Dr. Bob Barrett, Professor

School of Business, American Public University, USA

Biography:  Dr. Bob Barrett is a Full Professor in the School of Business at the American Public University, as well as teaching military students in the American Military University. His research interests include intellectual capital, online learning, disability, teacher training, knowledge management, HRD Forensics, and educational technology. His specialization has been concentrated on human and intellectual capital, as well as knowledge management in the context of human resource management and human resource development. While he has been focused on the education of both military and civilian students, he particularly enjoys the teaching of organizational consulting, knowledge management, human resource development, and strategic management. Dr. Barrett has spoken extensively at various international conferences in Europe, South America, and Asia, as well as has served on multiple international conferences in the areas of intellectual capital, knowledge management, human resource management, education and psychology, online learning, business entrepreneurship, educational technology, and management. He has published several book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals in the international context. He believes that education is right that all people should have access at all times to continue their lifelong learning quest.

Topic: Constructing Value with Web Page Applications for Student Learning in Today’s Technological Learning Environment

Abstract: Historically, the Socratic method has been used by many educators for several centuries, however, it has been noted that this form of instruction is starting to be replaced by elements of new technology being introduced into the learning environment. In particular, many academic institutions have been adopting more technology into their classrooms and embracing the field of online learning. However, as with any new technological evolutions and changes in the learning environment, value for such change is needed to be realized by the stakeholders, namely, the educators and adult learners. Consequently, studies have shown a sharp increase of online learners today, for example, one out of three American students will enroll in at least one online course according to a study by Babson (2016). While these online enrollments are growing, there is a stronger need for educators to connect the online learners to the course content knowledge, as well as help them to connect to the technology being used both within the classroom and the virtual community as a whole. One teaching strategy being used by online instructors is the use of web page applications to require students to create their own webpage as a framework for creating a portfolio of assignments created in a course, as well as using this web page creation as a form of lifelong learning for their further use of their web page beyond this course end. Therefore, this paper will overview the use of web page applications as part of a portfolio foundation or framework for selected course work to highlight now only student achievement in terms of academic credit, but also to introduce them to the potential use of such web page applications for future endeavors, namely, lifelong learning.