March 6, 2006 marked the University of Maryland’s 150th anniversary, making this a year of celebrating the university’s uniqueness and accomplishments. OIT contributed to the revelry by organizing events that showcased the role of technology in education.

OIT’s annual “Teaching, Learning, Technology?” Speaker Series, one of the events on the university’s anniversary calendar of events, gave faculty the chance to learn about and discuss various topics relating to using technology in the current educational climate. (For more information on the speaker series, visit www.oit.umd.edu/units/as/speaker_series/speakers.htm.)

Maryland Day – a free, fun-filled community festivity of 450 activities designed for learning, exploration, and discovery – was an even larger celebration than usual this year because of the major university milestone.

OIT hosted several events to highlight the different ways information technology contributes to life at the university. Maryland Day visitors were treated to the following OIT-created attractions:

• Classroom of the Future: Visitors experienced the future of education in a technologically-advanced classroom where they saw first-hand the direction that classroom technology is going.
• Demonstration of High-Performance and Grid Computing Technologies: This exhibit showcased new computer technology that will allow for world-class research in many areas of study.
• Google Map Service Kiosks: Google’s new technology helped visitors explore Maryland Day activities from two of OIT’s event locations.
• Personal Technologies/iPod-Carnival: Here, guests were able to test out some of the newest and most exciting personal technologies, such as PDAs, podcasting, wikis, and blogs.
• Podcasting Your Memories: Capturing Maryland Oral History: Visitors became part of UM’s history when they created podcasts sharing their university memories which will become part of an archived collection.
• Dell’s Totally Tech’d-Out Student Residence Hall: Visitors experienced the new technologies that are shaping the scene of student life in a hands-on display demonstrating cutting-edge equipment in a dorm-room setting.

OIT supports the university’s endeavors every day by providing technology services, and the organization’s staff members were honored to participate in celebrating Maryland’s past, present, and future!

	Visitors to the iPod Carnival experiment with personal Web technologies.
Recorded UM memories will be archived with other 150th anniversary documents and memorabilia.
	Learning about the mechanics and technology behind high-performance and grid computing.