Learning without limits

The 5th Plymouth e-Learning Conference is just around the corner, but there's still time to register at the early bird rate (until 5th March). The theme for this year's event is 'Learning without Limits' - anytime, anyplace learning. The conference will address the growing number of contexts in which learning can take place, and how technology is playing its role. PeLC10 will take place on April 8-9, 2010 in the iconic Roland Levinsky Building on the main University of Plymouth campus. We will focus on the challenges and opportunities brought by formal and informal learning, social networks and personal technologies, mobile learning and innovative on-campus education, virtual and real teaching & learning scenarios, and how teachers and learners are harnessing the power and potential of new and emerging technologies. Our two keynote speakers are Josie Fraser and Donald Clark - the conference website holds further details of costs, joining instructions etc.

I have been ploughing through the review comments over the past few days, and looking at some of the fascinating paper proposals, workshops, demonstrations and debate abstracts. Topics include: emerging learning technologies, classroom learning technology such as Interactive Whiteboards, personal learning environments, new pedagogies and practices, mobile learning, voting systems, 'Twitter is Dead' (what, surely some mistake here?? - Ed), collaborative content management, teaching in Second Life, using e-portfolios, a wide rage of Web 2.0 tools, Social Networking in education, Digital Literacy, Digital Identity, and a host of other e-learning topics. There will be about 70 papers, workshops and other presentations throughout the conference, more than enough to captivate even the most demanding of conference goers.

Our conference dinner will once again be held on Thursday evening in the National Marine Aquarium, in spectacular surroundings, with a backdrop of shark tanks in the Atlantic Reef. There are only 110 places for this event, and tickets are going fast, so book as soon as you can! As part of the evening, there will be welcome drinks, a bar open until late, goodie bag, and an all evening exclusive run of the entire aquarium - one of the largest in Europe. Other featured activities during the conference include demonstrations of the University of Plymouth's Immersive Vision Cinema and Virtual Dentistry/Medicine displays. There are also fringe events planned and as usual, the Pelican Fringe Website for you to join with live streaming from the event.

Already delegates from over a dozen countries have registered for the conference, and most will be attending for both days (above is a picture of delegates registering on day one of PeLC09). We hope to see you at the conference, which if it's anything like last year's event, will be memorable, stimulating and exciting.