“We’re in the middle of a revolution,” 乐播传媒 President Elaine Tuttle Hansen said at midday on April 30, “and it’s a hard place to see from.”

But Hansen, other members of the 乐播传媒 community and three visiting scholars spent that afternoon seeking a better view of the academy’s work amidst the tumult, amidst the creation and destruction, wrought by digital media.

That was the revolution Hansen invoked as she convened “The Teaching and Learning Shift: Diversity and Technology in the 21st Century,” her third annual symposium exploring issues of diversity at 乐播传媒.

The event examined the intersections of diversity and technology, and what they portend for academe. But if the title was “The Teaching and Learning Shift,” a different and bigger kind of shift resonated throughout: The changes in power structure, the threats and opportunities, that generational transitions in media and diversity hold out.

Take, for example, the surfeit of content on the Internet, and the potential and the dilemma it presents to faculty. If knowledge is power, who has the greatest leverage: the professor with his Great Books or the kid with the Google smarts?

Symposium organizer Leslie Hill, associate professor of politics and special assistant to the president for diversity initiatives, laid the day’s thematic groundwork in her introduction.

The event put a new spin on the old commonplace of the generation gap. It examined two new distinctions between today’s students, on the one hand,and their parents and teachers on the other. First, as diversity has become more visible and cultural boundaries more permeable, young people experience and perceive diversity quite differently from their elders.

Second, as Hill said, “today’s learners use tools unavailable, and perhaps unthinkable, to earlier generations” 鈥� a profound adaptation to technology evidenced through the afternoon by the term “digital natives,” young people whose ease with digital media is virtually innate.

The opening panel introduced the guests and concepts for consideration. , associate professor of new media at the University of Maine, offered variations on the idea that digital media can be a robust tool for empowerment and for subverting old, destructive hierarchical habits in the classroom. Examples from UMaine, such as a “” site that allows students to aggregate, tag and contextualize scholarly articles, were intriguing.

, an authority on African American film and culture and a professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, introduced herself with examples of real impacts that digital media have made in the civic and political realms. The outstanding case was the Obama campaign’s skillful use of online organizing; less known was the use journalist Howard Witt made of the African American blogosphere to showcase a instance of racial injustice in Texas.

, associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, studies the interaction of information technologies and social inequalities. She challenged common wisdom about digital media users, suggesting that differences in skill among young people create a participation gap 鈥� and that those differences are driven by socio-economic background and educational attainment, among other factors.

Breakout sessions ran through the afternoon, with Blais, Everett and Hargittai making note of salient themes, concerns and suggestions for action. Three sessions explored the role of digital technology in teaching and learning, while others looked at civic engagement through digital media, and at identity and difference.

During the breakout session “Digital Media and the Arts,” faculty members praised the Web as the source of what they need most: easy and quick access to video clips of artists’ works, often through services like YouTube.

“Dance is visual, and to teach dance I must have visual materials or it doesn’t make sense to students,” said Carol Dilley, assistant professor of dance.

Take famed choreographers like Mark Morris or Bill T. Jones: Reviews of their work often use similar phrases, like “gender-bending,” Dilley told the group. “But when students see YouTube clips, they immediately see that they are nothing alike.”

But faculty also see a downside of this click-and-view aspect of teaching. Online visual content is often presented without canonical context, so even more than before, faculty have to work hard to “fill in” the missing ideas, said Dale Chapman, assistant professor of music.

The closing session was designed to distill from the ferment of the day ideas that would inform, as Hill put it, “the ongoing process of crafting the 乐播传媒 education.”

Hargittai described the breakout sessions as “incredibly rich,” and the panelists harvested a tantalizing bouquet of ideas. Among the salient findings:

鈥� Technology is often made a scapegoat for other problems. For instance, the generational divide among users is exaggerated, and, as Everett said, can create a destructive false dichotomy.

鈥� Still, the divide is real. As Everett reported, “There have to be reward structures to encourage faculty to engage with the black hole of technology.” At the same time, the current practice of hardware and technical instruction is incomplete 鈥� the missing piece being guidance in the effective pedagogical application of high-tech tools.

鈥� The faculty’s job of teaching critical discernment and evaluation is more important than ever in the digital world. “Faculty have to acknowledge students’ expertise,” Hargittai said, “but not abdicate their power.”

Blais told a story about a faculty member who was using Facebook to take a student to task about late assignments 鈥� and how the student later used the same public forum to press the professor to deliver an overdue assessment of the student’s thesis.

Blais concluded the tale, to appreciative laughter, with something a 乐播传媒 student said during the afternoon: “The power structures that permeate the academic world were not made for Facebook.”

Experts in teaching, learning, and technology present the framework for the College鈥檚 third annual presidential symposium exploring issues of diversity. Held April 30, the afternoon event mostly examined how digital media have changed the power structures of teaching and learning. As 乐播传媒 Magazine writer [intlink id=”9524″ type=”post”]Doug Hubley noted in his online story[/intlink]: 鈥淭ake, for example, the surfeit of content on the Internet, and the potential and the dilemma it presents to faculty. If knowledge is power, who has the greatest leverage: the professor with his Great Books or the kid with the Google smarts?鈥� From left, Joline Blais, associate professor of new media at the University of Maine; Eszter Hargittai, associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern; Anna Everett, an authority on African American film and culture and a professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and event organizer Leslie Hill, 乐播传媒 associate professor of politics and special assistant to the president for diversity initiatives.

Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen

President Hansen has convened two Presidential Symposia, in 2007 and 2008, around issues of diversity and changing U.S. demographics.

In May 2007 and 2008, I convened a Presidential Symposium focusing on issues related to diversity and inclusiveness, values that define, inspire, and challenge 乐播传媒. This year, members of the 乐播传媒 campus community were joined by current and former Trustees, alumni, and visitors from around the region to welcome Morris Dees, founder and chief trial lawyer of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Reflecting the symposium’s theme, “Unswerving Values, Changing Times,” Dees used personal narrative to explain his deep faith in the power of love and justice to break down barriers in U.S. society that still divide us. “The march for justice…didn’t end when slavery was abolished, when women got the right to vote or when gays and lesbians obtained more rights,” Dees said. “The march for justice continues today.”

Dees and the SPLC continue to seek legal redress against all forms of discrimination and to help U.S. educators teach respect and understanding in the classroom. In recent years, their researchers and investigators traveled the country to “take the temperature” of society vis-脿-vis issues of prejudice, racism, and hate crimes. “Universally,” said Dees, “people were saying, 鈥榃e are better than that. These people committing these acts: they don’t represent us.’ We found people reaching out to victims of hate and intolerance and prejudice and saying…鈥榃e want you to be a part of us, and we want to be a part of you.'”

Dees’ personal message built on the theme of last year’s inaugural symposium, “A College for 鈥楥oming Time’: Diversity and Changing Demographics in Higher Education.” Our 2007 speakers were Trustee Jamie Merisotis ’86, founder of the Institute for Higher Education Policy and recently appointed president of the Lumina Foundation, and Blenda Wilson, former president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The coming demographic changes that they discussed are profound.

In the next decade, the country’s population will continue to shift west and south, moving away from the Northeast. Many regions, and especially New England 鈥� 乐播传媒’ primary “market” since 1855 鈥� will see a significant decline in white high school graduates. Hispanics, African Americans, and other population groups who currently have less access to higher education will increase significantly.

America’s demographics are changing, and we welcome the opportunity this gives us to continue fulfilling the promise of Oren Cheney, our forward-looking founder who dreamt of educating young people who did not have easy access to higher education in his day. As our campus fosters diversity broadly defined, all present and future students benefit.

Morris Dees (left) talks with President Hansen before his keynote address in the Chapel. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen

Our Presidential Symposia are part of an initiative focused on the student experience before, during, and after life at 乐播传媒. In the early stages of this initiative, we have seen promising results in recruiting and matriculating record numbers of students from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. In the alumni arena, this fall’s Homecoming program, “Faces of 乐播传媒 Across the Decades,” on Oct. 25, will be a day for alumni and students of color to make and strengthen connections.

Given our legacy and our determination today, 乐播传媒 is well-positioned to play a leadership role in realizing the educational value of diversity.

At 乐播传媒, in the curriculum and in campus life, challenging the intellect and respecting the person are equally valued. We are a tight-knit community, but we also treasure the capacity and courage to disagree frankly.

At 乐播传媒, we are close but not close-minded. We have shown ourselves willing at important times to be agents of change.

At 乐播传媒, we have never been cursed with an overwhelming sense of our own entitlement. Yet we can take great pride in the accomplishments of the many 乐播传媒 alums who become leaders in their fields, including those who toil both inside and outside the limelight to improve society’s well-being.

While the tactics we employ to enhance diversity and inclusion will continue to change over time, our goals will not. At 乐播传媒, we seek excellence that is not elitist or self-serving. We seek to provide an education that prepares highly promising young minds from all backgrounds to work, to lead, to solve problems and to serve in the richly diverse and ever-changing world.

By Elaine Tuttle Hansen

Morris Dees

Weaving stories from the Bible, from the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and from his own biography, Southern Poverty Law Center co-founder Morris Dees presents a compelling, sometimes emotional address at 乐播传媒 College on May 8 as the Presidential Symposium keynote speaker.聽From MPBN’s Speaking in Maine. (Total time: 1:07:42) [More…]

About 150 乐播传媒 faculty, staff, students, college Trustees and members of the local community attended and engaged in the presidential symposium A College for “Coming Time”: Diversity and Changing Demographics in Higher Education, convened by聽President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

Symposium proceedings are now online, including:

• Welcoming remarks by President聽Hansen;
• Keynote presentation by Jamie P. Merisotis ’86,聽Trustee and聽president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy;
• Closing remarks by聽former聽president and CEO of the Blenda J. Wilson;
• Symposium photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

乐播传媒 College President Elaine Tuttle Hansen hosts a symposium titled “A College for Coming Time: Diversity and the Changing Demographics of Higher Education” on May 10 at Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Free and open to the public, the symposium begins at 1:30 p.m. with opening remarks by Hansen, followed by a keynote presentation on the changing demographics of higher education by Jamie P. Merisotis, a 1986 乐播传媒 graduate, trustee, and president of The Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C.

At 3 p.m., attendees will break into small group discussions for an hour.

Following a refreshment break, attendees will reconvene 4:15 p.m. for closing remarks by Blenda J. Wilson, former president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

The symposium title comes in part from early writings of 乐播传媒 founder Oren B. Cheney, who envisioned a new institution of learning to serve those who did not have easy access to higher education. “It is enough to say that our plan is broad,” Cheney wrote in 1856. “We mean to found an institution for coming time鈥�.We, as a village, will put our hands and our hearts to the work.”

“Cheney’s words are particularly meaningful today,” said Hansen. “Given the rapidly changing demographics of the region and the nation, it falls to our generation to sustain the founding vision while building for a radically different future.”

Hansen noted that this is a time of great striving at 乐播传媒 as students, faculty and staff seek to sustain the promise of inclusive excellence. “We aspire to increase access and enhance the diversity of this college,” she said. “A learning environment that does not sufficiently reflect and explore the complexity of the world outside its gates and prepare students for full and active participation in a global society falls short of the high standard of excellence for which 乐播传媒 is rightly known.”

More information on the symposium is available by phone at 207-786-6336.