For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
March 1, 2004 Doug Stone
(651) 696-6203

Instructional Technologists from Liberal Arts Colleges
to Meet at Macalester March 18 - 20, 2004

St. Paul, Minn. - Macalester College will host the Midwest Instructional Technology Center Conference (MITC), "Instructional Technologists at Liberal Arts Colleges 2004: Critically Evaluating Technologies for a Liberal Arts Context," a symposium bringing together instructional technologists and academics from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) and the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA), on Thurs., March 18, through Sat., March 20, at various locations on campus, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minn. The conference represents the collaborative efforts of a planning team of Instructional Technologists from Carleton College, DePauw University, Earlham College, Grinnell College, and Kenyon College, as well as Macalester College and the Midwest Instructional Technology Center.

The conference will focus on how instructional technologists can critically analyze instructional and informational technologies. Sessions will articulate curricular needs relevant to residential liberal arts colleges; evaluate technologies based on these needs and amplify ongoing efforts to ground instructional technologists in the learning communities they support, rather than in the technologies they adopt. Conference sessions will include hands-on pre-conference workshops, plenary speakers, panel discussions, break-out discussions and "5-Minute Showcases" that highlight ongoing work at MITC member campuses.

The symposium features two keynote addresses:
* Thursday, March 18, "Shaping the Dialogues: The Roles of Instructional Technology in Liberal Arts Education," presented by Dennis Trinkle, director of 361° Initiatives, coordinator of Information Services and Technology, and Tenzer University professor in Instructional Technology, DePauw University;
* Friday, March 19, "Technology in Learning Environments," presented by
Scott Macklin, Chief Information Office, College of Education, University of Washington.

MITC is an initiative of two consortia, ACM and GLCA, made up of 26 small, selective liberal arts colleges in the central United States. In 2001, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded the MITC funding for an initial four-year period as part of the Foundation's Centers Strategy. MITC's objective is to enable ACM and GLCA colleges to develop and promote innovative, sustained, and effective multi-campus collaborations that improve teaching and learning in the liberal arts tradition for undergraduate students through the use of instructional technology.

Macalester is a private liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,810 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and service to society.
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