ACEC2008 - ACT on IcT

The Australian Computers in Education Conference (ACEC08) is a biennial event organised by the Computer Education Group of the ACT (CEGACT) on behalf of the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE), the ACT Catholic and Independent Teacher Librarians Network (CITL) and the Navigator Schools' Consortium (Navcon). This conference provides a forum for educators in schools, universities, TAFE colleges, professional associations and industry to present ideas and exchange information on the integration, development and applications on all topics related to computer education and teacher librarianship.

The assimilation of computers into all levels of education and training, the rapid growth of the internet and web-based publishing and the profileration of computing devices embedded in appliances, cars, phones and even clothes, all impact on how education is structured and delivered. The future of education may be one of virtual classrooms and libraries, populated by creative individuals who collaborate with like-minded others. Alternatively, it may well look much as it does today, but whatever the next few years bring, it will be the unsung innovators in classrooms and school libraries who will transform and expand the conventional boundaries of education.

ACEC2008 encourages delegates to come to the nation's capital to think about the future agendas for ICTs in learning both nationally and internationally. This conference follows on the traditions and excellence set up previous ACEC conferences. It provides reflection time for the professional communities of ACCE, CITL, and Navcon to ponder current issues.

Guest Speaker
Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard
The Deputy Prime Minister will provide an update on the federal government's digital education reform agenda.

Keynote Spotlight
Mitch Resnick, MIT Media Lab
Mitch directs the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the Media Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He develops new technologies to engage people (particularly children) in creative learning experiences. He also serves as Head of the Media Arts and Sciences academic program and Director of the Okawa Centre. His research projects include - Programmable Bricks: Learning Through Designing, Scratch : Fostering Technological Fluency and Computer Clubhouse : Bridging the Digital Divide.

Dr Matthew Rimmer
Matthew is a senior lecturer and the Director of Higher Degree Research at the ANU College of Law and an Associate Director of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA). He is a member of the Copyright and Intellectual Property Advisory Group of the Australian Library and Information Association, and a Director of the Australian Digital Alliance. He is also a regular media commentator on intellectual property.

Presention Focus - copyright battles over Goggle Book Search, YouTube, FaceBook, Internet Archive and Wikipedia and exploration of educational endeavours such as the One Laptop Per Child Project, Public Library of Science and Encyclopedia of Life.

Margaret Cox
Margaret Cox was the Director of the Computers in the Curriculum Project in the UK and Professor of Educational Computing at King's College London. She is a contributing editor of the International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, to be published later this year, and is currently working on several major research projects including an investigation of interactions between students' 'out of school' use of IT and 'in school' learning.

Presentation Focus - disparity in curriculum based and social / non-school usae of newer technologies.

Liz Murphy
Lis is an Australian based reporter, editor, producer and researcher. She works as a private consultant with a focus on global web-based communications producing live online global events, streaming real time audio, video and presentation material with presenters discussing topics / issues and interacting with audiences across the globe. As well Liz designs and produces media rich websites, sets up online radio stations and develops online exhibitions.

Keith Krueger
Keith is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a national non-profit organisation based in Washington DC that serves as the voice of K-12 technology leaders, especially school district Chief Technology Officers, who use technology strategically to ultimately improve teaching and learning.

Presentation Focus - exploration of what the research and experience worldwide says in relation to technology in education, particularly the critical role of leadership and vision; the four minute CoSN video, Learning to Change, Changing to Learn, (available at www.cosn.org) provides a conversation starter about 21st century learning environments that leverage ICT for learning.

Presentations
Over 170 presentations across nine conference strands i.e. elearning, ICT in curriculum and pedagogical transformation, ICT in action, ICT policy, information management innovation, leadership / management, networking systems, specialist IT / Computing Studies. Formats include panels / symposia, workshops, poster sessions, fully refereed and non-refereed papers, demonstrations.

Pre Conference Workshops
Do you want to take some time for some more in-depth learning? Then consider enrolling in one or more of the 10 hands-on pre-conference workshops. Conducted by leaders in their field the workshops cover a wide range of topics including graphics, animation, robotics (Bees and Crickets!), simulations and games and learning how to use speech to text software in your classroom. Full details under the Conference Program area of the website. A program of 10 workshops (half: $35 and full day: $55) on Monday 29 September. Workshops include:

Cartoons and Animation - Vic Gecas (WA)
Scratch for Computer Science & Multimedia - Mike Leishman (WA)
Bee Bots - Laurie Heikkila (USA)
Speech Recognition Software - Derek Austin & Margaret Neilsen & Carol Yeomans (Nuance)
Crickets: Combining Art and Robotics to Spark Creative Thinking - Mitch Resnick (USA)
3D Animation for design, visualisation and experiementation - Neil Boyd & Sebastian Perri (AIE)
Teaching Artificial intelligence Using Robotics and Games - Lea Bartlett & Caswal Parker (AIE)
Creating Visual Effects - Tom Magill & Sebastian Perri (AIE)
Using Games For Simulation and Training - Lea Bartlett & Neil Boyd (AIE)
Inclusive Technologies: Clicker 5 - Jane Whitten & Judy Hunter-Dickson (ACT)

Full details of the pre-conference workshops are under the 'Conference Program' section of the conference website.

Location
National Convention Centre, Canberra ACT

ACEC2008 website: www.acec2008.info

Enquiries: enquiries@acec2008.info

Date
ACEC2008 ACT on IcT Conference: 29th September - 2nd October 2008

Early Bird Registration - EXTENDED
Save over 15% by registering early. Early Bird registrations close on 25th July.

Group Registrations - EXTENDED
Save even more by simultaneously registering 4 or more people from your organisation / school as a Group Registration. To apply for a Group Registration send an email to equiries@acec2008.info - Group Registrations close on 25th July. Full details are on the conference website www.acec2008.info

Digital Education Revolution (DER)
As you would be aware the Federal Governement DER program is well underway. To ensure delegates are kept up-to-date Julia Gillard has been invited to open the conference. In addition Dr Evan Arthur, Group Manager of DER from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations will conduct a special briefing for industry representatives. this will be by invitation only for sponsors and trade exhibitors to find out how they can participate and benefit from DER.