Hey everyone! There are a few things I wanted to mention as the conference gets closer.

First, the preliminary program is available online and can be found at http://www.aect.org/2005

Second, I need to begin rounding up facilitators for the conference, so if you are interested, please e-mail me at vance.durrington@msstate.edu

Finally, one of the great challenges for our division is trying to develop a program that addresses the vast interests of the division members. Ultimately distance learning, is just learning and learning happens at all levels, times, and places. To give you an idea of what you can expect at AECT 2005, I’ve listed just a few of the many quality presentations that will be happening in Orlando.

Christopher Essex and Tim Niggle from the University of Indiana will be presenting a session where they will describe a unique university-middle school partnership, which is a mentoring program designed to introduce middle school students to important and appealing aspects of college life.

Mary Nicholson from Bloomburg University will be presenting a session which will feature applied examples, case studies, and specific guidelines for incorporating collaborative group activities, Socratic dialogue, learning games, community based projects, and interactive presentations into an online course. Also addressing online communication will be Allan Jeong, from Florida State University. Allan will be presenting a session that examines how personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, independence, intellectual openness, calmness, adaptability) influence how and how often students reply to message types (arguments, evidence, critiques, explanations) in online debates using asynchronous threaded discussions. This should be of great interest to those attempting to maximize interaction and critical discourse by addressing individual differences in personality traits.

Also, don’t forget the Crystal Awards for Excellence in Distance Learning that will be presented at the Distance Learning Division luncheon. There will also be a session devoted to the award winners in order to give them time to talk more about their winning projects and provide an additional opportunity for everyone to learn more about their projects.

I’ll try to pass on information about other sessions in future postings. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone there.

In a new podcast, Scott Adams interviews Ward Cates … Ward makes a comment that he thinks the board needs to find out from the divisions what’s required to help the divisions thrive.

What do you think? What do we need?