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eLearn Magazine Expert Predictions for 2009 |
| Sunday, January 11, 2009 |
Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine, informed me that eLearn Magazine's Predictions for 2009 came out last week (including one I made). See: Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine, informed me that eLearn Magazine's Predictions for 2009 came out last week (including one I made).
Here is my prediction lame as it is:
As economies worsen and country and state and provincial budgets tighten, free online courses, programs, and universities will increasingly be discussed, debated, and ultimately enrolled in. The trend toward teaching language online from peer-to-peer in 2008 will continue to mushroom and lead to greater acceptance not just of teaching languages in free and collaborative ways, but of entire courses, programs, and degrees. As free and open learning becomes the norm for millions of learners around the globe, high schools, universities, and corporate training centers will need to adjust their policies, procedures, and philosophies related to teaching and learning. If not, it may be time to say goodbye to many of them in 2009.
—Curt Bonk, Professor, Indiana University, USA.
Others making predictions include Clark Quinn (from Quinnovation), Patti Shank, Roger Schank, Margaret Driscoll, Chris Dede, Richard Mayer, Bryan Chapman, Jay Cross, Saul Carliner, Janet Clarey, and a host of others. Always interesting to read these each January. Can you figure out which 5 or 10 percent of these will actually be correct? That is a tough call to be sure. So, your best bet is to look across them for themes or to write a comment or reaction to them.
Lisa Neal encourages you and your friends and colleagues to read and add to the predictions, and include a link on your website or blog. In addition, eLearn Magazine is looking for new columnists; so let Lisa know if you are interested in writing a column (under 1,000 words) or submitting a new article.
Here is her contact:
Lisa Neal Gualtieri, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine, http://eLearnMag.org Blog on education: http://blog.acm.org/elearn/
Email: lisa@acm.org
I hope you enjoy the e-learning predictions for 2009 and the Year 2009 even more! |
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Another Free Event: Spaces of Interaction: An Online Conversation on Improving Traditional Conferences |
| Saturday, January 10, 2009 |
As I said a few blog posts ago, there are an amazing number of free online conferences, summits, webinars, and workshops appearing the past few months. The Advancement for the Association of Computing in Education (AACE) is creating a mini-conference of sorts which it is called an "online conversation." The actual posted title is: "Spaces of Interaction: An Online Conversation on Improving Traditional Conferences."
My friend, George Siemens from the University of Manitoba, is leading the effort. Others on the program planning committee include: Tom Reynolds, Mimi Miyoung Lee, Erik Duval, Ellen Wagner, Duan van der Westhuizen, Joe Luca, Margaret Driscoll, Jon Dron, Janette Hill, Craig Montgomerie, Theo Bastiaens, Gary Marks (Director of AACE), myself, and various others as well. We are currently working on the speaker list and the interaction format. When we have it, I will post it to my blog. Are you interested in improving interactions in face-to-face conferences and the overall outcomes and successes? Here is your chance to contribute in some way. Do you have suggestions for presenters/speakers or times to offer sessions or possible interaction formats and conversations? If so, send to one of the names listed above in the next 1-2 days. Perhaps you can help shape the event. Such is the power of the Web as we all know by now.
In the meantime, you can sign up for the online conversation event here: http://www.aace.org/conf/spaces/
You can also join the Ning site for the event and get to know some of the people who are involved or who will attend: http://aacecommunity.ning.com/
This event will run from February 18-20 (so it is about 5 weeks away). As I said, we will be announcing speakers and panels shortly. Discussions will be held both synchronously and asynchronously. This should be fun. I hope some of you can attend. This online conversation may lead to something bigger online for AACE in the near future. We will see.
According to George: "The main goal of the conversation is to share opinions, insights, ideas, and practical suggestions on how we can create more engaging conferences. The event is open, so anyone currently involved in organizing a conference is welcome to attend. For that matter, the nature of our discussion will likely transfer somewhat into ways to improve any type of F2F interaction (classrooms, seminars, workshops)."
I am sure that there will be many benefits from this one time event (networking, experimenting with new technologies, helping reshape future AACE conferences, learn about upcoming events, have a voice in the discussion that takes place, etc.). If nothing else, you will start to see how quickly a global learning event (conference-like) can take place online (and 5-6 weeks is actually quite slow in Internet time). See you in Ning as well as at the online conversation! |
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