Please join us on November 19th when Bojan Lazarevic, Division of Mathematics & Information Technology, will present Learning Environments and Student TechnoStress at the Liberal Arts College.

Learning environments make college time a unique and memorable experience. Some students recall this phase of their life with pleasure, while recollections of others diminish within months. In the last decade, the term “learning environment” typically has been associated with either traditional classroom or online learning settings. However, the level of technology involvement in both settings is considerably high.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the student-perceived stress level imposed by technology and web-based resources in both online and traditional learning environments. Specifically, the study addresses whether or not the use of technology influences students' perceptions of academic, social, and personal stress while studying at a liberal arts college.

Joining Dr. Lazarevic will be MSMC student, Erin Corea. Erin is a senior majoring in Information Technology and is president of the student IT Club. Erin will provide the student perspective on learning stress and possible coping strategies by describing a semester-long eClass course project on stress management.

This presentation is based on empirical research conducted in 2013-14 at Mount Saint Mary College. Professor Lazarevic’s co-researcher in this study was Dr. David Bentz, the Director of Distance Education at Central Wyoming College.

Bojan Lazarevic is Assistant Professor of Information Technology in the Division of Math & Information Technology at MSMC. His educational background is in general pedagogy/adult education with a media and distance learning emphasis. He holds a PhD in instructional technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Prior to joining the Mount faculty, Professor Lazarevic taught at the University of Belgrade in the Republic of Serbia for seven years. He also taught instructional technology courses for pre-service teachers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for four years.

Dr. Lazarevic has written two books and numerous scholarly papers. His most recent book, “Being a Teacher in Online Instruction: Promoting Teaching Presence through Video Technology,” addresses the interdependence of online instructional design, video technology, and the teaching presence. Recently, the focus of his academic curiosity has been on mobile learning, game-based learning, and learning objects.

Learning Environments and Student TechnoStress will take place in Room 218 of the Kaplan Family Library and Learning Center in the Dominican Center at MSMC on Thursday, November 19th at 4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there!

For more information about this or any of the iROC presentations, or to volunteer as or recommend an iROC speaker, please contact the coordinators of the iROC program - Dr. Doug Robinson, Assistant Professor of Biology, 845-569-3648, douglas.robinson@msmc.edu or Barbara Petruzzelli, Director of the Library, 845-569-3601, barbara.petruzzelli@msmc.edu.