Usually at this time of year I start to blog about what’s coming up at ALT’s Annual Conference in September. For over ten years this event has shaped my working life, setting the rhythm of when things go from busy to frantic. It’s not ‘just a conference’, but also a focus point around which engagement in activities that happen at other times of the year is planned (find our more).
When ALT’s Board of Trustees took the difficult decision to not hold an Annual Conference until 2021, I felt that as an organisation we made the best decision. We put the well-being of everyone involved first as it was very clear that we couldn’t manage the risks involved in holding a large international event with over 500 people in London this autumn. Or indeed at the start of what is looking to be a very demanding academic year for everyone in Learning Technology.
Yet the need to share knowledge, to learn from each others practice and research is more urgent now as Learning Technology has moved centre stage. Hence we are organising a virtual Summer Summit over 2 days, 26-27 August 2020 – and I am getting really excited about what’s in store.
From the crisis drop ins, weekly webinars and Members’ feedback in recent months we have picked up topics which are most urgent such as virtual labs, digital inclusion, well being and scaling up blended and fully online provision and for each of these and more there will be practical, parallel sessions running throughout the programme.
We have put an issue that concerns us all at the heart of the summit, and are fortunate that Angela Saini will be joining the summit for a special Q&A session #BlackLivesMatter.
Building on the recent success of #GastaGoesGlobal, a special ‘Crisis & Care’ Gasta session features doctoral researchers from the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) and will be chaired in the best #altc GASTA tradition by Dr Tom Farrelly, Institute of Technology, Tralee (ITT).
Alongside a wonderful line up of featured speakers, we have also been thinking hard about how to translate some of what makes our events special into a new online format. We want to not look at a grid of faces for two days running, so asynchronous sessions are in the programme, too, as well as a quiz, radio and… karaOERke…! There may even be a 2020 #altc community portrait 🙂
Registration for the Summit is open and tickets are £49 and free scholarship places are available. Register to get access to live sessions, recordings and resources and join us for what is promising to be a very special two days this August #altcSummit.