Even if Penn State President Graham Spanier won’t start tweeting any time soon, there are literally hundreds of Penn State faculty, staff, and administrators already using social media and other digital technologies to restructure teaching and learning experiences (not to mention research efforts) in search of more collaboration and increased productivity… It’s a beautiful thing.

And, with just a week left until the welcome influx of students back to Happy Valley, some of our best educational technologists and academics are convening in Foster Auditorium at the Paterno Library (@psulibs) once again to talk about the liberal arts and technology.

Next Monday, the College of the Liberal Arts is teaming up with Educational Technology Services and University Libraries to bring together faculty and graduate students in a forum where they can share insights and learn from one another regarding the use of technology for teaching and research, according to a post by event organizer John Dolan (@DolanatPSU) on the Digital Research in the Liberal Arts blog.

The day will include presentations by a few people you may have heard of before, including Penn State’s most well-known economics professor Dirk Mateer (if you read this, @DirkMateer, thanks again for being chill when Green Man stopped by your class) and Dean Chris Long (@LAUSDeanLong). I’ll also be sitting on a student panel with @PSULAUC President @LaurenPerrotti and @UPUA Liberal Arts Representative @John_Zang discussing how we use technology in our own liberal arts studies.

If you won’t be able to attend the event in person, it will be streamed on UStream. You can also follow us that day on Twitter with the hashtag #LASTS11.