http://www.vwbpe.org/

This conference is free. According to the website, the first year, over 1500 unique avatars attended and the second year, over 3800 unique avatars attended this conference.
This year there will be 192 presentations and 500 presenters with an expectation of 5000 attendees. Check out the conference website. I plan to attend for the first time and will post a blog about the experience.

Assessment- Discourse Analysis
This week, I reviewed my discussion posts from previous weeks using charts that Dr. Khalsa shared with the class. I searched the literature about this fascinating subject. Here are some interesting reads on the subject from various perspectives. The first article analyzed documents posted by distance and online learning organizations and highlights some of what the author perceives as contradictions in applying constructivist learning theories. The second is an interesting read about how to be successful in online teaching. VOCAL stands for Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical, and Lead by example. I found some good tips in the article. The third is my favorite. It is part of what later became the authors Doctoral Thesis in 2005 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I have not read the entire thesis but plan to in the future. The author used ethnographic research- immersing self in the environment to understand the learning culture in an on-line game.

Kelland, J. (2006). Constructivist Theories and Online Learning Best Practices: A Discourse Analysis. 2006 National Conference On-Line Proceedings. York University, Toronto, Ontario. May 28-29. http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2006/2006onlineProceedings/CAS2006Jennifer%20H%20Kelland.pdf

Savery, J. (2005). BE VOCAL: Characteristics of Successful Online Instructors. Journal of Interactive Online Learning. Vol. 4, Number 2, Fall 2005. http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/4.2.6.pdf

Steinkuehler, C. (2004), Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Sixth International Conference on Learning Sciences. University of California, LA.
http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/papers/SteinkuehlerICLS2004.pdf

Steinkuehler, C. Doctoral Thesis
http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/thesis.html

Lastly, I want to share this with my class as I say goodbye and wish you joy in your future teaching careers. It is a free conference in the virtual world Second Life. I am going to dive in and learn what is in store for the future of learning.
http://www.vwbpe.org/