NITLE Symposium: Inventing the Future

Program Description

How do the tools, methods, and communication practices of the digital age enhance liberal education? What innovative models and practices demonstrate how to improve learning, help faculty and students be ambitious in course work and scholarship, and lend more effective support to the academic mission of liberal arts colleges? How can digital modes of communication complement face-to-face learning? How can technology enable students to work creatively, allow them to make sense of massive amounts of data, help them ask and answer interesting questions, and empower them to break down barriers as they pursue answers and solutions via highly collaborative processes?

Under the theme “Inventing the Future: Innovative Models and Practices in Liberal Education,” the 2012 NITLE Symposium will focus on innovations extensible to other liberal arts campuses, such as new learning resources and models, organizational structures, digital modes of scholarship, and other topics relevant to the future of liberal education. Focused on the intersection of liberal education, inquiry, and information technology, it provides a unique opportunity for open, cross-professional, national exchange among faculty, technologists, librarians, and administrators from liberal arts colleges and universities in the NITLE Network.

Through this event, NITLE aims to bring 100-150 innovators together to think about the future of liberal education and engage in frank, stimulating discussion about practical solutions. These innovators will take advantage of an intense, focused forum to help invent the future of liberal arts colleges, network, and connect with potential collaborators.

Follow developments and contribute your thoughts via Twitter at #nitlesym.

Participation

Online registration is open and will close on Monday, April 2. The registration fee for members of the NITLE Network is $300; the non-member rate is $550. (Fee includes dinner on April 16, breakfast/lunch on April 17.) 

Innovation Studio

NITLE is launching the Innovation Studio, a new program to develop entrepreneurial leadership in liberal arts colleges. Inspired by design thinking, project-based learning, and start-up accelerators, the Innovation Studio offers a structure for librarians, information technologists, academic support staff, and other qualified candidates from across the NITLE Network to collaborate in tackling thorny challenges. This competitive program is designed to produce two significant results: innovative solutions to critical issues in liberal education and a set of entrepreneurial, knowledgeable leaders well-prepared to help build a robust future for liberal education. During the Symposium, members of project teams will present their ideas to Symposium attendees and hold intense, face-to-face working sessions in which they develop project prototypes and receive feedback and guidance from mentors. To learn more about the Innovation Studio, please see “Announcing the NITLE Innovation Studio.”

Sponsorship

Symposium and Innovation Studio sponsorships are available at $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000. For information on sponsor benefits, please contact Marcia Hawkins, associate director for development, mhawkins@nitle.org.

Questions

If you have questions about this event, please contact Arden Baxter at abaxter@nitle.org.