World Congress on E-Learning - Vancouver, B.C. - October 2009

Randy Garrison and I had been invited to present a session on Blended Learning at the World Congress on E-Learning in Vancouver. A couple of months before the conference, Randy learned that he had received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Sloan-C ALN Network. His award presentation was to take place the same time as our E-Learn session. So, I travelled to the conference "solo". Since, I had been away the week previously at the ISSOTL conference, I was only able to attend E-Learn for a short period of time. I flew into Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon and then returned to Calgary on Wednesday evening. Upon arrival, I enjoyed the new Sky-Train line that runs from the airport to downtown. Not only is the cost impressive (only $3.75) but the time to destination is impressive (I didn't realize that the Sky-Train runs underground in the downtown core). Once I had checked into the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel, I went for a very relaxing and enjoyable run through Stanley Park. The fall colours were past their prime but the sun was shining and the smell of the ocean was intoxicating (I tried my best to take a few photos during the run). After the run, I attended the opening reception for the conference and then had a wonderful dinner with Amanda & Jeff, Mike, Petrea, and Jennifer. It was wonderful to catch up on eLearning news from Australia, Laval, and British Columbia. Terry Anderson, from Athabasca University, was the Wednesday morning keynote and it's always interesting to listen to Terry's perspective about networks, groups, and collaborative learning technologies. My session on Blended Learning was after Terry's and I was impressed with the interest and enthusiasm of the audience. I had a number of people follow-up with me after I had finished (potentially some interesting connections and partnerships). Speaking of interesting people, I had a chance to meet with Dr.Narimane Hadj-Hamou Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University, Dubai. Narimane is in the process of establishing an eLearning Advisory Board for her instition and has asked me to be a member!!