Invited Speakers
MOHAMED ALLY
Keynote Presentation - Mobile learning: Hype or evidenced impact for higher education applications?
Dr. Mohamed Ally is the Director of the Centre for Distance Education and Professor in Distance Education at Athabasca University, Canada. Dr. Ally obtained his Ph.D. from University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Dr. Ally's research areas include e-Learning, mobile learning, workplace learning, and the use of emerging technologies in education and training. Dr. Ally has published three edited books on the use of mobile technology in education, training, and libraries. His book on mobile learning won the Charles A. Wedemeyer Award for significant contribution in distance education. Two of his research papers won the best research paper award at national and international conferences. Dr. Ally is a researcher in the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) at Athabasca University. He was President of the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations (IFTDO) which is a federation of training organizations around the world with over half a million members in fifty countries. Dr. Ally is also one of the Founding Directors of the International Association of Mobile Learning (IAML) and is on the board of the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD). He chaired the Fifth World Conference on Mobile Learning and co-chaired the First International Conference on Mobile Libraries. Dr. Ally has published in peer-reviewed journals, chapters in books and encyclopedia and served on many journal boards and conference committees. He has presented keynote speeches, workshops, papers, and seminars in twenty-one countries.
TERRY ANDERSON
Keynote Presentation - Emerging Technologies for enhancing distance education pedagogies
Terry Anderson is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education at Athabasca University - Canada’s Open University. He has published widely in the area of distance education and educational technology and has co-authored or edited seven books and numerous papers on DE issues. Terry is active in provincial, national, and international distance education associations and a regular presenter at professional conferences. He teaches educational technology courses in Athabasca University Masters and Doctorate of Distance Education programs.
Terry is the director of CIDER - the Canadian Institute for Distance Education Research (cider.athabascau.ca) and the editor of the International Review of Research on Distance and Open Learning (IRRODL www.irrodl.org). The complete text of his most recent edited book The Theory and Practice of Online Learning 2nd edition is available as an Open Access resource at http://www.aupress.ca/books/Terry_Anderson.php. This text was the winner of the 2009 Charles E. Wedemeyer Award for the outstanding book of 2008 awarded by the University Continuing Education Association. His homepage is at http://cde.athabascau.ca/faculty/terrya.php and his blog the “Virtual Canuck” is accessible at http://www.terrya.edublogs.org
GRÁINNE CONOLE
Keynote Presentation - Social inclusion or exclusion: What do we already know about the learning patterns of socially excluded groups and what does Web 2.0 offer that is different for the distance learner?Gráinne Conole is Professor of E-Learning in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. Previously she was Professor of Educational Innovation in Post-Compulsory Education at the University of Southampton and before that Director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and the impact of technologies on organisational change. Two of her current areas of interest are focusing on the evaluation of students' experiences of and perceptions of technologies and how learning design can help in creating more engaging learning activities.
She has extensive research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included the EU, HEFCE, ESRC, JISC and commercial sponsors. She serves on and chairs a number of national and international advisory boards, steering groups, committees and international conference programmes. She has published and presented over 200 conference proceedings, workshops and articles, including over 50 journal publications on a range of topics, including the use and evaluation of learning technologies and is editor for the Association of Learning Technologies journal, ALT-J.
PHIL ICE
Keynote Presentation - A Story of Oxcarts and Airplanes: Converging the Reality and Promise of E-LearningPhil is the Director of Course Design, Research and Development at American Public University System (APUS) and Vice President of Research & Development for Sage Road Analytics, LLC. His research is focused on the impact of new and emerging technologies on cognition in online learning environments. Work in this area has brought him international recognition in the form of three Sloan-C Effective Practice of the Year Awards (2007, 2009 and 2010). Sloan-C has also recognized Phil through awarding a team he lead at APUS with the Gomory Award for Data Driven Quality Improvement in 2009. He has been recognized by industry through membership in Adobe's Education Leaders Group and Adobe's Higher Education Advisory Board, as well as a recipient of the Adobe Higher Education Leaders Impact Award, 2010. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the 2011 NMC / ELI Horizon Report. His work has covered the use of technology mediated feedback, which has been adopted at over 50 institutions of higher education in five countries, multi-level institutional assessment techniques, rich internet applications for education, and application of semantic analysis for mapping institutional learning assets. Phil has conducted over 100 peer reviewed and invited presentations and workshops, as well as authoring more than 20 articles, book chapters and white papers related to the integration of emerging technologies in eLearning. Phil is also involved with seven other researchers in the United States and Canada in numerous other research initiatives related to the Community of Inquiry Framework. This research has resulted in the development of a validated instrument that captures the intersection of Teaching, Social and Cognitive presence in online learning environments.
DIANA LAURILLARD
Keynote presentation - The critical role of the teacher in optimizing technologies for open learning
Current research is in two related areas:
developing an interactive learning design tool to support teachers moving to blended learning, and;
working with SEN teachers to investigate the design of software interventions for learners with dyscalculia and low numeracy.
In both cases the intention is to bridge the gap between teaching and research.
Previous appointments include Head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit at the UK Government's Department for Education and Skills, the Visiting Committee on IT at Harvard University, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for learning technologies and teaching at The Open University.
Current appointments include the Board of the Observatory for Borderless HE, the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies at the University of Cambridge, the Council for FernUniversität in Hagen, the Panel for the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme, and external examiner at the University of Oxford.
OLAF ZAWACKI-RICHTER
Keynote Presentation - The Geography of Distance Education Research - Bibliographic Characteristics of a Journal NetworkOlaf Zawacki-Richter holds a Ph.D. from the School of Education at Oldenburg University (Germany). Dr. Zawacki-Richter has published papers and articles in the field of distance and continuing education and HR development. He served as invited chair and reviewer at international conferences. Olaf is faculty member of the MBA in Educational Management offered by the Department of Education at Oldenburg University. He also teaches in the Online Master of Distance Education and E-Learning programme, offered in cooperation by University of Maryland University College (USA) and Oldenburg University. Between 2003 and 2007 Olaf worked as project manager at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in Frankfurt. Early in 2007 Olaf returned to the University of Oldenburg to join the team of the Division of Continuing Education and Educational Management. In September 2008 Dr. Zawacki-Richter started a fixed term Professorship in educational technology at the FernUniversity in Hagen, Germany's Open University. In October 2010 Olaf was appointed as full professor at Oldenburg University (Department of Educational and Social Sciences, Center for Lifelong Learning).
DON OLCOTT
SUMMIT Provocateur - Don will be chairing keynote presentations and panels.Dr. Don Olcott, Jr. is an International Consultant focusing on open and distance learning, transnational education, and educational leadership. Dr. Olcott is former Chief Executive of The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE), former Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and is a 2010 EDEN Fellow bestowed by the European Distance and eLearning Network (EDEN) for his leadership and contributions to European open and distance learning. He currently serves on the USDLA Board of Directors, is a member of the external Strategy Group of the Open University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA). Dr. Olcott serves on the Editorial Boards of Open Learning, The American Journal of Distance Education, EURODL, the Journal of Continuing Higher Education, and Distance Education. He was the 1998 recipient of the Charles Wedemeyer award at the Outstanding Distance Education Practitioner in North America awarded by The American Center for the Study of Distance Education and the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has published extensively in ODL and international education and has consulted with universities, governments, and corporations across the globe. Dr. Olcott was the 2010 recipient of Western Washington University’s Lifetime Achievement award for his leadership and contributions to higher education. Dr. Olcott’s research interests include language and culture in cross-border higher education, the development and management of regional higher education hubs, and leadership and innovation in open and distance learning open educational resources.
PANEL MEMBERS
Michael Crock
Michael joined Open Universities Australia (OUA) in 2008 with over 20 years experience in senior academic and management positions in the higher education and corporate training sectors.
At OUA, Michael is responsible for the acquisition, review and update of academic programs for offer through OUA, and ensuring that these programs reflect true market demand and industry directions.
Key achievements include (1) the identification and, in partnership with Providers, introduction of multiple new undergraduate and postgraduate offerings, (2) the enhancement of stakeholder relationships, and (3) the refinement and integration of ongoing quality assurance protocols.
Michael maintains an active involvement in international communities of practice in the eLearning and eKnowledge arenas, and his current interests include applied research and development for the effective introduction of instructional technologies, and models for the effective commercialisation of teaching and learning intellectual property.
He has an undergraduate Science degree in Australian Environmental Science and a Doctoral degree in the Instructional Sciences from Griffith University.
Anne Forster
Anticipating the Future: developing leaders, researchers and practitioners of blended and distance learning panelAnne is a member of faculty with the online MDE at UMUC and an Adjunct Associate Professor with the DEHub. Anne has over thirty years experience in academic staff development for distance education and blended learning contributing to programs at the UKOU, the University of South Australia, University of Wisconsin (Madison) and now with UMUC. Her primary area of practice has been in business school-based executive education and entrepreneurial post graduate programs. She has held substantive positions with the University of NSW and the University of Sydney and also in the private sector with KPMG and NextEd Ltd.. She is an independent consultant in e-learning based in Sydney.
Bruce King
Professor Bruce King's career has spanned management, policy advice and curriculum development in distance education, open learning, and flexible delivery as theorist, practitioner and manager. He has held senior management positions in both universities and vocational education and training systems.
At the University of South Australia he was responsible for the movement from conventional distance education to the flexible delivery of over 1200 courses online. Highlights of policy advice include work for the Commonwealth of Learning, the Australian Government, AusAid and individual institutions in Australia and the UK. He has provided expert advice in Tonga, South Africa, Indonesia and Sweden; was a member of the UNESCO panel of experts on distance education in Russia; and represented the Australian Government in Japan and Thailand. He led the small team that developed the world's first professional qualification for distance educators and was part of the group which formed the fundamental approaches to curriculum and delivery of Open Universities Australia.
His contribution to the literature of the field has been through conference proceedings, authored books and papers, editorial work and membership of the editorial boards of international journals, including Open Learning and Distance Education.
Thomas Hülsmann
Anticipating the Future: developing leaders, researchers and practitioners of blended and distance learning panelBy training a mathematician (M.Sc.) Thomas Hülsmann taught and worked in Africa as a member of several German development agencies. He then enrolled in a Masters program on Education and International Development with a specialization on Distance Education at the Institute of Education in London from where he moved to the International Research Foundation (IRFOL) in Cambridge.
He was a founding member of the Master of Distance Education and E-Learning(MDE) a joint progam offered by the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and Oldenburg University. As a member of the Center for Lifelong learning he now directs the program on the Oldenburg side.
Colin Latchem
Colin Latchem is an Australian researcher and consultant in open and distance learning. In the 1970-80s in the UK, he was a pioneer in higher education applications of educational television and learning resources and he also consulted for the UK National Council of Educational Technology. During the 1990s, he was Head of the Teaching Learning Group at Curtin University, President of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia and a member of the Open Learning Australia program committee. In recent years, while 'semi-retired', he has consulted and held visiting professorships in East and West Asia, the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Africa. His most recent book is the widely acclaimed Distance and Blended Learning in Asia (Routledge) which he co-authored with Professor Insung Jung of the International Christian University in Tokyo. He is currently co-editing his sixth book for Routledge: Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Distance Education. He co-authored/co-edited Leadership for 21st Century Learning: Global perspectives from educational innovators which received the 2002 Charles Wedemeyer Award for the best book of the year on distance education in the US. His other books include Staff Development for Open and Distance Learning, Teacher Education through Open and Distance Learning, Interactive Multimedia: Promise and practice and (for the Commonwealth of Learning) Telecentres: Case studies and issues. He has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles. In recent years, he has been a keynote speaker at international conferences in the Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, the US and the Caribbean. He is Asia-Pacific Corresponding Editor for the British Journal of Educational Technology and an editorial board member of several other international journals.
Rory McGreal
Professor Rory McGreal is the Associate Vice President Research of Athabasca University – Canada’s Open University based in Alberta, Canada. He has been nominated by Canada for a UNESCO Chair in Open Educational Resources. He was previously the Executive Director of TeleEducation NB a bilingual New Brunswick elearning network, serving professionals in diverse communities around the province. He previously was a supervisor at Contact North, a bilingual distance education network in Northern Ontario. He has also worked abroad in the Middle East, Seychelles (Indian Ocean) and Europe. McGreal studied the implementation and management of technologically enhanced l learning systems for professional education as his PhD dissertation. His present research interests include the use of technology in professional education, especially using mobile devices to serve diverse remote communities in northern Canada and the trans national Arctic.
Stella Porto
Anticipating the Future: developing leaders, researchers and practitioners of blended and distance learning panelStella Porto, Program Director & Collegiate Professor, Graduate School of Management and Technology, University of Maryland University College. Stella has managed the Master of Distance Education and e-Learning program at UMUC since 2005. The MDE was launched in 1999 and is a partnership between UMUC and the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg Germany. The program employs an international adjunct faculty and was recently re-accredited for quality in technology enhanced learning with the European Foundation for Management Development. Stella has a PhD in Informatics and brings a passion for technology and innovation to the student and faculty support systems that characterise the MDE.
Yoni Ryan
Professor Yoni Ryan is the Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at the Australian Catholic University, a six campus national university spread over the eastern states.
Yoni has worked in higher and further education institutions throughout Australia and in the South Pacific, as well as undertaking consultancies in East Asia and Africa. Her research and professional interests are in staff and education development, borderless and transnational education, educational policy, technology in education, and student learning.
Contact Us
p: +61 2 6773 3863
e: summit@dehub.edu.au
a: University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351