DEANZ 2016 main theme: “There and Back: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education”
The biennial DEANZ conference showcases best practice and theory in the broad field of open, distance, flexible and mobile learning across all aspects of the education sector including the compulsory, tertiary, and professional development settings.
The conference is located in the campus of The University of Waikato, one of the most beautifully landscaped in the country. The 2016 conference theme and its sub-themes reflect our close proximity to the world famous Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata within the Waikato region. This is a permanent legacy from the Sir Peter Jackson directed films, based on the two trilogies of J. R. R. Tolkien’s books.
The main conference theme, “There and Back: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education” offers conference delegates the opportunity to reflect, rethink and reimagine open, mobile, flexible and distance learning contexts in relation to one of the sub-themes.
The Waikato team together with DEANZ look forward to welcoming you to the DEANZ2016 Conference and wish you a successful and stimulating stay.
See you in April 2016,
Dr Elaine Khoo & Dr Noeline Wright
Co-convenors
DEANZ2016 Conference
DEANZ 2016 Subthemes
- Ako: Reclaim the Kingdom: reclaim teaching and learning as ‘‘king’; this positions technology as its servant not its master; Context rather than content is also highly relevant in any purposeful and deliberate use of technologies…
- Rings Around Practice: examples and possibilities in collaborative learning, culturally responsive pedagogy supported by technologies, communities of practice, social justice and equity issues…
- Surprising Journeys: innovations, any surprises of/in practice and theory, such as challenges, dilemmas or outlier ideas…
- Emerging Stories: future-focused/blue-skies thinking and practice; developments or trends in the mobile, open, flexible and distance education field; research in progress…
- Twin Pillars: organisational aspects; management/ leadership issues; infrastructure, logistics and policy issues and challenges; LMSs; systems; technology issues; intractable or enabling systems; isolation/access for distance learners…
DEANZ 2016 Keynote Speakers
Professor Curt Bonk, professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University and President of CourseShare
Dr Dianne Forbes, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand
Carolyn Alexander-Bennett, E-Principal of FarNet in Tai Tokerau, founding member of the Virtual Learning Network Community Charitable Trust, Chairperson of the VLNC Council
DEANZ 2016 will be hosted by The University of Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand) on April 17 - 20, 2016.