AECT Bi-Annual Research Symposium: The Next Generation of Education: Unconstrained Learning

The 3rd bi-annual Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Research Symposium is soliciting research-supported papers concerning the next generation of distance education for presentation, debate, discussion, and future publication in a book by Springer Press. Ideally, the symposium will bring together scholars, theorists, researchers, and other creative thinkers for an intimate conversation about their research into the next generation of distance education and the principles that should guide effective practice and research as we advance toward to a new learning landscape unconstrained by time and space.

This call presupposes that we have reached a tipping-point where the world of education is being radically altered and that change is being driven by technology, openness, and unprecedented access to knowledge. Older correspondence-style methods of instructional delivery are passé and “classroom adapted to the web” approaches to learning are often ineffective and do little to harness the transformational potential of technology. E-Learning scenarios, mobile technologies, communication and information access, and personal learning environments (that were unthinkable just a few years ago) are becoming mainstream and, as a result, control of the learning process is shifting away from institutions and into the hands of learners.

Specifically, the focus of the symposium is to identify research-supported ways to harness the power of new technologies and new ideas to improve distance learning. The research presented will be critiqued, discussed, refined, and will ultimately culminate in an edited volume that will be published to promote a forward-thinking agenda for research and scholarship that highlights new ideas, deep insights, and novel approaches to “unconstrained” learning.

Overview
It is the goal of the symposium to gather together a select group of scholars to share research for real dialogue and deep discussions regarding fresh distance learning perspectives and ideas. The symposia will begin July 20, 2010 with a dinner and end on July 23, 2010 before noon. It will be held at the Memorial Union Hotel of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Conference fee (with included meals) is expected to run around $250.

Format
Proposals/presentation abstracts will be accepted, through electronic submission via the AECT website, until January 15th, 2010. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be sent by February 15, 2010.

For more details, please visit http://www.aect.org/events/symposia/call/