2014 Annual PhD Career Colloquium Part 3: Teaching in a Corporate Environment

Dear VSPA Affiliates,

The nature of teaching careers is undergoing important changes and, though the reasons are multiple, technological advances and the continued growth of online offerings are having a profound impact on teaching at all levels, not only at institutions dedicated to education but also in the industry. This impact will continue to increase as offerings evolve and diversify and as more experimentation takes place. While the looming changes and disruption are to some a source of trepidation, they are also a great source of opportunity.

The third and final part of the Annual PhD Colloquium features a plenary speech about the nature of online education, with an overview of the present and a peek into the near future, as well as the speaker's personal experience of a successful transition to a career in online education. This will be followed by two panels, in which you will learn of recent success stories from graduate school to careers in these settings. Our guests will speak about their personal pathways and the victories that led to their current careers, as well as provide specific advice on how you can acquire and promote the relevant teaching skills so that you too can successfully gain meaningful employment.

A continental breakfast will be served at registration and a light lunch will be served during a reception after the second panel.

DATE

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

TIME

8:30am-1pm

LOCATION

Chevron Auditorium

International House

2299 Piedmont Ave

Berkeley, CA

SCHEDULE
8:30-9:00am
Registration and continental breakfast

9:00-9:05am

Welcome

Isabell Stamm, PhD

Board Member, Humanities and Social Sciences Association, UC Berkeley

9:05–10:00am

Keynote Address “The State of The Art, The Future, and Your Future”

Alberto Todeschini, PhD

Technology and Online Education Officer, UC Berkeley

Alberto Todeschini started off with Physics, earned a PhD in the history of South Asia, and currently works in computer science specializing on online education and on natural language processing. He is a consultant on online education to the Office of the CIO at a large university in the Bay Area and in his "spare time" is a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley's Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department. His transition from teaching faculty to specialist on online education took about a year. In his keynote address, Alberto will give an overview of online education, a glimpse into what the future holds, and a step-by-step description of his transition with practical suggestions on how to progress in your own career.

10:00-11:00am

Panel 1: Online Education

Chair: Andrew Green, PhD, UC Berkeley Career Center

This panel features speakers who work at the intersection of teaching and technology. They will talk about what skills are required in the field of online education and where you can start when you want to explore the digital world of teaching.