Distance Educator to Speak on Managing New Technologies
A lecture on planning and managing new technologies for teaching will be held on Tuesday, March 14, in the Konover Auditorium at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The speaker, Tony Bates, director of distance education and technology, continuing studies, at the University of British Columbia, will argue that implementing new technology in education requires more than simply buying new computers and establishing a web site; to be successful, the use of technology demands major changes in education and organizational culture.

He will discuss essential strategies for managing change to ensure successful use of technology, how to win staff support for teaching with technology, effective procedures for funding new technology-based systems, and monitoring educational effectiveness.

Bates, who has 30 years of experience in using technology in education, is the author of six books, including Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education. His new book, Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders, was published this year by Jossey-Bass Publishers. He has extensive experience consulting in 30 countries and for several U.S. state higher education commissions.

For more information, call Keith Barker at (860) 486-2686.

Volunteers Needed to Host Middle School Science Program
Volunteers are needed on Thursday, March 16, to help with Multiply Your Options, a program for middle school girls that is designed to make them aware of the many career opportunities available for women in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. Volunteers from all majors are needed throughout the day to host and guide the groups to and from workshops on the Storrs campus. The greatest need is from 9 a.m. to noon and noon to 2 p.m. If you are able to help, please call the Center for Community Outreach at (860) 486-1165.

Continuing Education to Offer Computer Programming Courses
Beginning April 3, the Division of Extended & Continuing Education will offer a certificate program in Visual Basic 6, now the most widely used programming language. Classes will be held at UConn Downtown, Constitution Plaza, Hartford from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Designed both for newcomers to programming and computer professionals, the three-part program will enable participants to remain competitive in the rapidly changing programming market. Visual Basic I (April 3-6) provides an introduction that includes the programming language and building the user interface. Visual Basic II (April 17-19) introduces sophisticated programmatic manipulation, file handling and object-oriented programming. Visual Basic III (May 3-5) teaches the experienced programmer to use functions that deal with advanced features. The courses will be taught by author, columnist and speaker Gary Cornell and are based on his best-selling books, Visual Basic 6 from the Ground Up and Core Visual Basic.

Courses may be taken individually or together, with a 20 percent discount for two or more courses. Another Visual Basic 6 session will run in June. To register, or for more information, call (800) 622-9905. A free brochure is available at http://www.ce.uconn.edu/cpd-mvb.html or by calling (800) 622-9908.