9:45 - 10:15

Online Learning: Are all the Pieces Finally in Place?

Many academic institutions are now offering some form of online learning experience for their students and have gone for either “out of the box” solutions or a hybrid integration of disparate systems. Both commercial vendors and open source communities can claim some success in establishing learning designs which work reasonably effectively in an online environment. The elements necessary for an effective and scalable student focussed online learning experience include pedagogy, production, support, assessment, evaluation, infrastructure and sales/marketing. Few institutions have managed to integrate all of these elements in a way which is totally transparent to the user.

The Open University has operated a distance learning model at a very large scale for over 35 years and is continually reassessing the technologies most suited for this purpose. As part of its development of a new and student focussed online environment, the University has made a major commitment to both open source system development and the release of much of its learning material as open content. However, like most other organisations, it also needs to leverage the significant investment it has made in commercial and in-house solutions. The resultant mix of open source, commercial and in-house services and tools is now live and a further series of releases are planned over the next year. Hopefully, the Open University’s experience will provide an informative case study for other academic institutions.

Joel Greenberg, Director of Strategic Development, The Open University

10:15 - 10:35

Sakai as Enterprise Software for Scholarly Work:
A Partial Roadmap

Sakai is increasingly embedded with enterprise systems in its production deployments. In this talk we will explore the integration paths that are being explored and worked on and which are likely to mature during the coming 2 years. This will include identity management, content management, portfolios, library systems, student information systems and Open Course-Ware publication.

John Norman, Director of the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies and 'Head of e-Learning', University of Cambridge and Sakai Board Chair

11:00 - 11:20

Student achievement systems: the other half of the equation

Instructional management systems address the first half of the problem: bringing courseware online but how does that help the institution accomplish its mission of educating students? The corollary of instructional management systems is student achievement solutions that enable students study and learn more effectively. Tegrity provides a Student -centered learning solution that enables EVERY student to access, review class content anywhere, anytime. Students and faculty alike consistently state that Tegrity has positively impacted learning and student performance.

During this session, Tegrity will present its highly acclaimed "Best in category", "Learn Sat Top 10" solution, a standards-based solution that easily integrates with leading Course Management solutions and virtually any IMS-compliant application on campus. Tegrity Campus create a personalized, highly efficient study tool for students, enabling them to capture and review class content from a laptop, browser, iPod and/or cellphone anytime and as often as they wish.

Kathryn Hughes, V.P. of Marketing, Tegrity

11:25 - 11:45

People Teach People: Connecting People Through Voice and Synchronous Collaboration

We believe that a school's online learning environment needs synchronous and collaborative tools to personalize and humanize the online environment leading to greater learning experiences. Students and faculty have become more sophisticated and are more comfortable using tools such as IM, VOIP, and Application Sharing. These applications allow students and faculty to feel more connected to their peers and enhance their learning experience.

Annie Chechitelli, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Wimba

13:20 - 13:40

Moodle at The Open University

The Open University is about 18 months into a major re-development of our online teaching and learning provision.  We are making, and commissioning, substantial changes to the Moodle platform to make it more suitable for use in institutions with large student numbers.

I will talk about the Open University's development programme and how this links with the Moodle development roadmap. I'll also highlight areas where we are developing Moodle and areas where we are building links to other systems within the University.

Ross Mackenzie, Product Development Manager, Learning & Teaching Solutions, the Open University

13:45 - 14:05

Learning System: From Island to Archipelago

The educational computing environment is growing increasingly complex as more and diverse systems are brought online and being integrated with one another. Maturity of Learning System software and the demands of an ever sophisticated user base are changing online teaching and learning. Learning System applications are moving from being an island of innovation to one of many in the archipelago of educational online resources. In this session we'll elaborate Blackboard's perspective on the future of the Learning System in online education.

Bob Alcorn, Senior Architect Blackboard

14:10 - 14:30

The Web Meets the Desktop

"Webtop" applications are half web-based, half desktop, they have major implications for simplifying the online teaching and learning experience, and they will be the next "big thing" on the Internet in late 2007 and 2008. Come and learn how Ucompass.com, Inc. is developing e-Learning Webtop apps using technologies from Mozilla, Adobe, and Yahoo to simplify and streamline the e-learning experience for instructors and students alike.

* There will be a demonstration of Ucompass.com, Inc.'s ApolloLMS, its flagship Webtop E-Learning application

Edward Mansouri, CEO, Ucompass.com, Inc.

15:00 - 15:20

Towards Ambient, Mobile and Personal Learning Content Management Systems for the Knowledge Economy

The speech will introduce trends and needs for higher learning content personalization within World Economies challenging towards Knowledge Society premiership.

Presented by the CEO of Giunti Labs, licensor of Europe's leading LCMS and Mobile learning content management technology learn eXact, and Vice chair of the European eLearning Industry Group (eLIG), the speech will give a European perspective of how global economies are facing new challenges in the era of life long learning, competency driven education and un formal access to knowledge.

It will outline trends towards Open Architectural Frameworks enabling to seamlessly extend "traditional" eLearning components such as vendor and/or Open Source LMS and VLE management solutions with innovative mobile Learning Content Management Solutions (mLCMS) empowering ubiquitous and location based access to learning and training contents onto mobile devices, gaming consoles, mailers and iTV solutions.

New learning scenarios extending the concept of “blended” learning from tutor led instruction, to web based training to innovative field based content delivery scenarios such as Narrowcasting and Ambient Content will be introduced. During the presentation Giunti Labs will also present eXact Mobile, the Mobile Learning plug-in of the learn eXact LCMS Suite, Europe’s leading eLearning and Mobile Learning Content Management solution now available for Blackberry™ mailers, Windows Mobile™ palm computers, Symbian™ Smartphones and Xybernaut™ Wearable computers.

Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO, Giunti Labs, European eLearning Industry Group Vice President

15:25 - 15:40

ANGEL Learning

Ray Henderson, Chief Products Officer, ANGEL Learning

15:45 - 17:00

Discussion / Panel Session