New university workshops feature emerging technologies

BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 1, 2010 – Trainers, teachers, and others responsible for presentations will have new opportunities this fall to help captivate their audiences. Three half-day Learning Technologies Workshops have been designed to introduce participants to inexpensive tools they can use to create more interactive learning environments.

Ten Technology Tools to Use Today, Oct. 7, will feature ways to make presentations more exciting including Papershow, Prezi, GoodReader, and more. Participants will learn how to create a Flash-based presentation and insert audio and visual comments on projects.

On Oct. 28, Emerging Technologies for Business provides hands-on opportunities to create personalized Web environments, explore interactive note-taking devices, and use iPads for business productivity processes.   

In Second Life in Business on Nov. 9, attendees will create avatars, participate in a customer-service scenario, and learn how to develop training modules within the virtual world called Second Life.

Jennifer Sparrow, Virginia Tech’s director of Emerging Technologies and New Ventures, will be teaching the workshops at the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center.

“While we had teachers and trainers in mind when we developed these workshops, anyone interested in the latest technologies should benefit from these action-packed sessions,” said Ann Brown, assistant director of Continuing and Professional Education at Virginia Tech.

Each workshop is $99, or $89 for members of the Roanoke Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development.

For information and on-line registration see Learning Technologies Workshops.

Virginia Tech’s Outreach and International Affairs supports the university’s engagement mission by creating community partnerships and economic development projects, offering professional development programs and technical assistance, and building collaborations to enrich discovery and learning – all with the overarching goal of improving the quality of life for people within the commonwealth and throughout the world. Outreach and International Affairs leads Virginia Tech’s presence on five continents; its regional research and development centers across the commonwealth focus on graduate education and professional development. Blacksburg-based centers are dedicated to student engagement, language, policy, and governance.