#ALTC2011 is a large, well-established, Learning Technology conference, now in it's 18th year. The conference was heralded as:
"In 2011, education systems throughout the world are attempting to do more, better, and often with less. As the political, economic, social, agency and technological landscapes change, it is tempting for people in the learning technology community simply to "go on with vigour, hoping for the best"*. But this would be to miss a major opportunity."
#ALTC2011 Sessions
The conference had a wide and varied choice of sessions, on a range of topics, and presented in a range of formats (as we should expect from those working at the cutting edge). I attended a number of sessions and workshops, presented Getting in on the Twitter Action? Using Social Media to Build Your Professional Network and D-ICE for Change: Applying Organisational Development Guidance to IT Projects. You can read my (Digital Fingerprint) live blogposts from #ALTC2011.
See the full Flickr set
Keynotes
The opening keynote was from Miguel Brechner, who was instrumental in radically changing the education system in Uraguay through Plan Ceibal: the issuing of laptops to all children (although he stresses that this was about social/political gains, rather than the technology).
The closing keynote was by John Naughton on the impossibility of predicting the pace and direction of technological change, and how other industries (music, advertising and publishing) have missed the boat, as they were unprepared for what was coming... and questioning whether education will suffer the same fate.
We're still awaiting videos from ALT, which include the keynotes.
#ALTC2012
ALT-C 2012 will take place 11-13 September 2012 at the University of Manchester, and will focus on ‘a confrontation with reality’, seeking to take a "pragmatic approach" to using technology in education, rather than "innovation for innovation’s sake".