2008 AACE eLearn Conference, Las Vegas

The best two sessions in the entire conference were: 1) Instructional Design of Authentic E-Learning Environments and Use of Technology as Faculty Assessement. The former session specifically focused on authentic learning on the collegiate level,sharing that authentic tasks involve a problem, physical and social context, results, and criteria for evaluation. Although this was not new to me, it helped me solidify how to more effectively design the learning experience. The best part of this session was learning how to creatively incorporate technology in simulated task environments. Many of my colleagues could benefit from this workshop.
2)Use of Technology as Faculty Assessment focused on video taping teaching sessions, self critique, peer-review, and administrator assessment of teaching performance. The idea of the professor, a peer, and administrator integrating feedback for the teaching professor was novel. I could see that the narratives gathered from each source would be very helpful for refining, exploring, and acquiring new teaching skills. Also emphasized was the reflective part of the assessment. Using the video, the instructor could review for behavioral patterns that either enhanced learning or impeded it. The video could also serve as a baseline to be compared to a future recording delivering the same lesson using more effective strategies and teaching techniques. The whole university system would benefit from the exposure of the session's content.