Conference (Re)Call

Reports | Coming Events | Where to Conference (Re)Call | About This Section | Top

 

Reports

La Trobe University Online Media Program
A fairly quick scan of this Web site, picked up from the Distance Learning and Developing Countries discussion group, courtesy of Georges Lessard, suggests that it will hold interest of a perhaps more specialised kind to WAOE members who are already engaged in researching the social, commercial, legal, educational or other implications of the new electronic communications and multimedia.  The URL is included under Conference (Re)Call as an encouragement to interest members to make contact with the Program, discuss issues of common interest and maybe participate in research initiatives.

La Trobe University is located in a northern suburb of Melbourne, the capital of the State of Victoria, in south-eastern Australia.  The primary aim of the La Trobe University Online Media Program is to undertake social and policy research related to the development and regulation of online media services. There are three strands of research:

Research Strand 1: New Media and Communication Environments
Organisational, regulatory and technological change is occurring at such a rapid pace that it is difficult predict what the future new media landscape will look like. Service providers are uncertain about the potential markets for rapidly evolving and new services.  This strand of research examines the development and adoption of new services.

Research Strand 2: Emerging industry structures
The shape of the media, communication, publishing and computing industries is rapidly changing. Most of those changes are being brought about through strategic alliances between discrete elements of multi-functional and often competing organisations, and linkages with smaller start-up companies which have developed innovative products and services.  For the first time "carriers" are having to pay attention to "content", software-based services and consumer electronics.  These industry changes are occurring as the various industries "internationalise" and as governments remove layers of regulatory control.  This strand of the research program examines the restructuring of media, communication, publishing and computing industries and considers the implications of those changes for industry participants and government policy.

Research Strand 3: The challenge to regulation
Online services cut across national boundaries and place strains on traditional regulatory mechanisms. Taxation, content regulation, censorship, and the control of commercial entities using online services are creating new challenges for national and international regulation.  This strand of research examines the emergence of new regulatory mechanisms.

Research Reports
Copies of the following reports are available at http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/reports/.   The abstracts are presented in HTML format. and the reports are presented in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader v3 software, which can be downloaded free of charge from the reports page.

 

Coming Events

IFETS Forum - Preparing Teachers and Trainers

The next formal discussion of the International Forum of Educational Technology & Society is scheduled to start on July 12.  The topic is "Preparing teachers and trainers for the 21st Century." The discussion will be moderated by Martin Owen, University of Wales, UK and summarised by Bruce Homer,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Canada.

To join the discussion, first subscribe to IFETS at http://ifets.gmd.de/  then follow the Discussion schedule link on the home page.  Subscription is free and there are other benefits, including the Educational Technology and Society Journal.

 

 

Where to Conference (Re)Call?

As the deadline for each issue of WEB comes around, it is becoming increasingly difficult to fill  the Conference (Re)Call column with events that meet the criteria we have set.  And it's probably showing.  The main focus of the Reports section of this column is intended to be on reviews by members of WAOE of any conferences, seminars, workshops or other events which they have attended recently where they picked up information which they found useful in their own practice of online education and which they therefore feel is worth passing on to colleagues in the Association.  There is no restriction on the nature of the events themselves, other than the essential points that they should be relevant to the objectives of WAOE, and they should hold some likely interest for members at large.  The Coming Events section, on the other hand, is intended to present opportunities for members to participate in conferences, seminars, workshops discussion groups coming up in the next few weeks.  These events would preferably be conducted online, at least in part, and at little or no cost, so as to offer as few restrictions as possible to WAOE members who may wish to take part in them.

There have been only one or two items submitted by members for the Reports section since it started.  It is hard to believe that, out of some 900 members, there is not even one or two in any given month who have participated in some event or other which would be worth making a brief summary about to pass on to other members.   But unless this kind and level of input comes through to the column from members, it will not be possible to maintain the Reports section at all.  It cannot survive on the capacity of the WEB Editor alone (which basically it has been doing for the past several issues) to check out what is happening around the world, let alone attend and report on at least one event every couple of weeks.  Likewise, it is becoming too demanding a task for this single individual to search the World Wide Web week-in and week-out for appropriate happenings to include in the Coming Events section, however much assisted by judicious subscriptions to various listserves and discussion groups.

We would like to ask, then, what value members place on both the Reports and the Coming Events sections of the Conference (Re)Call column?  Should they be retained in their present form?  In particular, should we broaden the scope of the Coming Events section to promote conferences etc which take place in real time, or which require registration fees?  How willing are members to contribute to the column with reviews of events they have attended, or with news about events coming up?   Are there items other than conferneces and the like which members would like to see reviewed and reported - books or journal articles, for example, or professional development courses?

Please email the WEB Editor to give your answers to these questions, or to offer comments of your own, or to contribute reviews or news items.  And keep them coming in!

 

Reports | Coming Events | Where to Conference (Re)Call | About This Section | Top

 

About Conference (Re)Call

The Conference (Re)Call column aims mainly to provide feedback from members on the new knowledge or other value they gained from attending a recent conference or other event to do with one aspect or another of online education. It also includes a Coming Events section, advertising relevant conferences, seminars, workshops or other forums which members will be able to attend at little or no cost. This section will concentrate mainly on online events, because that is WAOEâs special interest, and because the idea is to promote opportunities which are more or less equally available to WAOE members no matter what part of the world they live in.

The success of Conference (Re)Call therefore depends very heavily on input from members. WAOE officers are already out there reporting on events theyâve attended and spotting others to come. Weâd like to see all other members doing likewise. You will see from the items in this issue that reports donât need to be lengthy or detailed, let alone polished. We think the segment will work best on the simple premise that whatever any one member found worthwhile in attending an online education event, or attractive about an event in the offing is likely to benefit and interest other members. So, letâs keep those reports and notices coming in to the WEB Editor.