Preface E-Learn 2012
Welcome to Montréal, Canada — a ‘hub’ city in North America for innovation, commerce, culture and, not to forget, one of the most popular cities for international congresses and events. I’m certain that this year’s E-Learn conference is in good hands with the very experienced Montrealers and that they will do much to make you feel at home.
Welcome also to this year’s World Conference on E-Learning (https://aace.org/conf/elearn). It is a pleasure to see always so many new colleagues. I also enjoy the feeling of reunion that I have when I see all the familiar faces. The multi-disciplinary forum we have worked on for many years is working quite well. Also the exchange of research, developments and applications from the fields of Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education seems to be a good mix. We have registrations from over 60 countries! Congratulations to all of you!
I promise you that E-Learn 2012 has numerous exciting presentations and keynotes. I see that many speakers will be discussing how education is changing in the forthcoming years. For example, we invited Dale Stephens who works with the social movement ‘Uncollege’ that empowers students to create their own education. We have Saul Carliner who talks about Massive Online Open Courses and Aaron Doering is speaking about engaging millions of voices and minds. Punya Mishra stresses the importance of a transdisciplinary approach with an important role for creativity and technology. And I happily most speakers will not only talk about these topics but also report their first experiences. That is a typical feature of E-Learn that I really like.
Of course, there is much more as we have plenary sessions, virtual papers, posters, showcases, etc. All these events bring you the latest information on E-learning. But also don’t forget to talk with and learn from new colleagues. Let’s meet for example on Tuesday evening at our annual reception. And don’t forget to ‘friend each other’ at Academic Experts ( http://AcademicExperts.org ) and exchange ideas and experiences.
As always, all good things come to an end. This year’s conference will end on Friday and we will have to say goodbye. Fortunately, you can look back at this conference and enjoy all papers, keynote streams and pictures in the EdITLib Digital library for free at: http://EdITLib.org And there will always be another year with another E-Learn conference as E-learn 2013 will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada!
I wish you a good conference, a great learning experience, and much fun!
Theo J. Bastiaens
Chair of the E-Learn Executive Committee
