Crosstalk Seminar - Making Work Visible: The Learning Portal Project at Emerson College

The Emerson College Learning Portal Project is the latest and most ambitious iteration in their experiments in multimedia pedagogy. Combining blog and portal technology, this system has implications for pedagogy, software design, and the ways in which software does or does not reflect the actual craft practices of teaching and learning.

(If you miss this Crosstalk event you can view it online. Links to the streaming media are usually added to this article within two weeks of the event.)

Abstract
Since 1996, Emerson has been developing different approaches to multimedia pedagogy and a succession of systems supporting this work. A core concern has been to develop software that is easy to use, adaptable, and integrated with other elements of our campus computing environment. We have also sought to build applications that support studio methods of instruction and critique, and provide for the possibility of individual and institutional curatorship. The blog + portfolio system we developed under the banner of the Emerson Learning Portal Project is the latest and most ambitious iteration in this series of development projects. In this presentation, I will discuss this project with particular attention to issues of planning and integration.

About the speaker
David Bogen is Associate Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College. His research is in areas of social theory, science and technology studies, ethnomethodology, and the philosophy of language. For the past six years he has worked as a faculty member and administrator on the initiative in "Digital Culture" at Emerson, which has brought together faculty, IT professionals, instructional technologists, and developers to design curriculum and software associated with multimedia pedagogy.

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