Professional Development
Annual Conference
WCET had record attendance for the 16th Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX, on November 10-13, 2004. Four hundred and thirty eight people participated in 63 concurrent sessions, including showcases, roundtables, and corporate sponsor sessions. It was our first time hosting the annual conference outside a WICHE state, and this fact was reflected in our theme: “Beyond Boundaries: Weaving E-Learning into the Higher Education Mainstream.”
The 17th annual conference preparations are well underway. The 2005 theme is “E-Learning E-Llusions and Triumphs: Reimagining the Academic Ecosystem” and will take place in San Francisco November 2-5.
Presentation materials from the 16th annual conference are available online at http://conference.wcet.info/2004/presentations.
Visiting Scholars Program/PostDoc
In her third year of tenure as the WCET’s Ford Foundation intern, Sharmila Basu Conger has been involved in ongoing WCET projects and worked with WCET Executive Director Sally Johnstone to develop new WCET initiatives, such as an investigation of barriers to adoption of online education by traditional higher education institutions, supported by a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education. In addition, she coauthored a chapter on strategic alliances for sustainable open and distance learning initiatives in the developing world with Johnstone for the Commonwealth of Learning.
Conger has been active in WCET advocacy efforts as well, researching and writing about such issues as the distance education elements in the reauthorization effort for the Higher Education Act; the potential selling of Instructional Television Fixed Service spectrum to commercial entities by the FCC; and issues surrounding the streaming audio and video patents claimed by Acacia Media Technologies. In addition, she has published a biweekly digest of higher education policy articles relevant to WCET members; guided member queries regarding distance and online program policy on the WCET listserv; and played a major role in developing WCET’s new member benefit, the WCET Online Community, as well as in the redesign of WCET’s website (www.wcet.info).
During this year, Conger also worked with Johnstone to design an in-depth research project to investigate the effects of policy interventions designed to modify teacher training programs to better prepare pre-service science teachers to address the needs of today’s technology-fluent “digital native” students. WCET will seek funding for the project in fall 2005.