Home > A & E > UMD celebrates 10 years of technology
UMD celebrates 10 years of technology
BY DAVID SMITH
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE 17/25
TechFest, put on by UMD’s Information Technology Services and Systems (ITSS) began in 1998. Since then it has provided an annual opportunity for students, teachers and faculty members to share their innovative utilization of technology within a school setting.
TechFest will be held this Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Kirby Ballroom. “I have high hopes for this year’s turnout,” said Sheri Pihlaja, ITSS Associate and TechFest coordinator. “There are so many different types of presentations it will be hard not to find something that interests you.” Presentations will range from library technology and the evolution of teaching to assistive technology and earth-friendly snowmobiles.
TechFest will begin to take place every other year from now on, according to Pihlaja. “It will be a while before we do this again, so everyone is very excited about this year’s event,” she said. “It would be worth anyone’s time to stop by even if only for a short while.”
The UMD Library will be showing things like a vinyl record-to-MP3 converter, kindle book reader and will discuss advances like a more functional catalog, reference assistance 24/7 (via chat) and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds that will alert students of new materials in the library.
“Disability Services & Resources is putting together a display of the differences between assistive technology used by people with and without disabilities from 10 or more years ago,” said Pam Griffin, coordinator of General Disability Services and Resources. “Having assistive technology available has assisted students with disabilities compete more equally with other students on campus. If more high schools would make this [assistive technology] available to students: we might even see more students coming to college.”
Admission is free, and there is ample opportunity to walk away with a new respect for the innovative community here at UMD and maybe even one of over 30 prizes that will be given away, which were donated to TechFest by Jim Kolar of the Computer Corner at the UMD Bookstore.
