Tomorrow and Thursday I will be attending the 2009 NMC Symposium on New Media and Learning. It is a virtual conference, with all sessions taking place in Second Life. I like to go into a conference by reviewing the sessions offered and defining my objectives for participation. What do I hope to learn, discover or take away from the conference?

The conference actually begins tonight with a reception and poster session at the NMC conference center in Second Life. I like poster sessions – it provides a nice informal opportunity to interact with the poster creators. The theme of the conference is New Media and Learning so I will be paying particular attention to education professionals like myself that are using Web 2.0, learning management systems, Second Life, etc. in innovative ways to support learning. The poster creators will be there to chat with.

The full conference begins tomorrow and there are several sessions I will be paying attention to. I’ll name a few, describe them briefly and give my reasons for being “all ears”, defining my objectives in italics.

• Imagination Engine: Rapid Media Visualization and Storyboard Creation Process. Joe Tojek (or his avatar) from Capella University will be demonstrating the process and tools his intructional design team uses to brainstorm and plan new media projects and tools in support of learning. I’ll be looking for cues and ideas for how our IT and media shop can work better with the instructional designers to provide input and support as we move to using new technologies in our courses.
• Digital Media Tools for Replacing Traditional Methods of Instruction. This session will look at Web 2.0 tools used in the support of collaborative learning, and will show how these tools enable us to go beyond traditional instruction. I’m assuming by “traditional instruction” the presenter intends to compare Web 2.0 – enhanced learning with both f2f and older distance learning models. I’ll be focusing particularly on how we can better support and provide scaffolding for learning in new environments such as wikis and blogs, and what new learning outcomes we can expect.
• Going GaGa for Google: Using Google in Virtual Worlds. This session will show how Google tools such as Google Docs, Google Maps and YouTube can be “mashed up” with the virtual world experience to provide a highly textured learning experience (my words). My objective here is primarily for fun – there is an interactive component to this session and we’ll actually be building something! I will be paying attention to the possibilities for learning, too, of course. :-)
• Dramatically Different: Strategies for Socially-Engaged Learning in Virtual
  Worlds. This session will describe the use of virtual worlds for role-playing and active learning in support of learning in the drama/theatre arts area. This session will support a meta-objective for attending this conference; since the conference is taking place entirely in Second Life, I will be experiencing first hand its power in supporting learning.

There are many other sessions too numerous to mention that have caught my interest. I’m sure I’ll be refining my objectives and coming up with new ones as I meet new people and make new discoveries at the conference. I’ll be blogging my discoveries so stay tuned.