Concordia's Educational Technology Program Celebrates Its Fortieth Anniversary

CONTACT:
Saul Carliner, 514.848.2424 x2038
saulcarliner@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To honor the fortieth anniversary of its launching, the Educational Technology Program at Concordia University is hosting a series of events:

• The Educational Technology Showcase, scheduled 9h00 to 12h30, Thursday, March 12, 2009, which is intended to provide people who make and influence purchasing decisions on educational technology with valuable input from the research that they can use in decision making. The event is intended to feature the Concordia community as presenters and, as participants, would draw policy makers, school and university administrators, and corporate and NGO leaders. It would result in a publishable “Scorecard” that participants can refer to when making decisions.
• The Educational Technology Symposium, scheduled June 28-30, 2009, which will be a 3-day event in late June or early July intended to highlight contributions by the Concordia educational technology community and their applications in real-world educational technology session. The event will also feature a 40th reunion event for alumni.
• A website highlighting 40 years of developments in educational technology, as well as publications resulting from the three public events. To see the website, visit http://doe.concordia.ca/etec40/

In addition, the program sponsored a Fall Colloquium earlier in the month, a live webcast. The session, which explored Diverging Directions in Educational Technology, featured Terry Anderson, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Athabasca University; Francois Desjardins, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, Ontario Institute of Technology; Manu Kapur, Assistant Professor, Learning Sciences and Technology (LST) Academic Group, National Institute of Education of Singapore; and Harold Stolovitch, Professor Emeritus, Universite de Montreal and Clinical Professor, University of Southern California.

Concordia University launched its graduate Educational Technology program in September 1968 at then-Sir George Williams University. The program began by offering an MA degree, and has since added a Diploma in Instructional Technology (1972) and a PhD in Educational Technology (1981), converted this year to a PhD in Education). It is the oldest such program in the country and has graduated over 1,000 students, who work in the field positions throughout the world. Professor Gary Boyd, a founding member of this program, continues to serve on the faculty. Professor Bob Bernard directs the graduate programs.