MAC Wk 4 Pub/ Leadership Part 2

Publishing and Leadership MAC Blog Part 2

As I've done some further research over the last few days, I am growing more excited to apply for an opportunity to present at next year's MEIEA annual conference.

First, the conference is in California. In April. As a Minnesota resident, the need to escape the snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures by April of every year is beyond description.

Secondly, I think I've found a valuable angle and niche from which to approach my application. While the bulk of my Action Research was very reflective and personal in nature, my experience with the South by Southwest Music Conference could be presented as a "new models for off campus studies" topic which would have a much larger potential audience or application.

As it stands, my SXSW experience was almost a Cycle 1.5 type of activity. Throughout my whole project, I've been researching methods by which to improve student engagement in large group environments. Midway through my cycles, I had the opportunity to lead an off-campus studies trip, and almost simply due to the timing of the experience, I was able to use the trip as another "case study" or data cycle for leveraging technology in order to increase engagement in the classroom. Granted, in this case, the classroom happened to be an open environment (the city of Austin, Texas), but many of the same considerations applied.

Since so many colleges and universities offer off-campus activities, I believe my experience using technology in order to maintain academic rigor, monitor student well being, and encourage learning goals through the development of multimedia while at last year's SXSW event might be of value to others who are thinking of leading such excursions.

In the near term, I'm going to work on collecting my notes and data from that experience and formulate what we learned into a presentation application. With fingers crossed, I hope to share the results with all of you next spring. From California. Where it is warm.