Author Archives: Melissa A. Venable

Unknown's avatar

About Melissa A. Venable

Working at the intersection of instructional design and technology, social media, and career development.

Professional Conferences – ID, IT, Distance Ed…

4 Replies

Sometimes my employer funds these trips, but I have funded myself just as often. I like conferences, but I don’t love conferences and two-a-year is usually my goal, especially if I can present. I realize it’s usually a bonus to be able to attend these and I try to select them pretty carefully. Recently I was asked to recommend events related to Instructional Design/Instructional Technology/Multimedia Development. The list below was the result and I thought I would pass it along here. The events marked with an asterisk (*) are ones I have actually attended and recommend. Others I have heard about and would like to get to at some point.

  • EDUCAUSE – a number of regional events also available. I am planning to attend the one in the Southeast next year.
  • USDLA
  • E-Learning Guild – check out DevLearn. A colleague of mine (Hi Nathan!) went last year and it sounds terrific, although he was very ‘Adobe’ when he got back ;)
  • AACE * – check out E-LEARN and ED-MEDIA…and SITE if you are in teacher education.
  • AECT
  • ASTD
  • SLOAN-C *- a big fan of SLOAN-C, especially the emerging technologies symposium, small and focused.
  • ITC
  • Distance Teaching and Learning Annual Conference * – University of Wisconsin – Madison, a great mix of people and topics, and a well-run event.
  • SALT * – I’ve been to the one in Orlando, small (in a good way) and a nice mix of education and industry.
  • ITTSEC
  • AERA * – Big, really big.  Focused on the “R” (research). Lots of interesting Special Interest Groups.

There are so many more conferences out there. Some with really specific niches…. what’s your interest? Second Life? Faculty Development? Open Education?…. Here are several links set up for searching for more…

Trends —- I’ve answered survey requests from a few of these organizations recently. There are changes coming I think. More virtual events (more on these in another post). More regional events. Less “glamorous” locations. More registration options (i.e. by-the-day). Will be interesting and very possibly improved in a lot of ways.

Your Favorites???

Update! (2/16/10) – @etcjournal has posted a very nice list of conferences on their Educational Technology & Change site. Take a look at this for upcoming events in 2010 complete with links. Online conferences are noted as well.

Update! (2/24/10) – ThinkingCap is also tracking eLearning conferences you can search by month. Check out the “Call for Proposals Deadline” tab. Very helpful!

Update! (5/21/10) – Just discovered this list via Twitter. 750 Educational Technology and Related Conferences. You can download the list as a Word.doc.

Another Open, Open Education Course

1 Reply

I am going to try it again. I just signed up as a “non-credit student” in EC&I 831: Social Media & Open Education offered online by Dr. Alec Couros and the University of Regina.

The course runs from September 15th to December 8th, 2009, and the website invites us all to join in, even if it’s just to view the weekly lectures (live but recorded in Elluminate). Those of us just jumping in are also encouraged to post comments on other students’ blogs and respond to the weekly sessions on our own blogs. It was my (admittedly limited) participation in another open course, one offered by David Wiley through BYU, that required me to start this blog.

Except for the use of Elluminate, it looks like the majority of the course will be delivered via GoogleDocs, Delicious, YouTube, wikispaces, etc. The session topic information is already posted with the list of guest speakers – including George Siemens, Stephen Downes, and Dean Shareski.

One more thing, the Elluminate sessions will be on Tuesdays at 7pm… in Saskatchewan… I need to find a map.

See you there?

Remembering Dr. Shauna Schullo

Leave a reply

A good friend of mine passed away recently. She was not only my friend, but also a colleague and a mentor.

Shauna provided my first real introduction to “Distance Education” as a field of study and practice. She was always willing to share whatever she had in terms of time, resources, and knowledge. Shauna recruited a number of us to do data collection related to her dissertation and professional research interests (synchronous virtual classrooms). It was a truly massive project that produced multiple papers and we were all included in the process, writing, and presentations. An incredible learning experience and not one many would be willing to share.

I was excitied to hear that she was presented the first “Virtual Apple Award for Teaching Excellence” a from the IT Student Association at USF, our alma mater. The Dean of the USF College of Education also renamed the e-Learning Initiative in the college, the Dr. Shauna Schullo e-Learning Initiative. Shauna had a huge impact there, as well as at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, and the University of Wisconsin -Madison.

Shauna’s colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have set up a memorial fund to support a Shauna Schullo Best Teaching Practices presentation at their annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. For more information on how you might contribute, check out their online information.

We miss you, Shauna!