IMMT Conference Shares Technology Innovation with Community of Educators

In this ever-changing age of technology, it is very difficult to keep pace with the continuous advances in the computer industry. It is even more important for educators to stay abreast of today's advances to keep themselves and their students current. In an effort to address that need, CCBC Essex hosted the Third Annual Internet and Multimedia Technology Conference and the First E-Commerce Conference on June 27-28, 2002.

The IMMT conference provides a forum for college faculty and high school teachers to share their knowledge and experience. Faculty participated in the conference with presentations, posters and hands-on workshops. Talented CCBC students also participated in select presentations.

Last year's conference was a great success, involving many faculty from CCBC and other community colleges. Teachers and students from high schools as close as Baltimore County and as far away as Gaithersburg were in attendance. The hands-on computer workshops were some of the most successful activities offered. This year, there were representatives from colleges such as Salisbury University, Morgan State University, University of Maryland, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and Towson University. Each year, attendance at the conference has steadily grown. This year, attendance reached an all-time high of 60 participants.

"This is the third year for the Internet and Multimedia Technology Conference, and it has grown significantly since we began in 1999," said Sylvia Sorkin, department chair, Math, Science, and Information. "The program has proven its popularity with students and its value to the community with impressive enrollment and exciting topics."

Some highlights of this year's conference include keynote presentations from Keith Miller, professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Springfield, and Matthew C. Lang of LCG Technologies. They presented "Taking Ownership of the Intellectual Property Issue" and "E-Business:  Who's Involved and Tips for Securing It." Conference attendees also learned how to design and develop interactive computer materials for business training, information dissemination and education.

The IMMT program also sponsored a series of workshops geared toward teaching educators how to implement technology in their lesson plans. The "Teaching with Instructional Multimedia in Mathematics and Science and the Secondary School" workshop took place July 25-26 at CCBC Essex. The series introduced teachers to software programs like Dreamweaver and Snag-It, and helped them develop interactive classroom exercises that teach science and math. Over 30 teachers from around Maryland attended the conference.