Keynote Speaker

Paul R. Hagner

Associate Program Director
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Virtual Scaffolding: Linking K-12, Higher Ed and the Economic Sector to Ensure U.S. Competitiveness

March 23
Salon A
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Abstract

There are increasingly urgent warning signs that America is losing its competitive edge in the global marketplace, especially in enterprises that involve scientific and engineering applications. Higher education must transform the way it prepares students for their roles in this new economic landscape. "Virtual Scaffolding" is one way by which higher education can link K-12 educators with the needs and demands of the global economic marketplace.

Brief Biography

Paul R. Hagner is the Associate Program Director of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (formally known as the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative.) Most recently, he served as a senior advisor for technology planning and assessment at the University of Hartford. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science (with a minor in Journalism) from Indiana University. He spent 18 years on the faculty at Washington State University, where he served as chair of the Political Science department and received WSU's William F. Mullen Award for Teaching Excellence. He spent five years on the faculty at the University of Memphis, where he was also named departmental chair. In 2000, he was chosen to be a Fellow for the NLII, focusing on the area of technological transformation of higher education institutions. Hagner is the co-author of a textbook on political behavior and co-editor of a Jossey-Bass volume on faculty engagement and support. He has written numerous articles on various aspects of the American political system, public opinion and how higher education institutions must deal with the social and technological changes confronting them. He also has been a frequent guest on affiliate radio and television broadcasts serving as a political commentator.