CiTE 2009

Advancing the Teaching and Learning Experience at CiTE 2009

Attendees of CiTE 2009: The Pearson eCollege Users Conference enjoyed entertaining and illuminating presentations from keynotes, best practice information from current faculty and administrators, and new perspectives on the future of online learning from Pearson eCollege.

Pearson eCollege held its tenth annual users conference, CiTE 2009, April 15-17 at the Denver Marriott City Center. More than 450 attendees, including faculty and administrators from higher education and K-12 institutions throughout the country, gathered to share their best practices in online teaching and learn about the future of online learning from guest speakers, colleagues and Pearson eCollege personnel.

CiTE 2009 Kickoff

The conference kicked off with a welcome from Jeff Borden, Senior Director of Teaching and Learning for Pearson eCollege. Borden provided a unique look back on the history of CiTE and Pearson eCollege, with a little help from his alter ego—an avatar, complete with interactive conversation.

Matt Leavy, Pearson eCollege CEO, shared his thoughts on the past, present and future of education and Pearson eCollege during the “State of Pearson eCollege.” Rounding out the general sessions for Wednesday was opening keynote, Michael Wesch.

Wesch, 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities, presented “The Crisis of Significance and the Future of Higher Education.” His presentation featured comical anecdotes focusing on his work studying the impact of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea. In addition, Wesch shared video and other multimedia, including his popular YouTube™ videos on social media and the changing face of education.

Day Two: Personalized Education for Every Student

Thursday morning began with a keynote presentation from Michael B. Horn, co-author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (McGraw-Hill: June 2008). Horn shared his thoughts on the future of education, particularly the move towards personalized learning for every child.

Attendees participated in a number of breakout sessions throughout the day Thursday, on a variety of topics from ePortfolios to digital textbooks. These breakout sessions were predominantly led by Pearson eCollege users, providing their experience using Pearson eCollege tools and offering techniques on how to incorporate their teaching methods into both fully online and hybrid learning environments.

Honoring Partnerships and Recognizing Excellence in Education

Thirty Educational Partners were honored for 10 years of partnership with Pearson eCollege, receiving the Dennis Franz Partnership Award during the annual CiTE awards luncheon. During the luncheon, the Excelence in Online Administration (eOA) awards were presented to two individual administrators and one support team. Pearson eCollege also presented awards to two teachers for Excellence in Online Teaching (eOT). See the In the News section of this newsletter for more details on the awards.

Closing Thoughts for CiTE

Attendees found cause for laughter during Friday’s keynote address from David Pogue. With an amusing commentary on current and future technologies, as well as a medley of his most popular musical parodies on the challenges inherent in using personal technology, Pogue both entertained and informed the audience.

To close out CiTE 2009, Pearson eCollege Vice Presidents Kendrick McLish and Anne Keehn provided overviews of both the coming attractions from Pearson eCollege and the future of education technology, both within Pearson eCollege and beyond.

As CiTE 2009 came to a close, one attendee said, “It was a treat to return to CiTE, reconnect with long-time friends and make new friends, and see how the experience has expanded.” Another mentioned, “Being a first time attendee, the conference was very informative. I learned many new things and I look forward to next year.”

The CiTE Team at Pearson eCollege is busy planning CiTE 2010. Please visit http://cite.ecollege.com throughout the year for updates on next year’s conference.