Proposal Guidelines

ELI is seeking presentation proposals for its 2009 Annual Meeting, scheduled for January 20-22, 2009, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida. If you would like to conduct a session at the annual meeting, there are three options to choose from:

• Presentation sessions
• Project briefings
• Poster sessions

The ELI Annual Meeting Program Committee will review all proposals. Criteria used in evaluating proposals include:

• Quality of the proposal, including merit of the topic, clarity of expression, and relevance to the conference theme and ELI's mission
• Evidence of a research base (for example, the project has collected two years of quantitative data demonstrating success)
• Clear linkage between learning technologies and learning
• Active learning strategies involved in the presentation (for example, does the proposal's design demonstrate greater potential for fostering learning than a traditional lecture-style presentation?)
• Involvement of a team, either from a single institution or among institutions
• Student involvement
• The overall balance of topics, institutions, and approaches

Length of Sessions

All sessions are scheduled for 60 minutes, including question-and-answer periods. Poster sessions and project briefings will be presented concurrently with regular sessions and will be available for two hours, allowing 30 minutes for setup between sessions.

ELI also asks that presenters identify their session as:

• Introductory: An introduction or overview designed for individuals with
  little or no basic knowledge of the topic.
• Intermediate: Expanded information designed for individuals with working
  knowledge of and some experience with the topic.
• Advanced: Expert-level content for individuals who have significant
  experience in the field.

Team Presentations Encouraged

ELI encourages a team approach to presentations, such as addressing a subject from multiple roles or synthesizing experiences of multiple institutions. ELI will include as many quality team-based sessions as possible in the annual meeting.

Due to the limited length of each session, the number of presenters should not number more than three. If you submit a proposal involving more than three presenters, please be aware that ELI may ask you to reduce the number of presenters as a condition of acceptance. If you have questions, please contact ELI Interim Director Julie K. Little.

First time submitting a proposal?

If this is the first time you are submitting to the ELI Annual Meeting and you would like to discuss how to maximize the quality of your proposal, please contact ELI Interim Director Julie K. Little no later than August 18.

Focus on Learners

In keeping with its strategic focus on learners and successful learning, ELI invites sessions that engage learners as presenters or contributors to session activities. ELI has a particular interest in sessions that explore teaching and learning with technology from the undergraduate learner's perspective. ELI will make an effort to include sessions that involve and/or emphasize undergraduate learners in the annual meeting. To support this emphasis, ELI will provide complimentary registration for up to two full-time undergraduate presenters per session.

Before you complete your proposal, please consider the following areas of interest that define ELI's agenda.

ELI Areas of Interest

Learners

Effective teaching and learning is, first and foremost, about the learner. ELI's efforts begin with a consideration of the learner, whether he or she is a Net Generation student, an adult learner, or a faculty member, staff member, or administrator seeking to use technology to improve student success.

Proposals for sessions focused on learners should address questions such as:

• How do our learners define success in learning ? What barriers keep them from achieving success? What expectations do they have of colleges and universities, of faculty and IT staff, and of themselves?
• What kind of support dostudents need to effectively collaborate with each other in the classroom and in research environments? How can technology foster those interactions?
• What educational programs,structures, and support best prepare learners to be global citizens in a world of constant change? How do we stay in touch with students; needs and expectations to ensure they have the support they need?
• What lessons can be learned from how students use technology in their daily lives? Are there applications of personal technologies that will enhance academic environments? Learner success?
• How can technology help students create stronger connections with information, with each other, and with relevant learning communities? How do we build upon these connections and foster reflection?
• What educational approaches will best prepare students to be lifelong learners, dedicated to collaboration and innovation?

Learning Principles and Practices

ELI advocates research-based learning principles and practices that support successful learning. Discussions of learning principles and practices should highlight how different institutions can adapt them to their own unique circumstances.

Proposals for sessions on learning principles and practices should address questions such as:

• What teaching and learning activities build collaborative learners? How can we best implement them in classroom-based environments, online learning, hybrid approaches, and informal environments?
• What teaching and learning with technology strategies have proven most effective for fostering teamwork, creativity, analytic reasoning, critical thinking, communication, and reflection? How do you know? How transferable are these practices across disciplines? How transferable are they across institutions?
• What learning principles and practices connect learners, communities, and information, resulting in social learning?
• What practices lead to the development of an open educational culture based on sharing and cooperation?

Learning Technologies

The strategic use of technology has the possibility to flatten our institutional walls, opening the doors to more meaningful collaborations and opportunities to build collegial environments that are characterized by openness and cooperation. ELI pursues uses of technology that are replicable across institutions and disciplines so that investments are broadly leveraged. ELI members strive to stay on the leading edge of teaching and learning with technology, identifying emerging technologies that lead to successful learning.

Proposals for learning technologies sessions should address questions such as:

• How should institutions evaluate the potential value of a specific technology?
• How can a given technology support meaningful collaboration? What measures should be used to assess the effectiveness of technology in fostering teamwork and interaction? What measures should be used to assess the effectiveness of technology in creating an institutional or classroom culture founded on openness and sharing ?
• How can technology improve social learning?
• What implementation issues should institutions weigh if they consider adopting a specific technology?

Conference Fees

Presenters are responsible for conference fees, with the exception of student presenters, as noted above. ELI strives to draw the best possible presentations for the annual meeting regardless of source. To support this goal, presenters selected from non-ELI member institutions register at the member rate for the annual meeting.

Important Dates

• Call for proposals starts: July 8, 2008
• Proposals due: September 9, 2008
• Notifications: November 10, 2008