This past week, UGA hosted IDD @ UGA at UGA’s Gwinnett campus, the first of an annual conference showcasing innovative instructional design and serving as a new student orientation.   “There was such a wonderful energy in the air at the IDD @ UGA conference. It seemed that everyone was bringing the best of themselves to the event, from the organizers to the keynote speakers, from the individual participants to the concurrent session presenters and panelists. And, as far as I’ve been able to tell, no one went away disappointed.” said Dr. Gregory Clinton, M.Ed. Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT), Instructional Design and Development (IDD) faculty.  

The featured speakers were one of the most talked about aspects of the conference. Highlights included keynote speaker Dr. Bill Rankin, Director of Learning at Apple, Inc., who has won many teaching awards and presented on emerging educational technologies in more than 25 countries. Rankin’s presentation touched on the benefits and challenges in transforming learning. Dr. Mike Law, Senior Manager of Learning Design for The Home Depot shared his knowledge on the subject of “Transforming the Retail Learning Strategy.” The last of the featured speakers was Dr. Eddie Watson, Director of the University of Georgia Center for Teaching and Learning, dispelling myths about student learning and interaction with technology.   Another highlight of the conference was a panel discussion on trends in higher education. The discussion involved Dr. Bill Rankin, Dr. Eddie Watson, and Dr. Keith Bailey, Director of the Office of Online Learning at UGA.

The conference also served as an orientation for the newest cohort of online M.Ed. in LDT, Instructional Design and Development (IDD) students, introducing them to the online degree experience. It was an opportunity to meet their online classmates in person, meet some of the instructional design experts who will teach them throughout the program, and to network and learn from highly respected industry professionals.  Stephen Bridges, Instructional Design and Development online Masters student and conference attended had this to say “As a new student in the Masters program, I found the conference to be incredibly worthwhile.  Meeting professional designers in the education and corporate worlds, as well as my fellow students, really opened my eyes to the breadth of real-world application this degree offers.  The next two years prove to be quite exciting!”

Additional UGA @ IDD Conference highlights from Dr. Clinton can be found on Greg Clinton’s Eclectic Blog.

 

Dr. Bill Rankin of Apple delivering his keynote speech.