Comments on: E-Learn Vancouver, Final Thoughts

By: Richard N. Landers

Richard N. Landers — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:41:40 +0000

No worries – I enjoyed trying to piece your Twitter blast together! I’m sure there will be another time.

By: Tony Karrer

Tony Karrer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:12:51 +0000

Richard, sorry I couldn’t make it up to meet with you. My father-in-law passed away and the funeral/burial conflicted. It would have been nice to meet.

Thanks for the great write up of the event. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to meet up at another time.

By: Richard N. Landers

Richard N. Landers — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:37:34 +0000

So then, do you think the lack of quantified results is common in education technology, or is just the conferences? And good call on the Open movement – I forgot about that, but it was definitely a major theme as well.

By: Vic Divecha

Vic Divecha — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:32:14 +0000

Excellent final thoughts. I agree with the lack of quantification for analysis and predominance of anecdotal evidence. I have seen lesser hard data and more of personal stories at Educause’s regional conference in Chicago. I felt E-Learn 2008 was about social networking and E-Learn 2009 about Open everything (open courseware, open scholars etc.).

Palloff and Pratt (1999) had laid the theoretical foundations of social networks in education and training quite a while back. It took 8 or 9 years until facebook and ning came along. But there was a hole in terms of follow up studies this year, as you quite correctly mention that point.

Thanks for the wonderful summaries.