Visiting scholar to speak on technology in higher education next week
The University of Idaho will host speaking engagements about the role of technology in modern education led by William Arms, professor emeritus of computing and information science at Cornell University, on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
According to Sarah Nelson, professor and French section coordinator in the Department of Modern Language and Cultures, UI asked Arms to speak through the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society, an association through which Arms has spoken at multiple other universities across the country.
William Arms
Arms said he will speak about past application of technology in education, current diminishing technical barriers and emerging uses of technology, as well as future possibilities of technology to make higher education cheaper, easier and better, he said.
Arms will give a lecture titled “Academic Libraries in the Digital Age” at 7 p.m. Monday in the UI College of Law courtroom.
He will also be the speaker at the Malcolm Renfrew Interdisciplinary Colloquium at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Idaho Commons Whitewater room, where he will give a lecture titled “The Early Years of Academic Computing” about the history of technology in education.
Nelson said Arms coming to the Moscow campus is a great opportunity for the UI community to experience intellectual life, and the subject of his lectures are relevant to any student — especially education students.
Arms will also have a fireside chat called “Robo-Prof? The Future of Teaching & Learning in the Digital Age” with honors students at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Scholars LLC.
Arms said he grew up in England, but his father came from the Pacific Northwest and attended the University of Idaho in the 1930s and later attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Arms said his visit to UI is the first time he has been involved with Phi Beta Kappa, although his son and daughter are both members of the society.
Arms worked as vice president of the nCorporation for National Research Initiatives, vice president at Carnegie Mellon University and vice provost for computing at Dartmouth College, and has worked with the National Science Foundation on digital libraries.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected]