E-Learning 2007

The conference schedule came out today for the ITC E-Learning 2007 annual conference to be held in Albuquerque on Feb. 17-20. ITC is the acronym for the Instructional Technology Council.

I attend a lot of conferences each year, but none have been more productive and informative for me than this one. It is a smaller conference than many, but includes many of the big hitters in e-Learning at both the 2-year and 4-year/grad school levels. The quality of presentations is usually unmatched by other conferences.

I am scheduled to give my Web 2.0 Whirlwind presentation at the first regular session time of 9:45 Sunday morning. This session deals with just about everything EXCEPT blogs and wikis. I try to demonstrate or point people to as many of the other tools as possible ... especially those that have a legitimate academic use.

Looking at the schedule, I am already looking forward to the following:
  • A pre-conference workshop on the Open Source CMS Solution of Moodle and Sakai.
  • Benchmarking for Quality in Distance Learning by Pamela Quinn (Dallas County CCD) and Richard Hezel (Businessman)
  • They usually have a fun debate at one of the luncheons, this year the topic is "Cheating is Rampant in Distance Education Courses." Ben Scheible (Truckee Meadows) and Brian Ormand (New Mexico State University) will debate opposite sides of that statement.
  • Tips, Tricks, and How-to's for Retaining Online Students - Patel and Moten of West Central Technical College.
  • Instructor Competencies: In Search of Expectations by Virgil Varvel (U. Illinois)
  • Integrating Video Game Features into an Online Discussion Forum by Yiyao Liao and Sandra Turner (Ohio U.)
  • Legal and Ethical Issues in Distance Education by Juanita Lamley (Oregon St. U.)
  • How to Cheat Online: Issues in Academic Honesty by John Krutsch (Utah Valley St.)
  • Starting Strong: Mandatory Orientation for New Online Students
I'll probably pass on the sessions by my Minnesota colleagues because I hope to catch them elsewhere, including iTeach and other places closer to home. Barbara Keinath of Metropolitan State will be presenting about her Site-Readiness Rubric and Landon Pirius and Anne Johnson of Inver Hills Community College will also be presenting.

If you're looking for just one e-Learning conference during the spring semester, I recommend this one highly.

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