As a student in Full Sail's online Education Media Design & Technology degree program, Karen Williams never imagined that the research project she developed throughout her classes would reach an audience beyond her instructors and classmates.
But less than a year after graduation, Karen was selected to deliver a presentation on her topic ("Equipping Students for the 21st Century Workplace") at the EduComm Conference 2011 in Orlando. With an average attendance of more than 800 people from 300+ educational institutions, EduComm is the premier technology, strategy, vision, and networking event for forward-thinking educational leaders.
"The overall objective of my presentation was to share innovative approaches to produce a more effective and efficient 21st century student," says Karen, who works as a webmaster and training specialist at Gaston College in Dallas, NC. "I wanted to really push administrators and teachers out of their comfort zones in terms of how they engage students in the classroom."
Karen has also worked with nonprofit organizations and specialized in working with students in the realms of technology and education. Drawing upon those experiences and the things she learned in the EMDT program, she was able to craft the research project that would eventually lead her to EduComm.
"Students love to blog, design things, and tweet with one another," she says. "What my presentation proposes is that if we are able to use this technology to reach and engage them, they will be able to better demonstrate the communication skills that the corporate world requires from them. It's not about changing the curriculum of what we teach, but the methods of how we teach it."
"Out of the many professional hats I wear, nothing supersedes my love and passion to train and develop others," says Karen. "The feedback I received from my presentation was overwhelming. Throughout the conference, I constantly had people saying how they thoroughly enjoyed my ability to connect and integrate technology with education and allowed students to take ownership. I think my mission of wanting to push the envelope of how we deliver information to students was accomplished."
