Friday, May 28, 2010

CNIE 2010 Keynotes and Ning Online

This is the first year in a long while that I haven't attended the annual CNIE Conference (formerly either the AMTEC or CADE conferences). So, imagine my delight in finding the three keynotes online. Kudos to New Brunswick Community College for capturing the video and coordinating with the presenter's slides.

Watching and listening to Nora, Alec and Daniel was great -- in fact, I would argue that post de facto online access is better, in some ways, than real time. I can play, pause, re-play, repeat the video / audio in ways that are better than real time. I can insert phrases in my French-to-English translator, which would be tricky in real time. Admittedly, the video was of varying quality, and there were some hiccups with the audio. Notwithstanding the dollars and time saved, and the lesser impact on the environment (see Anderson and Anderson's article about online vs. f2f conferencing), without real-time attendance, I still missed the many sessions and panels that are unavailable online. By staying home, I missed visiting with friends from across the country and around the world, and hearing about their latest research and teaching. Still, it is great to have the "keynote" taste of the conference available online.

Another "layer" for remote, post de facto participation, is the CNIE Ning site:  http://cnie2010.ning.com/  This community resource includes videos, photos, forums and links. Hi Bruce!! Hi Brad!!

I cannot wait to see what the "Cascades of Innovation" CNIE conference is like in Hamilton in 2011.

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