BSU set to host Electronic Academy

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 1, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Bemidji State University will be the focus of higher education in Minnesota this week as it hosts the first-ever Electronic Academy Summer Institute -- a conference expected to draw more than 350 faculty and staff from the state's universities and colleges.

The summer institute, starting Monday and running through Thursday, will host representatives of each of the original 22 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses that received electronic academy grants from the state Legislature to explore new methods of enhancing classroom instruction and delivering courses through electronic means.

"Education has clearly begun to move in the direction of virtual communities and distance learning delivery," said Barb Hanus, a BSU industrial technology professor and an institute steering committee member. "The program will provide a forum for discussion and debate of issues related to the transformation of the education community in preparation for the 21st century."

Beginning Monday evening with a nationally known keynote speaker, Hanus said conference participants will be busy throughout the week with sessions concerning electronic delivery of education, a vendor fair demonstrating the latest in electronic delivery, specific sessions aimed at post-secondary educators, legislative panels and futurists from the fields of education and business.

"This is the first seminar in the state dealing with electronic delivery, and BSU got one of the first grants for Electronic Academy work. So we're hosting it," Hanus said Friday. "We hope to bring the (schools who have received Electronic Academy grants) together with other institutions from across the state to talk about electronic education on- and off-campus. even the University of Minnesota will be involved."

Bob Topor, a leading thinker and writer about the positioning and marketing of higher education, will kick off the conference Monday with the keynote speech, "Paradigm Shift in Higher Education." Tuesday, Pam Dixon, an author of several computer technology books, will speak, and Michael Allen, a computer multimedia expert will speak Wednesday.

According to a BSU, news release, the conference is divided into two segments. The first, Monday through early Wednesday, will focus on distance learning, technology on higher education campuses and the changing environments within higher education. The last day and a half will address specific classroom and pedagogical topics.

"We're hoping the summer institute will be an annual event," Hanus said. "But whether BSU will host it again next year remains to be seen."