When and where did the conference take place?

The joint conference was a 7-hour webinar which took place October 12, 2013. It started at 7 am Pacific/1400 GMT and ended at 2 pm Pacific/2100 GMT. There were brief introductory remarks by conference organizers Paul Sweeney (Learning Technologies Special Interest Group of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and Deborah Healey (CALL Interest Section of TESOL), then seven 50-minute sessions. The final session was an open Q&A with closing remarks by Paul and Deborah.

Who/what organizations/people were involved?

This started 4 years ago when Michael Carrier of the British Council (and a founding member of the CALL-IS) wanted to enable closer ties between IATEFL in Britain and TESOL in the United States. The British Council has funded one person from the LT SIG to go to the TESOL Convention and one person from the CALL Interest Section to go to the IATEFL Conference each of the past 3 years.

To extend the relationship, representatives from the LT SIG and the CALL-IS decided to hold a full-day series of webinars as an online conference. Paul Sweeney and Deborah Healey served as overall organizers. The title, after some discussion, was set as “Using Technology in Teaching: Principles in Practice.”

Heike Philp was the overall technical director of the webinar, with Ellen Dougherty, Jack Watson, Dawn Bikowski, and Sophia Mavridi as moderators and helpers during the series of sessions.

The CALL-IS organizers:
Deborah Healey, Collaboration Coordinator
Roger Drury, Collaboration Team
Jack Watson, Webcaster
Dawn Bikowski, Collaboration Team
Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Collaboration Team
Justin Shewell, Past Chair

The IATEFL LT SIG team:
Nicky Hockly and Paul Sweeney, Coordinators
Shaun Wilden, Events Organizer
Heike Philp, Online Events Organizer
Natalya Eydelman, Newsletter Editor
Pete MacKichan, Webmaster
Vicky Saumell, Community Manager
Sophia Mavridi, Treasurer
Graham Stanley and Pete Sharma, Committee Members

Below are the titles and the links to the recordings. Heike Philp deserves great credit for making sure all of the recordings were saved and published.

Special Event: TESOL CALL-IS and IATEFL LT SIG
Saturday 12 October 2013, UTC 14:00–21:00
#ltsig
Using Technology in Teaching: Principles in Practice
The first joint online conference by TESOL CALL-IS and IATEFL LT SIG

Welcome Address
UTC 14:00
Paul Sweeney, LT SIG coordinator, UK
Deborah Healey, CALL-IS coordinator, USA
Moderator: Ellen Dougherty
Recording (4 min): http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p42365d6jul/

Opening Plenary
The Case for Technology and Language Learning
Carol Chapelle, CALL-IS
Moderator: Ellen Dougherty
UTC 14:15
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p4qjob7nrti/

The Role of Online Tools in Teacher Development
Shaun Wilden, LT SIG
Moderator: Paul Sweeney
UTC 15:00
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p7y3qn6nulj/

Designer Learning
Nicky Hockly, LT SIG
Moderator: Paul Sweeney
UTC 16:00
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p53b2hebljf/

TESOL Technology Standards: Why, How, and for Whom
Deborah Healey, Phil Hubbard, Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou, Paige Ware, with help from Elizabeth Hanson-Smith
Moderators: Jack Watson and Ellen Dougherty
UTC 17:00
Recording (50 min): http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p2l9shshdzc/

Digital Literacies
Gavin Dudeney, LT SIG
Moderator: Heike Philp
UTC 18:00
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p71uhtqdnob/

The Sky Is not the Limit: Connecting With Elementary Makers in the Cloud
Christel Broady, CALL-IS
Moderator: Jack Watson
UTC 19:00
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p5655mxx0lg/

Joint Closing Session and Open Q&A
UTC 20:00
Moderators: Paul Sweeney and Deborah Healey
Recording: http://iatefl.adobeconnect.com/p5kocrzdpc2/

Recordings have been published on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LTSIG and https://www.facebook.com/ TESOLCALLIS

What were the highlights of the conference?

There were 252 unique visitors in Adobe Connect during the online conference from all over the world. As the first-ever joint IATEFL-TESOL webinar, one highlight was that it actually took place and had so much global interest. Each presenter brought interesting insights, and the simultaneous chat throughout the webinar added another layer of interaction among participants.

The recordings allow others a chance to take a look at what happened, providing an ongoing benefit to teachers with an interest in effective use of technology in language teaching.

What future collaborations do you see?

Nicky Hockly from the LT SIG will be coming to TESOL in March, and Elizabeth Hanson-Smith from the CALL-IS will be attending IATEFL. She’ll be part of the preconference LT SIG day, talking about TESOL’s Technology Standards and how they fit with CALL in practice.

We are planning another joint online conference/extended webinar in May, perhaps on the topic of gaming and gamification.