educause conference

The NERCOMP 2008 Annual Conference, "Education and Technology in Service of the Networked Society," will be held March 10–12 in Providence, Rhode Island, a new location for the conference. View the program and register by February 11 to save money with low early-bird rates.

The conference will focus on these topic areas:

The 2008 Midwest Regional Conference, "New Directions in Higher Ed IT: Navigating the Course While Still Drawing the Map," will be held March 17–19 in Chicago. View the program and register by February 19 to save money with low early-bird rates.

The conference will focus on these topic areas:

The 2008 Western Regional Conference, "One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Finding Practical and Innovative Solutions for Your Campus," will be held March 31–April 2 in San Francisco. View the program and register by March 3 to save money with low early-bird rates.

The conference will focus on these topic areas:

Whether or not you're attending the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference this year, this 14 minute discussion with EDUCAUSE President Brian Hawkins and EDUCAUSE Media Relations Director Peter DeBlois can serve as an invaluable tool for evaluating your options, maximizing your time, and even making the conference work for you from home.

Some helpful links for those attending the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference in Seattle:

I have been waiting three and a half years to meet Steve Gilbert face to face. Steve is President of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Group. I can't remember how I first got to know about the work of the TLT Group but my first recollection of Steve was the multiple emails we had together as he edited and fine tuned my submission to his highly moderated list serve on teaching learning and technology. In this podcast recorded as part of the Educause podcast project, Steve and I discuss a interesting and provocative project he is managing called "Dangerous Discussions Initiative - Engaging Dangerous Discussions: Heat and Light Without Flames" .... now that's a title worth thinking about!

The TLT Group list-serv has been around for a long time and goes to thousands of educators around the world. It was there my relationship with Steve began, however things really started to get interesting when the TLT Group established a Learningtimes Community and started running online synchronous events using a virtual classroom I couldn't resist joining in. Time zones are unforgiving and because these events were targeting the learning and teaching community in the USA, Aussies who live upside down and half the planet away have to do some unusual things to be part of these live events. Many a time I have rolled out of bed at the ridiculous time of 3.00am washed my face grabbed a hot drink and participated in a stimulating live event then gone back to bed. If you search the TLT archives you will many jokes about Allan in his jammies.

At a recent Educause workshop in Toronto, I was introduced by Cyprien Lomas to "vlogs" which are the offspring of blogs. (The evolution of that word is interesting: some years ago, the phrase "web log" was clipped to just "blog," and now that word has undergone another generation of clipping and fusing (with the word "video") to result in "vlog.") The vlog that Cyprien used as an example was the daily one at http://www.rocketboom.com. He also referred to the "Numa numa" video that is, if I understood him correctly, the sort of original and accidental inspiration for the subsequent proliferation of vlogs. That "Numa numa" video is available for viewing here: www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/numa.php. I've also just learned that there's a fairly new word to describe a phenomenon that suddenly achieves "cult" status on the web (like "Numa numa" or like the clip of William Hung singing "She Bangs" that circulated the web a year or so ago) -- those sudden "spreadings" of something on the web are called "memes" or "neta." It reminds me, in a way, of a pandemic like the 1916 influenza outbreak: it comes out of nowhere, spreads like wildfire, and then vanishes just as suddenly. Think Kato Kaelin.