Release: Immediate
Contact: Stephen Roulier or Barbara Campanella

WELLEN DAVISON SEMINAR AT WESTERN NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE TO

DEBUT NEW VERSION OF COURSE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

SPRINGFIELD, MA…Western New England College will present a Wellen Davison Seminar on Thursday, January 9 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in D'Amour Library. The topic will be "Teaching with Technology: The Debut of Manhattan II." The seminar will feature the new and improved Manhattan course management software. This event is free and open to the public.

Steve Narmontas, manager of the College's Educational Technology Center and the developer of Manhattan, has improved this course management software with a new version. Modules such as testing, surveys, and threaded discussions have been added. Examples of workshops include using the modules for grading, testing, and linking library resources with course materials. Colleagues will also demonstrate their innovative uses of the technology.

In 1997, Narmontas developed the virtual classroom software system that came to be known as Manhattan after colleagues at Western New England College dubbed the program "The Manhattan Project" because of the secrecy in which it was originally shrouded. Manhattan not only caught on among his colleagues at the College, but fellow educators across the nation and around the world recognized the program as a powerful classroom support tool for students of all ages as well.

Through Manhattan, billed as the paperless and organized alternative to the traditional way of dealing with coursework, students and their professors have the ability to keep in constant contact by posting and submitting assignments, engaging in a variety of discussion groups, and checking individual progress and grades through a personal account.

The seminar is named after former mechanical engineering professor Wellen Davison, who taught at the College's School of Engineering for 38 years from 1951 to 1989. He began his teaching career when the engineering program was only offered at night school, at a time when the College held classes at the Springfield YMCA. In celebration of his dedication to the School, the College inaugurated the Wellen Davison Seminar in 1989, now an annual professional development event designed to help faculty members integrate technology into their course instruction and to improve the teaching and learning environment at the College.

Western New England College is a private, independent, coeducational institution founded in 1919. Located on an attractive 215-acre suburban campus in Springfield, Massachusetts, the College serves 4,500 students on its main campus and at 17 sites throughout the Commonwealth. Undergraduate and graduate programs are offered through the College’s Schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, and Law.