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MERLOT: Still Blazing the Trail and Meeting New Challenges in the Digital Age
7-10 August 2008
Hilton Minneapolis Hotel
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Hosted by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
General Information
The 8th MERLOT International Committee (MIC08) is designed to foster learning, innovation and practice in the use of information and communications technologies in higher education. It serves faculty, instructional designers, authors of digital content, administrators, librarians, technology leaders, and enthusiastic users of MERLOT who recognize the need to remain current on educational practice and theory. Participants in the conference represent most disciplines and everyone from the novice to the online expert benefits from this meeting!
The MERLOT International Conference provides numerous opportunities to share, learn, and participate in conversations about teaching and learning with technology from experts and MERLOT users from around the world.
The conference offers a full day of pre-conference workshops followed by two-and-one-half-days of colleague-to-colleague presentations. The Conference also includes Corporate Sponsor presentation and exhibits, presentations from MERLOT Award winners, and opportunities to gather over food and beverage. The Pre-conference will begin on Thursday, August 7, the Conference opens with a welcome reception on Thursday evening and ends at noon on Sunday, August 10.
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Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is the proud host of the eighth MERLOT International Conference. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System was created through the merger of three existing higher education systems – the state university system, the community college system and the technical college system. The 32 institutions of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System comprise the sixth-largest system of two-and-four-year colleges and universities in the country, based on student enrollment. For more information on MNSCU visit the website http://www.mnscu.edu/
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Pre Conference Workshops
MERLOT provides a full pre-conference day of invited workshops and an educational service day for the host community. These interactive, hands-on workshops enhance professional development and provide value for your travel dollar. The conference committee is seeking ideas from the community on workshop topics and leaders. Please email pre-conference workshop suggestions to Deborah Proctor, Conference Chair deborah.proctor@so.mnscu.edu. Full and half-day workshops will be announced on the MERLOT conference website during the Spring 2008.
Invitation to Respond to the Call for Proposals – Deadline February 15, 2008
The MIC08 Conference Committee seeks interactive and engaging proposals for presentations, hands-on workshops, posters, and technology demonstrations. Proposals about pedagogical methodologies, peer review, scholarship, research, use of MERLOT resources, collective instructional experiences, and creative instructional experiences are encouraged. The Committee has designed the tracks below to stimulate rich discussions of faculty development, as well as design, creation, utilization, and evaluation of online teaching and learning materials for the 21st Century.
“Blazing the Trail” Conference Tracks
Track 1 - Adopting, Adapting, and Authoring Digital Learning Resources
- Using, developing, and revising learning objects
- Evaluating learning objects
- Open source collaborations
- New and emerging authoring technologies
- Technology-enabled distribution of learning resources
- Cross-disciplinary instructional multimedia
- Other learning resources topics
Track 2 - Committed and Connected International Communities of Learning through Technology
- National and International initiatives in eLearning
- Collaborations with developing countries
- International MERLOT projects
- International repository partnerships
- Cross cultural collaborations in the disciplines
- Accommodating multi-language audiences
- Faculty and student global partnerships
- Best practices in International collaborations
- Enhancing MERLOT Multi-language learning resources
Track 3 - Researching New Learning Paradigms and New Teaching Models
- Research and evaluation methodologies
- Peer-review
- Graduate programs in instructional design
- MERLOT and other Agency sponsored research
- New understandings of how students e-learn
- Case studies on technology in education
Track 4 - New Paths: Expanding Teaching and learning Opportunities with Web2.0
- Technology-enabled language exchange via blogs, wikis and VOIP
- 21st Century technology-enabled instruction
- Learning Management Systems: past, present, future
- Large scale ePortfolio implementations
- Mobile computing and MERLOT
- Open source versus Off the shelf projects
- Use of cutting-edge technologies to teach and learn (i.e., iPOD, cellular devices, gaming, social networking)
Track 5 – Reinventing Libraries in the Digital Age
- New uses for old spaces
- Consortium licensing
- Copyright and intellectual property
- Open-access publications
- On-line repositories as ‘publisher’
- Open standards and interoperability
Track 6 – Engaging and Emerging Faculty Development Processes
- Faculty recognition, promotion and tenure
- Implementation and evaluation of eLearning programs
- Common core curriculum initiatives
- Student-faculty collaborations to enrich teaching
- Technology and program review
- Course redesign projects
- Continuing professional development for adjunct faculty in distributed (distance) education programs
Track 7 - Community of practice: Harvesting the Promise of Technology with Teacher Education
For 2008, the MERLOT Conference Committee has selected to highlight Education as the featured Community of Practice. Teacher education, Libraries, and Faculty Development comprise this featured Community of Practice. Committee members hope that many faculty members will share this highlighted track with students involved in Pre-K through 16 classrooms and will propose joint sessions, panels, posters, and under/graduate research related to the conference theme. Proposals for this track may include such topics as:
- Methods and technologies of adult learning
- The pedagogy of eTeaching
- Technology support for pre-service teachers
- Career paths for e-Teachers
- Continuing professional development
- Faculty support in distance education programs
- Student learning experiences using technology
- Experiences of students teaching with technology
- ePortfolios for faculty and students
Audience
Where can faculty, instructional designers, authors of digital content, administrators, librarians, technology leaders and enthusiasts from all over the world meet and learn from each other in 2008? At the MIC08! Design your proposal for participants from the following groups:
| Campus administrators |
Faculty members |
| Instructional designers |
Technical support staff |
| Authors of instructional materials |
Faculty developers |
| Members of professional organizations |
Librarians |
| MERLOT users |
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Conference Postings
MERLOT will post all of the PowerPoint presentations and any ancillary materials the authors provide, on the conference website. By posting these materials, MERLOT hopes to continue the collaborative work that goes on at the conference and to extend its influence to those who are not able to attend.
Conference Registration
Conference registration will open in late spring. Please watch the Conference Website for details. Everyone who attends the conference must register and pay the appropriate fees. Fees will be posted to the website once they are determined.
Conference Hotel
The Hilton Minneapolis is the official location of MIC08. The group rate for guest rooms is US $155.00 single or double occupancy plus all applicable fees and taxes. Hotel rooms will be held for MERLOT until Tuesday, July 1, 2008. Reservations made after that date will be taken based on space and rate availability. For more information on the hotel and to make online reservations, go to Travel and Accommodations.
For More Information
For more information on the proposal submission process visit the links above. All proposals must be submitted online using the proposal submission form. Before you can submit a proposal, you will need to provide a Profile which will provide you with an account. Once you establish an account, you will be able to view additional information including the “My MIC Workspace” and “Submit Proposals” link. If you submitted a proposal for MIC08, you can simply sign in. After you sign in please take the time to ensure your profile is complete. For additional questions or comments please contact micmanager@concentra-cms.com.
The deadline for submitting proposals is February 15, 2008 |
