By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
Representatives of 56 universities on five continents in nine countries will begin their journey to Abilene soon. Their final destination: the Teague Special Events Center. Their ultimate goal: get ConnectED.
ACU’s ConnectED Summit 2009 on Feb. 26-27 will explore various aspects of mobile learning and technology.
George Saltsman, director of the Adams Center for Learning and Teaching, said registration officially closed Tuesday after exceeding the maximum capacity of attendees.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 354 participants from 62 countries – Australia being farthest – 30 states, 25 K-12 school districts and 23 companies have registered to attend.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the interest we are receiving for this conference,” Saltsman said. “To have this level of participation from this many universities and schools is overwhelming.”
Conference organizers will have a little help educating guests, thanks to a few keynote speakers.
Jason Ediger, director of iTunes U and Mobile Learning in Apple’s Education Division, will address attendants as one of three keynote speakers. Ediger manages the team responsible for iPhone, iPod and iTunes U in K-12 and higher education, according to www.acu.edu. Other keynote speakers include Dr. Eric Mazur, Balkanski professor of physics and applied physics at Harvard University, John Regan, vice president AT&T’s Government and Education Group, and Dr. Stephen Molyneux, Distinguished Educator for Apple.
ACU administrators hope the ConnectED conference is an indicator of mobile learning leadership.
“We still have a long way to go to fully maximize the potential of these tools,” Saltsman said. “But we are showing true leadership and a spirit of innovation, and for that I couldn’t be prouder.”
On Thursday, vendors will have until 6:45 p.m. to setup their displays for the opening of the hall at 7 p.m. After an hour of mingling, games and hors d’oeuvres, the evening program, featuring keynote speaker Molyneux, will commence. At 10 p.m., the program will end, and guests will begin preparing for a full day Friday.
From 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m., guests and administrators will have the opportunity to attend a variety of workshops. ConnectED Summit offers eight tracks, or workshops, focusing on everything from Web programming to infrastructure and networking.
