ELI 2007, Atlanta

Rather bleary eyed on a wet and cold Monday morning in Atlanta. I would have posted my own snapshot of the view from my 19th floor base of operations in the Omni Hotel at the massive CNN complex, except the cloud cover is so low, the colours so grey and the view so minimal that there is little point (so just like being in London then). Instead, here is the publicity shot from the website which at least adds a little geographical/architectural flavour.

Why am I here? Well thanks to partial financial support kindly provided by ALT I will be attending the Educause Learning Initiative annual meeting: "Creating a Successful Learning Culture: Connecting Learners, Communities, and Information" which runs through to Wednesday 24th January.

It is a packed program and the major themes being addressed this year are summarized as:

• What should we understand about learners, learning principles, and learning technologies that would allow us to enhance learner success? How do we build that into our institutional culture?How has technology changed the way people communicate and network? How can higher education leverage these changes to improve learning?
• How can technology help connect learners, communities, and information in meaningful ways?
• How do we address the need for evidence about learning, teaching, and technology? What questions should be asked? What evidence should guide future improvements?

I will be blogging as many of the sessions as I can, along with a colleague who has also joined me here here. As for today's agenda? Well, I will be taking the advice of a close friend (currently in Brussels) who has 'suggested' the following itinerary. It is great having someone else work out your schedule while you are asleep in a different timezone. So the sessions are likely to be:

The Next Generation of Digital Learning Spaces: Exploring the Frontier of Virtual Worlds, http://www.educause.edu/ELI071/Program/10825?PRODUCT_CODE=ELI071/SESS20

and maybe this: Emerging Educational Technologies and Neomillennial Learning Styles,
http://www.educause.edu/ELI071/Program/10825?PRODUCT_CODE=ELI071/GS02

and also: More Than Just a Game,
http://www.educause.edu/ELI071/Program/10825?PRODUCT_CODE=ELI071/SESS13

If anyone has looked at the program and would specifically like me attend something then let me know and I will do my best.