Blog

I’ve just spent the last few days at the AECT Board meeting and Summer Leadership Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a good meeting, and AECT is doing well. Below is some helpful information from Cindy York, Distance Learning President-Elect. The November AECT convention will be at this same hotel in Jacksonville. I posted some related Board and AECT info on Twitter (@treymartindale).
“The Hyatt is great. There were free Florida oranges at the registration desk.  AECT room rate is $135 but half are already booked, so book yours as soon as possible to get the AECT rate. If you drive, parking is $15/night in a parking garage attached to the hotel.
There aren’t many other hotels in the near vicinity, so try to get in the Hyatt. (For graduate students who share, you can probably do 4 to a room with 2 queen-sized beds).
There are some great restaurants close by and a water taxi that takes you across the river to more.
We are currently working on scheduling the sessions into timeslots, and are doing our best to accommodate all requests.
DDL could use a few more facilitators for sessions, please email me if you are available to do this. If you have already volunteered, I’m in the process of assigning you to sessions for the program and will get information to you as soon as it is available on which session(s) you facilitate, the time/place, and what responsibilities are included.
There is a faculty/student mentor program available for graduate students. It is a great opportunity to meet up-close some leaders in the field. See the website for more information. http://www.aect.org/events/mentor/ or email me with questions. You don’t have to be a DDL member to apply. Please let other graduate students know about the opportunity.
DDL has a luncheon planned for Friday of the convention, sign up when you register. We are trying to plan for a silent auction with proceeds to go to supporting a DDL graduate student’s conference registration in 2012. Please feel free to bring some items to donate to the auction. Contact me if you need more information on that.
If anyone is interested in a DDL board member position for next year, please attend our member meeting right after the luncheon. We will be looking for our next president-elect designee and a board member.
If you’re curious about Jacksonville, see this link: http://www.visitjacksonville.com/
Wednesday night will be the Welcome Reception with the division tables set up 6:00pm-8:00pm. Stop by DDL’s tables for some great give-a-ways. DDL members typically go out for dinner after the reception, so feel free to sign-up at the table to join us.
Friday night will be the University Reception.
Thursday morning is Breakfast with Champions – and they do mean champions – just about all the big names will be there for you to meet and talk with, so sign-up when you register. There is a limit to the number of spots available, so make sure you do this as soon as possible to be able to attend.
DDL has a number of awards that are given out at the convention; see: http://www.aect.org/Foundation/Awards/IPA_DDL.asp for more information on applying.”