LiveWire 68 - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY

ePortfolio Conference...
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both here and elsewhere.
While some attendees came to
LaGuardia hoping to get up to speed on
the newest developments in the field, others
immersed themselves in new and sometimes
challenging content. Harriet Shenkman,
Director of Bronx Community College/
CUNY’s Center for Teaching Excellence,
praised the conference as “comprehensive
and extremely informative, if not dauntingly
so,” and Clarence Chan, of LaGuardia’s
own Natural and Applied Sciences Department,
agreed, calling it “inspirational and
exhausting, but well worth it.” This same
range of content compelled another visitor,
Michael Coventry, from the Communication,
Culture & Technology Program at Georgetown
University, to laud a conference
program that enabled “total newbies [to the
field of ePortfolio] to connect, while still
providing practical content for folks who
are more familiar with the issues to avidly
take notes.”
Regardless of their individual levels of
expertise, conference attendees from as far
away as Hawaii and Australia remarked
admiringly upon the shared energy and
commitment to learning that was palpable
throughout the weekend. Julie Hughes, a
Principal Lecturer in Innovations in Learning
and Teaching who traveled to Queens all
the way from the University of Wolverton in
the U.K., called her presentation team’s
experience “truly inspirational” and looked
forward to “returning home full of exciting
new ideas and renewed passion.” Echoing
that sentiment from a more local perspective,
Jean Darcy, Associate Professor of English at
Queensborough Community College, left the
conference moved by “the positive spirit that
infused all the exchanges,” adding, “It was
good to be there.”
Another consensus opinion that emerged
from the weekend highlighted the peerless
hospitality of the LaGuardia community. The
conference organizers made the strategic
decision early on to hold the event on
campus, instead of in a hotel or conference
center, in order to show off where we do
our work on a day-to-day basis, as well as
the great LaGuardia community. Visiting
from the English Department at Virginia
Tech, Nancy Metz praised the “welcoming
and hospitable” LaGuardia community and
12 www.laguardia.edu
LaGuardia President Gail O. Mellow
speaking at the ePortfolio conference
added that “the experience of being in the
school itself was quite inspiring.”
The true stars of this effort were the CTL’s
staff of white conference t-shirt-clad student
technology mentors, who were consistently
heralded for their friendly smiles, enthusiastic
direction, and spot-on troubleshooting.
Their outstanding work reflected a top-tobottom
commitment throughout the entire
institution that another guest, William Tally,
from the Center for Children and Technology
at NY’s Education Development Center,
recognized when he applauded “the entire
LaGuardia community—faculty, administrators
and student tutors, all passionate about
learning and making a difference for
LaGuardia’s students. And now spreading
outward.” Hannalyn Wilkens, Chair of
LaGuardia’s Communication Skills Department,
described the feel of the event
perhaps most succinctly when she called it
“a marvelous success” that made her “proud
to be a LaGuardian.”
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PTK Conference...
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restaurant, Gino’s, for the sake of comparison.
When I stood in front of the cashier I
saw a sign saying, “Buy Our ‘Speak English
T-Shirt,’” and another one with an eagle
and the American flag, declaring: “This is
America, when ordering please speak
English.” I thought, “Should I polish my
accent before ordering?” I decided to eat
my second cheese steak at Pat’s where my
English/Spanish accent was welcomed,
and where non-English speakers were not
considered persona non-grata. The bad
moment faded when we took a taxi back to
the conference. The Nigerian driver was
playing music from his homeland and
singing so happily that I quickly forgot what
had happened.
The afternoon session featured Christiane
Amanpour, the French-Iranian, New Yorkbased
chief international correspondent for
CNN, who has reported on crises in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Somalia,
Rwanda and the Balkans. I had been
anxiously awaiting this event. Ms. Amanpour’s
talk was definitely transformative. She spoke
about current politics and stated that America
is perceived very poorly around the
world. “People have lost their admiration for
America,” she said.
During the panel discussion, she was
asked what things make her lose sleep.
“There is too much education for some
people, but too little understanding,” she
replied. She gave the example of kids who
possess so much technology, yet are not
being taught how to properly manage these
devices so they are not controlled by them.
She concluded that “The key to survival is
good education,” and noted that this country’s
foreign policy would have been far
more effective if it invested in the education
systems in such countries as Pakistan, rather
than providing these nations with funds for
their military.
After a successful day, the team went to
the Old City Cultural District, famously
known for its nightlife. We danced salsa at
the Cuba Libre club. The group, whose
members come from Peru, Colombia, Puerto
Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica,
Hungary and Venezuela were united by
music, laughter and dance.
Day 3. It felt like a sack of bricks hit my
face when the alarm woke me up to go to
the fourth general session. The political
columnist George Will was the day’s
keynote speaker. After that, we had some
free time so we took the subway and rode
to the Community College of Philadelphia.
From there we walked to Logan Square
where you can see the Free Library of
Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute Science
Museum and the Cathedral of Saint Peter
and Paul. We headed to the Philadelphia
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