| Invited Speaker After a Decade of Inroads, SUCCESS in Modeling Blended Learning in Theory AND Practice at F2F and Online Conferences Vance Stevens
Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | 
| Abstract: The presenter has been a long-time advocate and agitator for broadcasting online both into and out of on-site professional development events and conferences. The presenter describes inroads made during the past decade from 1999 to the present in making conferences accessible to many more than just their physically present delegates. Having debunked the myth that if conferences were open to online access on-site attendance would drop off, a case is made for the opposite scenario: that broadening channels for conversation at conference venues is a win-win situation in which everyone benefits, and conferences where these channels are blocked are the dinosaurs doomed to extinction.
Biographical Information: Vance Stevens teaches computing at Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. After a 20-year career in English language teaching as CALL specialist and coordinator, he worked in software development in California before returning to the Middle East as educational technology consultant for a language school in Abu Dhabi. There he founded the online community Webheads resulting in involvement in many community-based online professional development endeavors which have formed the basis of his professional development this past decade.
Vance is past chair and founding member of the CALL Interest Section in TESOL. He has also served on the editorial boards of major professional journals, e.g. TESOL Quarterly and CALICO Journal, and is currently | |