December 8, 2000 (3:30 pm)

Metacollege.com and the Digital Classroom: A Roundtable Discussion

Participants: Stephen Erickson (Metacollege.com); Robert Hamm (Digital Cultures Project Research Assistant); Alan Liu (Director, Transcriptions Project); Chris Schedler (Metacollege.com) ; William Warner (Director, The Digital Cultures Project)

Topic: This round-table discussion will have a double focus: an overview of the .com initiative Metacollege.com (founded by UCSB engineering Professor Sanjoi Banerjee) as well as a more general discussion of what the digital classroom is and should be. Those of us who have made use of new digital technologies in the classroom have quickly discovered that the attempt to use these technologies pushes one into probing questions about what a classroom actually is and what it is we as teachers try to do in that space. The roundtable will begin with a short overview of what Metacollege.com offers departments like our own; then each participant will offer a short overview of the issues and questions they would like addressed in our general discussion. I hope this gives us an opportunity to blend our discussion of broad and abstract issues with mundane and practical ones.

April 6 , 2001 (3:30 pm)

Michael Heim, Professor, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA

"The Classic Book and Avatar Chat": A Research Overview with Hands-On Involvement

In residence at UCSB during April as a visiting fellow of the UC The Digital Cultures Project, Michael Heim's interactive discussion comparing books to avatar chat will lead off a month of workshops and other events related to virtual reality. (Full schedule of April's events)

TBA

Carl Gutierrez-Jones, Professor of English, UCSB

"The Affirmative Action Web Site: History and Practice"