Next week I’m fortunate to be involved with two digital education conferences, and wanted to post about them both, because they’re both very dear to me.

From Monday 7th, my colleagues and I are proud to be the local hosts of the Networked Learning conference in Edinburgh. This is, in my opinion, the best conference for hearing about new approaches to networked/digital/online education theory. This year the keynotes (from Neil Selwyn and Steve Fuller), symposia, and papers look outstanding. I’m missing my own symposium on Wednesday, on ‘the spaces of networked learning‘ which is upsetting, because it’s going to be amazing. But Phil Sheail, my paper co-author, is planning an excellent short talk based on our paper: Disrupting the illusion of sameness: the importance of making place visible in online learning.

The reason I’m missing it is because I’m heading to Dallas, USA, for my third year of Sloan-C’s Emerging Technologies for Online Learning. I have this conference to thank for introducing me to some wonderful collaborators, including Amy Collier, with whom I’m giving a plenary talk on Friday morning: Mess in Online Education – How it is, how it should be. I’m also getting the opportunity to think about my career (!), as I join a panel discussion about ‘the role of faculty and professors in educational technology’.

So – an eventful week, the end of which will find me with my dear sister, the other Dr Ross, exploring the sights of DC. I’m promised cherry blossoms.

If we’re overlapping next week in Edinburgh or Dallas, I look forward to seeing you!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Newark_cherry_blossoms.jpg