Learning Forward:
Teaching Technologies for Engaged Learners

Call for Presentation Proposals – Deadline March 7, 2011

The 2011 UNC Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference (TLTC) will be held April 12-14 in the virtual world Second Life. The theme this year is "Learning Forward: Teaching Technologies for Engaged Learners."

This annual conference, held since 2000, is a forum to network and exchange information about the effective use of technology for teaching and learning. The term TLT refers to teaching methods and learning environments that incorporate instructional and library-based technologies, whether face-to-face or online. The TLT Conference is hosted by UNC-Pembroke, with support from the UNC System.

The conference emphasizes timely topics of particular interest to all education professionals, regardless of grade level or geographic location, from effective current practices to emerging technologies.

This year we anticipate presentations and participation by faculty and staff from the UNC system, the NC community college system, other private colleges and universities, and K-12 educators from anywhere in North Carolina and beyond.

The presentations and demonstrations will be held primarily on the complex of NC Education islands. NC Education is a Second Life group funded by the community college system. There is a schedule of Second Life orientation sessions in the weeks prior to the event.

Because the conference is being hosted in Second Life, you can attend for free from your home, office, library . . . anywhere you have a broadband internet connection. While there is no registration fee, presenters and participants are required to register for the conference.
Anyone interested in teaching and learning with technology should attend, including faculty, instructional designers and technologists, librarians and administrators.

This year's theme is a reminder that where we teach, learn, communicate and live our daily lives is an ever-changing environment. Through our use of state-of-the-art technologies, we are culturally responsive educators in the service of our 21st Century learners.

Technologies today are eliminating community boundaries and allowing us to cooperate and collaborate in exciting new ways. Because we are looking for ways to incorporate new technologies and reach our learners where they are, the 2011 UNC TLT Conference will focus on the world of innovative teaching tools for the classroom so we, as educators, can not only access the new skills that envelope us, but embrace them and use the opportunities they offer to redefine our classrooms.

We are calling all practitioners, developers and innovators to submit proposals sharing experiences with teaching and learning in tomorrow's world through thought-provoking presentations, active demonstrations, and engaging conversations. We enthusiastically invite submissions that showcase TLT findings and work in progress from faculty, librarians, staff, administrators, and students who would like to share their knowledge and expertise with colleagues. This year's conference continues to address teaching and learning interdependencies by continuing to offer a K-20 Collaboration track. Proposals about UNC collaborative work, including projects that involve educational, non-profit, commercial, or government organizations, are encouraged. We welcome submissions from non-UNC institutions.

Preference is given to proposals for sessions that:

• promote effective and innovative teaching and learning practices
• emphasize collaborative approaches
• provide useful information, skills, or ideas
• demonstrate active TLT leadership
• actively engage participants
• are consistent with the conference theme
• 
  Conference participants include professionals from academic departments, libraries, and teaching and learning centers, as well as those involved with instructional design, distance education, instructional technology, faculty development, information technology, and more!