Archive of NMC Member Comments - New Media Consortium

Archive of NMC Member Comments
2004 Summer Conference Video Quotes
Why Participate?
The real reason, because they are in wonderful, fun places. I love meeting the people
here, I love meeting new colleagues, people to collaborate with, people both from the
Baltimore, MD area, which is where I am from, but also from people all around the
country and all around the world.
Joan Freedman: Johns Hopkins University, NMC Director
I think it is a perfect opportunity to share ideas and also to get new input on
Educational Media and Technology.
Maria Hedberg: Lund University, Sweden, NMC Member
I have heard that it is the most interesting conference out there. It emphasizes on user
experiences which a lot of conferences and a lot of academic people are missing, most
of the time, especially these instructional designers. And the people here that I have
met have really been fascinating and I really like the ideas being gathered in this
conference.”
Tim Wang: University of British Columbia, NMC Member
I come to the conferences mainly to meet the people. The sessions are great, the
hallway conversations are greater. That’s where the real dialog goes on between the
people and the camaraderie is fantastic and it’s just really good see what other schools
are doing. It really pushes you to push your own envelope even farther.
Mike Mattson: University of Calgary, NMC Director
I’m here to network with my colleagues, we have some of the same challenges both
technologically speaking and also administratively speaking, how to make a good
effective academic use of the tools. So this affords me an opportunity to meet with
them, to compare notes, see how are doing things in a similar fashion, where things
are different and very often I just look to learn one new thing. I come away with so
much more then just that one thing. I learn a great deal more then that.
Nick Irons: Brooklyn College, NMC Member
Well, sometimes I just get unexpected good ideas and their always real bonuses. And
sometimes I come looking for information.
Ruth Sabean: University of California, Los Angeles
NMC Board of Directors Emeritus
“It’s one of the most intimate type of conferences that I have been to. I do conferences
like National Association of Broadcasters and other conventions that are hundreds of
thousands of people and you get to talk to one or two (people) and that’s it. There is
just more of an intimacy that is here in the size of this conference and getting to know
the people that are dealing with the same exact issues that I am working with, and
what they have done to work through their issues. So I get a lot of solutions from
people here.
David Hopkins: Princeton University, NMC Director
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There is a lot of great networking opportunities, but it also a really great learning
experience to look at some of the trends that are emerging right now, and to not have
to re-invent the wheel because you see what other institutions have done with their
similar sort of issues that they deal with.”
Beth Lewinski: University of Notre Dame, NMC Member
I came to the conference for the first time a few years ago and I was so pleased with
the mixture of geeks and academics as they are some kind of hybrid. I really liked the
interactions between the people of the conference. It was kind of low, from the
ground up, it wasn’t pretentious, strait forward very enumerative people. That’s why I
am coming.
Ulrich Rauch: University of British Columbia, NMC Director
One of the things I love about this conference is the chance to interact with people
that have great ideas and really want to bring them into practice. Sometimes at other
conferences you will meet with people that have great ideas but no idea as to how
they are going to make them into an actual reality. Here you meeting people who
have great ideas, new ideas, different ideas and say, ‘oh, and by the way, this is how I
am making it real, this is how I am making it happen.
Ruben Puentedura: Hippasus, NMC Supporting Partner
Adobe is one of the founding members of the New Media Consortium and we come
every year to raise awareness of our products, our technology, and to participate the
conference and the hands on labs. We hope to increase our partnership not only with
the NMC but also all of the member schools. We feel we have a lot of opportunity to
grow that relationship with the schools and the NMC is a great way to make that
connection.
Peggy Snyder: Adobe Systems, Inc., NMC Board/Distinguished Partner
Apple is very pleased to be here this year. In fact we have a history and a heritage with
the New Media Centers group from the very beginning, and I have been involved over
the years at their different annual conferences and I find it a great group of people.
They are doing some of the most innovative work out there and helping to advance
education using digital media.
Bill Hanson: Apple Computer, NMC Distinguished Partner
This is our fourth year to come to the conference and our main reason for being here is
to meet with the educators and leaders in the world of education in regard to new
technology. We certainly have some spectacular new technology that we want to
share with them.
Michael Bryant: Sony Pictures Digital, NMC Distinguished Partner
We have been partners with the NMC, this is our third year now and Corbis is a Digital
Media Provider. We are interested in carrying that digital media program into the
educational space, which is really what the NMC is all about.
Brooks McMahan: Corbis Corporation, NMC Sustaining Partner
Avid just joined the NMC and we’re really excited about it. We’ve heard about NMC
through some of our education partners and we have been reading about it and
everything that we’ve seen so far is great. We like what NMC is doing for educators,
helping them understand how to make better use of media and we are looking
forward to becoming a bigger part of NMC over time.
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Bob Barnshaw: Avid Technology, Inc., NMC Supporting Partner
We’re a member because the NMC really represents the future of where learning and
collaboration and social networking is going.
Soren Kaplan: iCohere, Inc., NMC Distinguished Partner
Real Networks felt that it was pretty important to come to the New Media Consortium
as a way of introducing a lot of the changes and the products that we’ve made in the
past year in the play and the server to help advance distance education and extended
learning.
David Jebousek: Real Networks, Inc., NMC Sustaining Partner
We’re excited to attend! We had an author who was presenting here, we’re a
publishing company, and we’re launching a new series of titles focused on the graphic
arts digital media curriculum, so we thought this was a great opportunity to meet
people, learn about their course needs, and see what they think about our products.
Nicole Pinard: Thomson Course Technology, NMC Supporting Partner
We’ve been a part of the New Media Consortium since it began eleven years ago, so
for us coming to the conference just something that we look forward to. It’s less about
being a vender working with education customers and more a part of really a home
coming for us, we are a part of it, we are excited about being part of it, and frankly the
work that the folks here do through the institutional members is part of why we get up
in the morning and go to work. We come here and we get to see the stuff that people
are doing, so we really look forward to it.
Ellen Wagner: Macromedia, Inc., NMC Board/Distinguished Partner
All of the things that we are trying to do as a vender, the NMC is seeing as central to
the future of the organization and for learning and for creativity in general.
Soren Kaplan: iCohere, Inc., NMC Distinguished Partner
What does NMC mean to you?
NMC means fun and learning and a lot of camaraderie.
Coco Kishi: The University of Texas at Austin, NMC Member
It means a group of colleagues that I can ask about things are really relevant to what I
am doing today.
Ruth Sabean: University of California, Los Angeles
NMC Board of Directors Emeritus
The NMC has already represented to me being on the cutting edge, of pushing the
envelope of what we want to do with education, so that we can lead and not just
follow the masses.
Mike Mattson: University of Calgary, NMC Director
It means cutting edge technology, it means a look into the future, it means making
that future happen now.
Michael Bryant: Sony Pictures Digital, NMC Distinguished Partner
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I would have to say that right now if you ask me, out of the conferences that I
participate in, which ones are the ones that I see as being at the cutting edge, as really
being leaders in creating new ideas in education and technology…The New Media
Consortium’s Conference would have to be it.
Ruben Puentedura: Hippasus, NMC Supporting Partner
2004 Spring Online Conference Quotes
The online discussions provided an excellent opportunity to share thoughts about the
topics covered in the presentations.
Ruben Puentedura, President, Hippasus
I thought it was one of the better ones that I have participated in. It had a wealth of
information and more well-rounded. I loved the Creative Commons segments!!! Give
us more information on this!!!!
Marcia Johnson, Media Coordinator, Northern Kentucky University
I found some fascinating and extremely valuable tools/information that I never would
have been exposed to. Thanks!
Suzanne McGinnis, Academic Technologist, University of Richmond
The ability to view presentations at your leisure before following up in the discussion
forums and live teleconferences gives you time to formulate your thoughts.
Rick Reo, Faculty Support Specialist, George Mason University
I enjoyed the conference — even the parts that didn't particularly pertain to my role. It
was very informative for sure!!!
Marcia Johnson, Media Coordinator, Northern Kentucky University
2003 Summer Conference Video Quotes
NMC is a great influence in higher education. They have been able to bring higher
education together to create a different way of looking at tools and methods that
multimedia technology encompasses. Wonderful asset for higher education just by
the synergy brought together.
Ed Schwartz, Virginia Tech
The University of Calgary joined the NMC 10 years ago, since the conception. We
wanted to join the association to collaborate with other partners and really push the
envelope with teaching and learning and the incorporation of technology into that.
NMC is always bringing the technology along with the pedagogical needs of the
faculty.
Mike Mattson, University of Calgary
NMC has provided higher education with the absolutely necessary creative outlet for
expanding the horizons and giving us a sense of what is possible, as well as beginning
to imagine things we can’t even see today in the teaching environment….giving us a
little bit of an insight to what is coming.
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Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve
The people here today are the ones the trenches, who are actually developing
applications and delivering them in the classroom. They work with the teachers, they
work with the tools, they work with the instructional problems. Having a chance to
learn from people who are doing the same things you are is just really powerful.
Lewis Zweier, CSU Center for Distributed Learning
We believe at Princeton in our New Media Center that this as an emerging need in our
students. They need grounding in new media that they don’t get unless we offer
these services.
David Herrington, Princeton University
As we heard often during this conference, it is no longer about the physical location of
a new media center but more about incorporating it now and building the techniques
and technology with the instruction. Move from the lecture center where the
instructor stands up at the blackboard and talks to where it is more interactive, where
it is more student led. Technology is helping us to do that.
Steven Crawford, Old Dominion University
When you are in a certain field and dealing with technology it advances so fast – in
leaps and bounds. And the guys at the New Media Centers are here to help us, they
keep us abreast on all the things we need to know but don’t have time to get to.
Wendell Freedman, City College of New York
We have been long time supporters of the New Media Consortium. We love the work
that Larry and his team do. And all the consortium members who are really the
drivers in what is happening in the new media revolution…or evolution…depending
on your perspective. We are here because we want to know what is really going on
and the best way to know is to talk o the people doing the real work.
Ellen Wagner, Macromedia
It is a very focused, concentrated crowd so if someone comes by your booth you don’t
have to spend 20 minutes explaining it to them. They kind of get it just by looking at
what you have - which is a nice attribute.
Larry Reich, Channel Storm
For Adobe, I think we are here because this conference is truly a meeting of the minds.
We come here to gain knowledge from all the NMC conference participants and find
out all the great ways they are using our technology.
Karen Dailey, Adobe
NMC and the NMC conference is important to me because it is a chance to get with old
friends and to talk about teaching, learning and technology…..what works, what
doesn’t work.
Lewis Zweier, CSU Center for Distributed Learning
Here I can go see stuff that is happening. I can talk to people, find out what they are
doing. It is a great source for new ideas.
David Herrington, Princeton University
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I think the biggest benefit from the NMC is the Summer Conference because you get
together in informal sessions and the collaboration between the colleges is really the
best thing.
Mike Mattson, University of Calgary
It is a lot of networking. A lot of meeting with people, getting new techniques, making
connections, and trying to build more community flavor. Also, trying to see how other
organizations are structured because we are trying to build a structure within our own
organization, trying to find out the best practices.
Jared Bendis, Case Western Reserve
Besides the good BBQ, good food and the people it usually has to do with good
discussions, talking to people, getting new ideas and sharing the things we did last
year.
Ian Webber, Rochester Institute of Technology
Now I can talk to colleagues and meet new people. A lot of energy here.
Alan Levine, Maricopa Community College
NMC, NMC, NMC. Well, at one time it was the New Media Centers and now it is the
New Media Consortium. But what it will always be regardless of the name change, is
new media collaboration.
Joan Huntley, University of Iowa
The NMC is the premiere gathering place of higher education’s most creative people.
That is why I belong to the NMC.
Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve
2003 Conference Evaluation Quotes
The conference exceeded my expectations. A great group of creative, dedicated, very
intelligent people with enough ideas in 2 ½ days to make it feel like 10!
Peter Samis, SFMOMA
The conference absolutely exceeded my expectations. I feel energized and ready to
go back to my school and share my experiences. I truly enjoyed the breath of different
workshops and presentations.
Alan Kirker, MERLOT/University of Waterloo
Incredible opportunities to network and meet people at meals and receptions. I was
impressed by the diversity of the people attending the sessions – developers, faculty,
company representatives.
Beth Lewinski, University of Notre Dame
This was my first year to attend the conference – the conference far exceeded my
expectations. I have never experienced this level of creativity, quality, innovation and
passion at a higher education conference. Thank you!
Janet Kodish, University of California at Berkeley
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2003 NITLE Report
"It seems that the focus of NMC has shifted in recent years away from tools towards
pedagogy and better understanding the application of technology to the learning
process. Hence there is a nice match with NITLE and its goals. I believe the contacts
made and networking accomplished through NMC could be very useful for NITLE. It
seems a good investment to me. Potential collaborations, disseminations, etc. have
the potential to leverage this relatively small amount tremendously."
"Not all of the sessions were helpful, but for the most part I think I walked away with
some great new ideas. All of the conference attendees seemed willing and eager to
share knowledge and ideas from their institutions. Everyone seemed to have the same
base knowledge of technology and its value in aiding the learning process. This made
it very easy to hold an informal discussion and learn from the other attendees about
their experiences."
"NMC appears to be a resurgent body, and I am optimistic that NITLE involvement
might help them to include more sessions and activities that support the aims of our
institutions. We need to carefully consider who should attend from our institutions,
but NMC is filling a unique role for those who span the new media and instructional
technology lines. In this respect, it is importantly different than CLAC, Educause, and
other conferences."
"I believe that NMC focuses on products and practices that support pedagogy. It gives
liberal arts colleges the opportunity to see what large universities (with larger and
more specialized support staff) are developing and be exposed to emerging
technologies. We have to make very careful decisions about what how to use our
limited resources and what to bring to our small campuses so we need to see what is
going on in classrooms at all kinds of institutions."
This session was perhaps my favorite from the entire conference. I am very interested
in typography and this session grabbed my attention from beginning to end. It was
very interesting and exciting to see the innovative student work and ideas that were
presented at this session. There were some very simple concepts that can be applied
easily and take a variety of different directions. The presenter was captivating and
mediated thought provoking discussion. In talking to the presenter after the session,
he provided several wonderful resources to research this topic further.
The Pachyderm project is one of the most exciting open-source initiatives I've seen.
This web-based application is well thought out, taking into account the needs of a
unified presentation interface with a strong pedagogical foundation, usable site
manager interface, and solid back-end database support. I look forward to the 2.0
open-source version.
The presenters allocated a considerable amount of their presentation time to demo
and discussion. This hands-on discussion time is a huge benefit when considering
using a new technology or using technology in innovative ways in academic teaching
environments. Ten minutes of discussion/demo time with an expert in the use of a
particular technology in an academic environment is invaluable. Immediate and
focused feedback on what it took to support a particular project, the relative learning
curves involved, and some assessment of the technology translated into a learning
process can save one hours of individual research and test time. The NMC conference
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has the potential to break from more traditional conference structures and do just
that.
Online Learning Objects Conference Quotes
Thanks for an exceptional online experience. You folks are doing some great work
here, I appreciated the opportunity to learn from the years of work you and others
have done. I don’t know where else in the world so much topical information is
available, from such knowledgeable folks.
John Murphy, V.P. Marketing, Blackstone
Fascinating presentations and I loved the variety of means available to pursue the
discussions they catalyzed - in the Happy Hour conversation/ discussion forums
private meetings etc. As this kind of environment becomes more familiar, I can
imagine that the level of interaction will become even more rich and multi-leveled.
The technical support and personal welcome extended from the folks at iCohere was
absolutely fantastic. I know this kind of personal attention makes a huge contribution
to the overall positive experience of each conference-user. I also found Larry
Johnson's hosting to be wonderful. I enjoyed the humorous touch of passing out beer
and wine and snacks - he even found a martini for someone who requested one. :-)
Amy Lenzo, Web Designer, Clear Light Communications
I enjoyed the online experience and seeing how it was done, how to contribute, and
generally how easy it is to use. Being able to go back and review presentations
anytime of the day or night is very nice. Many conferences provided videos of the
conference. With this conference, it is built in.
Jay Nick, Manager Applied Technology, WPS Energy Services, Inc.
I liked being able to drop in and look at things when I had time. Also the fact that I
could listen to things more than once read through things over and over (if I needed
to) and could print out the information before I listened to it or afterwards if I thought
I needed to keep it. I enjoyed the whole thing and the way it was run. Do this again!
Charlene Thiessen, Program Director, GateWay Community College
Most of the presentations were very well planned & scripted with no dead time. I liked
being able to play & replay these at my convenience. The presentations were for the
most part full of new information & challenging ideas. Overall, the presentations
were of exceptional quality.
Ellen Whybrow, Instructional Designer, University of Alberta
I appreciate the opportunity to learn what others are doing in such a flexible format. I
would not have been able to attend this conference if it were not online. Being able to
pop in and out of activities as time permitted during my normal workload was great.
The presentations have been stellar! The opportunity to review the information
presented and the resources submitted with the presentations has been greater in this
environment that at an onsite conference. A big bonus is being able to continue to
browse the conference for another few months!
Janet Simons, Faculty Support Specialist, Hamilton College
[Strengths were] asynchronous access and the Breeze presentations that were nice
and short; the amount of materials/presentations were not overwhelming; and the
extended time to review materials to share with my colleagues. This was an awesome
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experience even if I could not attend any of the live chat and communication
opportunities due to scheduling. The format allowed me to do alot of exploring on
my own time and check out the wealth of resources posted by presenters and
summarized in the sections- like the gallery. I really enjoyed the online presentations
and the ability to pause and refer to posted resources. I mostly viewed from home via
modem and the connection worked amazingly well for the most part. The
presentations were all excellent in their own way even though they showed different
styles. They were pitched at the perfect level for me. I also liked the posted
discussions. I hope that NMC organizes more events along this format and there are
more online conference opportunities. Keep up the great work!!
Coco Kishi, Sr Systems Analyst, Univ of Texas at Austin
Wow! Where do I begin… Love the topic — loved the speakers — loved the
presentations — loved the environment!
Mark Neff, Computer Sciences Corporation
There is a great deal of benefit of going to links as they occur in a presentation. I never
bring my laptop with me to conferences because it's just to much weight to lug
around. But this was like having a laptop on a wireless network right in the room
during a presentation. And you could PAUSE!
Eric Likness, Analyst, University of Rochester
First, no superlative is quite good enough to tell you how valuable this experience was
on numerous levels! Content, process, new media, communication, community — the
NMC keeps raising the bar in every category. If you decide you need an NMC fellow,
let me know, I'd be ready to apply at the drop of a hat. By the way, I'm amazed at how
much energy and information I got from this meeting. As a F2F-aholic, I did not expect
that.
Ruth Sabean, Assistant Vice Provost & Director, Educational Technology, UCLA
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