A View from Downunder

Kippis & G'day

I'm looking forward to meeting you at VideoFunet - only a short time away now. It will be a great forum for us to exchange ideas about what is happening with videoconferencing in different parts of the world. (Very much the same things I suspect!)

The buzzwords at the moment are:

• Unified communication
• High definition
• Telepresence

What does this mean? Yes - better, faster, easier, more life-like videoconferencing. But what effect will it have on teaching and learning?

Very little I think. Why - you ask? Because in the case of teaching practice I don't believe that "the craftsman is only as good his tools". No matter how good some tools, if the individual's understanding of learning and design of learning activities is poor - the tools will not help.

In order to have great videoconference learning experiences, we need to start with sound principles of interactive learning and build from there.

I'll be addressing this - and other issues - in my presentation. To get an idea of my thinking, you can read a number of articles and papers or visit my Videoconference Blog.

Let's have some discussion about this here - to be continued in Tampere. What are your issues/thoughts/concerns?

Cheers, Carol Daunt

Conference program is now published

VideoFunet invites you and your colleagues to join the VideoFunet Conference in May 10-11 2007 in Tampere, Finland.
The main goal for the conference is to present the usage of video technology in Universities and Polytechnics in Finland and other countries. The conference gives participants an opportunity to exchange best practices in using video technology in teaching and research. For participants from outside Finland the Conference offers a good view to Finnish practices and innovations.
The Conference invites experts in video technology together with university teachers, researchers and support staff to share best practices in using video technology in higher education. The conference framework will be a combination of keynote speakers and parallel sessions along with poster presentations. The first session is focused to the new innovations and good practices of the video technology and the other is focused on innovative pedagogical usage of video technology.
The two-day conference offers possibilities to hear around 28 presentations and to see video poster and poster as well as sponsor presentations. All presentations will be streamed over the internet and can be seen live and recorded for later use. The conference organisers give interested participants possibility to give their presentation via videoconferencing.
Conference program and presentation abstracts are now available on the conference pages, http://video.funet.fi/conference . The deadline of the registration (reduced fee) will be extended to the 27th April 2007.

More information:
Conference General Chair
Mika Paakkanen
mika.paakkanen@ee.oulu.fi
http://video.funet.fi/conference


Tampereen yliopistossa 10.-11.5.2007 järjestettävä VideoFunet-konferenssi on ensimmäinen laatuaan Suomessa.Kansainvälinen konferenssi kokoaa yhteen videoteknologian opetuskäytöstä kiinnostuneet opettajat, suunnittelijat ja asiantuntijat kaikilta koulutusasteilta. Konferenssin ilmoittautuminen on käynnissä ja edullisempi osallistumismaksu on voimassa 27. huhtikuuta saakka.Konferenssin kieli on englanti. Lisätietoja www-sivuilta http://www.video.funet.fi/conference/Konferenssin pääpuhujina ovat tri. Helen Barret Yhdysvalloista, Carol Daunt Australiasta ja Jean-François Raffestin Ranskasta.Notice 5th April 20071st VideoFunet Conference May 10-11 2007 Utilizing Video Technology in Teaching and Research