EDEN Annual Conference' 2008 highlights

As most of you know, the EDEN Annual Conference was held on June 11-14 in Lisbon. The host institution was Universidade Aberta of Portugal. In this site, Their TV production team prepared an excellent video composition http://www.univ-ab.pt/eventos/eden/resumosvideo.php of some enjoyable moments of the conference and interviews with keynote speakers. They show well the lively atmosphere of the event.  The conference blog http://edenconference08.blogspot.com/  also gives interesting and intensive feedback on the event. You will see in the video and in the blog references to several MDE faculty, who helped showcase our program, such as Thomas Huelsmann, Gila Kurtz, Dianne Conrad, Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, Ulrich Bernath, Tony Bates, Susan Ko and myself. The next annual conference will be held in Gdansk, Poland on June 9-12. But, before that we hope to meet again first at UMUC headquarters during the US-China Forum on Distance Education, on June 30 to July 2nd, and then in Paris for the 5th EDEN Research Workshop, on October 20-22.

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Have you heard of UMUC 360 support?

If you are a student or a faculty member of the MDE, you should have received some communication via email about UMUC 360 Support. This is a way to find answers and get support at any time anywhere, about all of UMUC's services. Check it out and bookmark it...

UMUC 360 Support

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New joint certificate in Instructional Design and E-learning

You might not have yet seen this on the UMUC website, but we now have a joint certificate with UMBC... Check the detail here:
Dual Certificate: E-Learning and Instructional Design - Graduate School - UMUC

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New "free" online tools from Adobe

Adobe is offering an interesting set of tools in similar fashion as Google. Creating documents (.pdf, .doc. .html, etc), creating pdfs, storing and sharing files on the web are all now possible for "free" and online without any downloads. I must say it looks slicker (as everything that relates to Adobe).

Adobe Acrobat.com - Work. Together. Anywhere.

One component is different from other manufacturers, and very advantageous: Adobe ConnectNow, which is the free version of Adobe Connect (old Macromedia Breeze). Now, (and at least for now, you don't need a license to conduct synchronous meetings using all(*) the tools offered in Adobe Connect. EXCEPT, it seems you cannot record the synchronous session.

Interesting tools to be used in the MDE, and also good options for e-portfolios as well. I think it is worth trying out.

best,
--Stella.

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Workshops at the US-China DE Forum: independent from conference registration

Hi!

I just learned that the problem with the registration for the workshops has been worked out. You may register for a workshop on Sunday, June 29th from 2pm - 4 pm, at a $60 fee, without having to register for the conference, that starts the next day.
Cost & Registration | 2008 U.S.-China Forum on Distance Education June 29 - July 2 | UMUC

There will be three workshops covering topics on Student Support, Faculty Support and Second Life. Presenters are all MDE faculty, with expertise in the specific topics. If you have any further questions, please let me know.

best,
--Stella.

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5th EDEN Research Workshop: supporting MDE faculty, students and alumni

Dear MDE community -

It is our pleasure to announce that UMUC and C3L-Oldenburg are joining forces to support the presence of MDE faculty, students and graduates in the 5th EDEN Research Workshop, taking place in Paris, between October 20-22.
http://www.eden-online.org/eden.php?menuId=392

The details for this support entail the following guidelines:

• Financial support will be given only to those who have one or more papers accepted for presentation at the Workshop;


• Faculty coming to Paris from overseas are entitled to a max of US$ 1000 of financial support;


• Faculty coming to Paris from Europe are entitled to a max of US$ 700 of financial support;


• MDE Students and graduates (without a faculty status) are entitled to a max of US$ 1000 of financial support.

Financial support will be provided in the form of reimbursement after the event.

We are planning an MDE meeting to take place on October 19, and those receiving financial support are expected to attend. Please make your plans accordingly.

Those faculty who plan to attend and would like to participate more actively in the conference by chairing a session and reviewing papers, please contact Uli Bernath directly (ulrich.bernath@uni-oldenburg.de)

If you envision getting full financial support from your home institution, and you do not need MDE support in order to attend the conference, please let us know at your earliest convenience. This will allow us to free more of our budget to support other faculty and students more efficiently.

We encourage faculty to inform their students about this initiative, and promote MDE joint papers.

We look forward to seeing many of you in Paris later this year!

Best,
--Stella & Thomas.

Commencement 2008 pictures!

You have heard in the lounge... yes, it was wonderful, and if you graduated and did not attend, I hope you had a good reason, otherwise you might regret a bit after you see our great photos. Thanks to Harriet Blackman (Paul's lovely wife) we have many pictures of everyone. The ITS chairperson - Alan Carswell contributed with some good ones from the faculty. I think you will enjoy... Most of the funny captions are authored by Paul Blackman...



Or you can link to the album here:

Commencement UMUC 2008

Workshops during the US-China Forum in Distance Education

Hi!

You might not have noticed, but the workshops offered in the beginning of the US-China forum in distance education will be held on a Sunday afternoon, which allows you to take part in them without affecting your work. There are three workshops, all presented by MDE faculty members. You don't need to register for the conference to take part in these workshops. The workshops' registration is done separately. The workshops cost $60.00 only.

The themes of the workshops include Faculty Support, Learner Support and Second Life. Check out the details here:
Workshops | 2008 U.S.-China Forum on Distance Education June 29 - July 2 | UMUC

If you have any questions about the workshops, please let me know.

best,
--Stella.

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A couple of posts that might be useful to you...

I blogged two different things today in two different places, which I thought I should share with all of you.

First the reminder of the usefulness of Google pages for developing your e-portfolio in a website development style without the hassle.
Google pages: an excellent tool for your e-portfolio | Notsureyet - the capstone blog

Second post is about a very cool tool I learned while reading the daily newsletter from Wired Campus. Really worth checking out...
Sketching with audio online | RandomslySPorto

best,
--Stella.

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Interesting conference on Web 2.0 technologies

This upcoming conference might be an interesting pick for those with some time in the summer, living in the East Coast and interested in technology, especially web 2.0 related topics... Check it out!
http://campustechnology.com/mcv/events/conference/Summer08/

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