Greetings! I’m pleased to share with you the latest edition of On CALL. And what an edition it is! This issue is packed with things that are bound to entice all.

In this issue, Dr. Elizabeth-Hanson Smith, of the University of Oregon (Eugene) and a dedicated CALL-ISer and the CALL-IS representative at the IATEFL LTSIG conference, and Ms. Nicky Hockly, director of Barcelona’s The Consultants-E, write companion pieces on each other’s respective conferences in twin Across the Pond reports. As you will see, the IATEFL LTSIG and TESOL conferences offer a world of contrasts. Ms. Nicole Servais, of the University of Delaware, overviews Nearpod, a presentation program that seamlessly integrates technological needs across all platforms in a classroom with iPads, laptops, Android devices, smartphones, and so on. In the second installation of a newer feature, Mr. Kole Matheson, of Tidewater Community College, reflects on his month-long discussion in TESOL’s IS Community pages on the topic of e-portfolios. Also, Mr. Kerry Pusey, of the University of Macau, demonstrates how to screencast in order to teach students how to annotate texts. Ms. Stephanie Fuccio, of the University of Arizona, Tucson, gives a follow-up report on a Twitter scavenger hunt and shows how to use Twitter for research purposes. Dr. John Madden, of St. Cloud State, in an effort to understand to how students read on handheld devices, reports on his experience of reading Melville’s Moby Dick on an iPod. Mr. Thomas Healy, of the Pratt Institute, writes (hysterically) about his evolution from “digital Neanderthal” to state-of-the-art instructor. And finally, Mr. Edo Forsythe, one of the 2014 JALT CALL co-chairs, reports on the JALT CALL conference that recently concluded.

Even if you can’t make it to the convention, there are a wide variety of ways to stay active professionally. Ms. Nina Liakos, EVO coordinator, previously wrote about the Electronic Village Online (EVO), a project of TESOL's CALL Interest Section, which offers free online professional development sessions to language teachers worldwide. We are excited to announce another round of the EVO, and we are looking for inspiring educators who would like to moderate an online session in EVO 2015. The direct link to the formal Call for Proposals is here. Proposals may be on any topic relevant to the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. There will be a training session for all moderators and co-moderators from October 20 to November 16, 2014, during which time moderating teams will create the online spaces for their session and finalize their syllabus with the assistance from the EVO coordination team. The actual EVO sessions will take place between January 12 and February 15, 2015. Potential moderators will find instructions on how to create a page for their proposal here. Proposals are due September 1, 2014. To see what types of sessions were offered in the past, please go here.

In an effort to continue to grow professionally, this summer I attended (virtually) and partially moderated a fantastic online “Gaming and Gamification” conference, which was the second time the IATEFL SIG and TESOL’s CALL IS collaborated on a conference. The presenters, too numerous to mention well, were all leaders in the field and it was attended virtually by about 250 people from all over the world. In addition to handouts, great discussions, and musical interludes, there were extensive notes taken on the conference. I’ve put the notes drawn up at the conference here. Immediately following the conference, there was talk of bringing something similar to the EVO. The web conference recordings have all been published by Pete McConachie on this great website.

If you haven’t already, please make sure you see the sidebars concerning our presence on Facebook and Twitter,  and take time to take the poll on Useful Apps in ESL.

CALL-IS is working to put together an Academic Panel at TESOL 2015 on Security Issues in CALL. If you or someone you know is conducting research in this area, please contact Stephanie Korslund, incoming chair for CALL-IS, with your information. If you have any questions/recommendations regarding this panel please contact her.

As the summer unfolds, I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on the countless professional development opportunities available in our TESOL community. Please consider submitting to our fall/winter edition of On CALL, prior to TESOL Toronto. The deadline is in December. The newsletter could always use more hands. I have been fortunate to have another set of hands to help. A big thanks to Mr. Kole Matheson for his invaluable help in editing this newsletter. I couldn’t have gotten it out if it hadn’t been for his help. If there is something that you would like to see in our newsletter (or if you’d like to join the newsletter team), please feel free to contact me.

Larry