Desire2Learn Fusion Conference 2011 Overview

Despite all of the pictures of Roane State folks sightseeing in Denver and having a blast at Mile High Stadium that are surfacing on Facebook, those of us who were lucky enough to attend the 2011 Desire2Learn Fusion conference this week were immersed in a high energy environment, sharing our ideas with other educators from across the country and the globe on how our students' online classroom experiences can be made challenging, interactive, rewarding, and even fun.

The theme of this year's conference was Elevate, an appropriate choice for the Mile High City. As John Baker, president and CEO of D2L, noted in the conference program, the presenters were meant to "challenge and inspire" us "to elevate . . . thinking, consider new approaches, forge new ideas, strengthen . . . network[s] and ultimately make a difference for learners around the world." Developers from D2L showcased new tools that will be available in the upcoming platform release, and faculty discussed a range of topics including best practices on student retention, preventing plagiarism, integrating multimedia, faculty peer mentoring, and the potential benefits of incorporating multicultural competencies into course design.

Roane State's own Jessica Millis and Michael Hudson presented their work tutoring students via the Learning Center Online, and this proved to be one of the most popular and best received sessions of the conference.

Finally, we were treated to two phenomenal keynote speakers, Jonah Lehrer and Natalie Jeremijenko. Lehrer is a contributing editor for Wired magazine and the author of two books, Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide. His discussion of the role of grit in mediating our success by building a database of instincts and intuitions was easily applicable to the world of education and provided numerous talking points among conference attendees for the remainder of Fusion. Jeremijenko, Tuesday's keynote speaker, is a pioneer in new technological interfaces which are designed, as she says, to "rescript interactions" between people and their environments, as well as between species. Although her address sparked a great deal of debate, especially about its relevance to education, that level of passionate engagement and argument is precisely the point of a gathering such as Fusion.

I hope to add more detailed discussions of the new D2L tools that are being launched, as well as further reflect on the work of Lehrer and Jeremijenko, so consider this posting the appetizer course. Next year, the conference will be held in San Diego, and I for one am already brainstorming topics for a session proposal. It was great to attend, listen, and network, but now I'm inspired to participate on a more "elevated" level.