Teaching and Learning with Technology conference revived with help from UNCP

Staff Reports
Oct 29, 2009

Although UNC disbanded its Teaching and Learning with Technology Collaborative last year, the annual conference will return for 2010, according to Dr. Anthony Curtis, UNCP Faculty Senate chair and Mass Communication professor, who will lead the statewide event for the University of North Carolina System.

"Last year, when the budget problems came up, the TLTC Board decided to host the conference completely online, eliminating the need for travel," Dr. Curtis explained. "We will do the same in 2010."

Dr. Curtis is forming a statewide committee to draw up plans including conference dates in March. The event will be held principally in the virtual world Second Life. Participants will be able to attend from their homes, offices, libraries or elsewhere.

"The conference will focus on ways to prepare students for a world where tools for learning, information- sharing, and knowledge development and management are evolving rapidly," Dr. Curtis said. "The program will include references to online quality, open source applications for education, learning objects and repositories, and the use of emerging technologies for instruction.”

The conference program committee is considering the dates and event theme and preparing a call for session proposals.

"We again will not have a registration fee," Dr. Curtis said. "Participants will attend for free from anywhere they have a broadband Internet connection."

However, while there is no registration fee, presenters and participants will register for the conference.

"One major highlight of our 2010 conference will be a strong collaboration with the North Carolina Community Colleges (NCCS)," Dr. Curtis said. "The Second Life presentations and demonstrations will be held on the five NC Education WeBIEE islands." NC Education is a Second Life group funded by the community colleges and open to all of North Carolina higher education.

It will be the 11th annual TLT Conference. Held since 2000, the event is a statewide forum to network and exchange information about the effective use of technology for teaching and learning. The term TLT refers to teaching methods and learning environments that incorporate instructional and library-based technologies, whether face-to-face or online. The conference is expected to have many presentations on uses of technologies in face-to-face classrooms as well as online instruction.

"We will offer online orientation and preparation sessions during the week before the conference," Dr. Curtis said.