OIT hosts ‘Jubilee’ to engage students, technology

The Office of Information and Technology is branching out of Carnegie Hall to host its first ever “Tech Jubilee.”

The technology fair will be held on Sept. 25 in Olmsted Center. The goal of the fair is to expose faculty and students to innovative ways in which technology is used in the world. The event is free and open to all members of the Drake community. The Jubilee will inform attendees about the technologies being used, free food and prizes.

“I will be attending the Technology Jubilee. I think it would be interesting because there are still things I could learn about technology,” said first-year open journalism major Delanie Downey.“The Technology Jubilee might help me as a student, because I could learn how to use technology for my betterment while having fun.”

The theme for the event is “Be Curious.” The theme was inspired by the events the Mars rover, and the technological innovations involved with the success of that project. Specifically, OIT hopes to generate curiosity concerning technology.

“Curiosity is what put us on Mars, and we had to develop the technology. If we weren’t curious we wouldn’t develop the technology,” said Jerome Hilscher, the learning technology specialist at Drake OIT. “Hopefully there’s a Drake student or faculty whose curiosity is sparked at the Jubilee who will create something new.”

The keynote speech by Erik Van Ommeren, the director of innovation for USA Vision, Inspiration, Navigation and Trends, which is Sogeti’s international research institute.

“All three of these gentlemen (speaker) are agents for change. They’re trying to point out how things need to change. And I think that’s key,” Hilscher said. “The message is that everybody, regardless of whatever field you’re in, has to be aware of technology. You need to know what’s happening with technology because it’s going to affect every part of your life.”

The other sessions for the day cover topics such as blueView, Blackboard, iPads, STEM at Drake, DUSIS and myDUSIS, mobile app design and development for faculty, and the technology features of Cowles Library.

Michael Rothmayer, an associate professor of theater arts, will present on his use of iBooks Author in the classroom during iPad breakout session.

“I used the program as a bit of an experiment/proof-of-concept to create supplemental material for the THEA120 (Theatre History I) course I teach,” he said. “At the Jubilee, I’ll talk about how I came to use the program, my experience with it, and the pros and cons going forward.”

At the event there will be a room for demonstrations from OIT and faculty members. There will also be displays featuring the three-dimensional printer, lecture capture technology, the Blackboard updates, Lynda.com and the Drake Knowledge Base, the Microsoft 365 upgrade and the latest classroom technologies.

“It’s important for faculty to use new technology because it allows learning to be more seamless and allows students to be more familiar with new technology,” said Ben Proctor, a first-year pre-pharmacy major.

Another portion of the event is dedicated to vendor displays. This portion features information on Cisco, Clickers in the classroom, CCS (smart/white board technology) and the Pratt display on interactive screen and touch screens in the classroom. There will also be a representative available to discuss blueMobile, DUSIS and myDUSIS, including answering questions and taking suggestions for improvements.

Representatives from Microsoft and Apple will highlight the latest technologies and answer questions. A booth by Sogetti, who will be accepting resumes and discussing potential internship and paid position opportunities, will be there.

The third portion of the event is “Start Up Alley.” This portion utilizes the expertise of “Start Up City” to help students and faculty transform their ideas into reality.

“Events like this are an excellent opportunity for Drake’s community, and I hope both students and faculty are able to take advantage of it,” said Meryl Irwin, visiting instructor of rhetorical studies in the department for the study of culture and society. “Too often classrooms are playing a game of “catch up” with technologies that are several generations advanced before scholarship addresses them. I hope we are pursuing the goal of being responsible leaders with technology, rather than followers.”

The first 100 students to register for the event automatically receive a prize.  Registration can be done online at the OIT website. OIT encourages students to register before the event.

Students who visit the registration booth the day of the event and choose to enter a drawing have the chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, a $75 iTunes gift card and other prizes. To be eligible for the drawing, students need to register before the Jubilee and visit the registration booth in the morning.

The drawing will be held at 4 p.m. following the last speaker of the day. Students do not need to be present to win. Winners will be notified by email or phone number, which they will provide on the raffle ticket when they visit the registration booth.