Event Description
In the 1960s, Clark Kerr
spoke of the modern research university as the “City of Intellect.” As the
Internet became a commodity in the 1990s, the metaphor of the “information
superhighway” was used to explain the potential of this new light-speed global telecommunications
network. When these two metaphors converged at the turn of the century,
universities looked to online learning as an opportunity best imagined in terms
of information superhighways, with a resulting emphasis on “content delivery”
and “scaling.” But as Jane Jacobs argued in her classic The Death and
Life of Great American Cities, cities are more than superhighways, and
should be built around ideas of walkability, serendipity, and the kinds of
connections that emerge within cities and form their crucial social and
cultural infrastructure. In this talk, Dr. Gardner will make the case for
the philosophy of “connected learning” as a way to use Jacobs’ vision, and the
moral crisis it diagnoses, to inspire a more humane and effective approach to
online learning.
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Gardner Campbell, Ph.D.
Gardner Campbell currently serves as Associate Professor of
English at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where for
nearly three years he also served as Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Student
Success and Dean of VCU’s University College. He is an intellectual omnivore, a
former radio announcer, a professor (Milton and Renaissance studies, film
studies, new media studies), and a bassist. Gardner has worked in teaching
and learning technologies for over twenty-five years, nearly fifteen of those
(to his great surprise) as an administrator. He’s been a member of numerous
advisory boards as well as the governing board of the New Media Consortium,
serving as chair in 2011-2012 and again in 2017-18. He also speaks frequently
at conferences and workshops, both nationally and internationally (Sweden,
Canada, Italy, Australia): here are his three most-watched YouTube videos. You can read
his blog, “Gardner Writes,” at www.gardnercampbell.net and find him on Twitter @gardnercampbell.
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