Savannah - The Lady and Sons, and a sad farewell

I should quickly dispense with conference information, but today was the best!! Les Howles, Senior e-Learning Consultant, University of Wisconsin, Madison, was the main presenter for the entire day. His two presentations, "Designing Multimedia for e-Learning," and "Getting Started With Games and Simulations for e-Learning" were excellent. Les has a keen interest in exploring new methods and technologies, yet constantly asks, "What does learning theory research tell us?" "What does cognitive research tell us?" His presentations were the most balanced I've heard on these topics. Presenters are often so evangelical and enthusiastic about multimedia, games and simulations, that they gloss over the real questions about whether or not learning really occurs, or is even enhanced by, the technology being promoted. Les talked about multimedia design, factors that enhance long-term memory storage, how to avoid cognitive overload, podcasting, PowerPoint presentations, games and simulations. He demonstrated many practical examples, both good and bad. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, has an active research program on multimedia for education and provides many resources for educators. So, in the three days I've been here, conference presentations are ranked as follows: today was best, Sunday was second best, and Monday ranks a distant third. Other conference attendees seem to agree.

"3:30 p.m. The Faculty Development Institute ends on time each day." is the statement on our conference schedule. And indeed it does end on time. The afternoon rains also ended on time, and I promptly headed out to tour the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This Catholic congregation began in the late 1700's as French and Haitian refugees came to Alabama. It is called the "Mother Church of the Savannah Diocese." The cathedral recently underwent a $12 million renovation. The inside has wonderful carvings of the stations of the cross, paintings of the four evangelists, beautiful stained glass windows and is beautifully decorated. The organ was being tuned when I first entered the church. After 15-20 minutes of sustained, sometimes dissonant, tones, the organist began playing. I sat down, closed my eyes, and let the music flow all around me.

After I left the cathedral I had about one free hour before the evening social activity. I spent about half that time walking along Bull Street - the E-W dividing line for street numbers. A unique aspect of this street is that it is interrupted by beautiful squares (see previous post) every 2-3 blocks. It is such a pleasure to encounter these frequent green shady oases. At the southern end of Bull Street is Forsythe Park and a beautiful fountain. On the way back to the conference hotel I found a nice tea room and stopped for a pot of white tea and an almond biscotto.

The evening social activity was dinner at The Lady & Sons - Paula Deen's (of Food Channel fame) restaurant. Wow!! I'm still munching on antacid tablets, and not because the food was bad! We paid a flat fee for the dinner buffet. I had ribs, creamed corn, collard greens, baby lima beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans w/ ham, green salad, carrot salad, a biscuit, Guinness, Bass Ale, and peach cobbler - hence the previous reference to antacid tablets. A group of us decided to walk back to the hotel instead of taking transportation provided by the conference organizers.

Tomorrow I head back home. I'm skipping the morning conference session in order to catch a noon flight. I've met many wonderful people at this conference - actually referred to as an institute. It was a small gathering - eighty people attended. The small number of attendees, informal lunches, and organized social events helped us get to know each other in a short period of time. Savannah is a beautiful city and this is a wonderful time of the year to visit - especially since I heard Goshen just received 8+ inches of snow. It will be a sad farewell.