Spring 2010 Meeting

Meeting Introduction

To begin the process of identifying the needs of the biology education researchers who would like to assess technology in undergraduate biology education, a meeting was held in Denton, TX on April 30th and May 1st, 2010. The planning group, UNT staff, and 9 invited biology education researchers and related experts attended this meeting. (The information below relates to meeting logistics and retained for archival purposes)

Meeting Goals

  • identifying the needs of researchers in this field that could be addressed by a research network
  • developing a blueprint of the infrastructure needed for such a network
  • forming the nucleus of the research community that will benefit from and use this research network

Pre-Meeting Assignments

Please read over the goals of the meeting as listed above and think about how you can contribute to this network both as someone who might help build the community, provide advice, or identifying your own research needs that could be served by this network. Prior to the meeting (by Wednesday if possible) please contribute posts on these topics in the discussion forum (Researchers who were not able to attend the spring 2010 meeting are also invited to join in on these discussions):

  1. Introduction - Introduce yourself to the group and tell us a little about yourself.
  2. Research Network - How does this proposed research network relate to your work (if applicable) or how do you see yourself contributing to its development through either similar experiences or your particular expertise? If you are not sure, maybe ask some questions to help us all think about it with you.
  3. Research Needs - What do you see as some of the issues or needs relating to research on the effective use of technology in undergraduate biology education? Are there particular challenges that you would like to address or other topics of interest that we might begin to discuss prior to the meeting?

Extra Opportunity - Second Life "Field Trip"

We will be meeting on Saturday morning with Mary Anne Clark at her Second Life "Genome Island". Second Life is a virtual world hosted by Linden Labs. It is free to join, but it takes a little bit of practice to learn how to get around with your avatar. We would like as many as you as possible to be "in-world" as an avatar for that experience (we can project it as well in the meeting room, but it is not the same). If you don't already have a Second Life account, please create one at www.secondlife.com and download the viewer software on the laptop that you plan to bring to the meeting (I would recommend you all bring a laptop if possible - wireless access will be available at both the hotel and on-campus). Try out the Welcome areas and send a friend request to me (my Second Life avatar name is "Lee12 Darwinian").

Meeting Logistics and Information

Here is some of the logistical information for persons attending the meeting.

Arriving Thursday, April 29th - Most of your are arriving this evening. Please book your shuttle directly to the Marriott Courtyard in Denton. The hotel's contact information is:

Courtyard Marriott
2800 Colorado Blvd
Denton, TX 76210
940-382-4600

Hotel rooms have been booked for both nights for everyone who confirmed that they were attending (unless you told me other arrangements).

Arriving Friday, April 30th - For anyone arriving Friday, you should go directly to the UNT Environmental Education, Science, and Technology building (EESAT) at 1704 West Mulberry, Denton, Texas. We will be in room 320A from 9:00am-10:30am, in room 360 from 10:30am-noon, and then in 320A for the remainder of the afternoon.

Return on Saturday

At the beginning of the meeting, we will discuss return options to the airport and coordinate group transportation for Saturday.

Meals

Breakfast both days will be at 7:45am in the hotel.
Lunch Friday will be a taco buffet catered by El Guapo's Restaurant
Dinner Friday will be held at Texas Roadhouse (steak restaurant located adjacent to your hotel)
Lunch Saturday will be a "take with you" Subway sandwich meal

Reimbursement

Be sure that you save all receipts for travel expenses that you incur. Please also send a copy of your airline itinerary to Mandi Edwards at UNT as soon as possible. Expenses can only be reimbursed after we have received all your receipts. Please speak with Mandi while you are on campus if there are any questions.

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