Martin Wolske, GSLIS research scientist and adjunct lecturer, presented his paper, "Technology Education and Engaged Scholarship: The Professional, Personal, and Political," at the National Outreach Scholarship Conference (NOSC) at the University of Alabama on October 1. NOSC brings together faculty, staff, administrators, students, and community partners to disseminate research, discuss issues, share questions, and advance the study of campus-community partnerships.
Wolske's paper addresses the importance of human interaction in teaching and applying technology in society, lessons he has learned from teaching the GSLIS service-learning course, Introduction to Networked Information Systems:
Just as people with hammers tend to see all problems as nails, teaching computer skills can undermine human interactions. My 12-year teaching journey has led to open-ended approaches to technology design and implementation that value the relationships among learners more than the computers and tools they are learning to use.
The full text of the paper is available in IDEALS, the digital repository for scholarly works at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Wolske is the recipient of the 2011 Library Journal Teaching Award. In 2010, he and members of his Introduction to Network Information Systems class received the Champaign Park District's Service Award for significant contributions to the Park District's parks and facilities.