brief discussion of the development of technology in higher education institutions and library learning centers. He discussed such developments as microforms, educational television, the DIALOG database search system, mainframe computers, microcomputers, LANs, and the world wide web.
After that, he discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the distance learning strategies that higher education institutions and library learning centers use. One of the advantages that he mentions is their ability to make learning more interesting and exciting.
Finally, he invited participants to reflect on the purpose of higher education and whether or not the higher education and library learning center distance learning strategies mentioned in this paper can really be used to accomplish that purpose.
The paper was developed during a summer 2002 research fellowship he was awarded by the Office of Naval Research and the American Society for Engineering Education. The research fellowship was in the Office of Research Administration at the Naval Medical Research Center, in Silver Spring, Maryland, under the direction of Dr. Edward Gabriele.
International Conference on Technology in College Mathematics
On Saturday, November 2, 2002, Dr. Earl presented a paper entitled "An LAN-Enhanced Mathematics Course (LANEMC)," at the 15th International Conference on Technology In College Mathematics. The conference was held at the Hilton in the Disney World Resort, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Earl began his presentation by defining what an LAN-enhanced mathematics course is and how it differs from an LAN-based course.
He then went into a brief discussion of how students and professors access and use the LANEMC at Norfolk State University. Topics covered included: 1.) logging on to the LAN, 2.) logging on to the LANEMC instructional modules, 3.) working through an LANEMC instructional module, 4.) student generated practice tests and reports, 5.) the role of the Mathematics Testing Center in the LANEMC, 6.) classroom management reports and tools, and 7.) student evaluations of the LAN component of the LANEMC.
Dr. Earl is one of NSU's most internationally traveled professors. His itinerary has included stops in Tokyo, Japan; Athens, Greece; Alexandria, Egypt; Brussels, Belgium; Dammam, Dhahran, and El Kolbar, Saudi Arabia; Tunis, Tunisia; Toulon, France; Barcelona, Spain; Palma, Mallorca; the Grand Bahamas; and many other places.