First of all, the conference is a steal at only $65.00/per person.  Most conferences in this field will cost you upwards of $600.00 + travel expenses. Both times we stayed at a local Holiday Inn Express and it was quite nice and very reasonably priced.  There are also some really great places to eat in Athens…but this isn’t a travel blog, so I’ll spare you the details.

Anyway – the conference was as good as the Web Design World conferences I attended years ago in Seattle and Denver.

The conference is also only one day.  This is actually kind of nice because it means less time out of the office, but just enough time at the conference to get a lot of great information.  I did feel at the end of the day that there was enough momentum to do a second day, however.

They get excellent speakers.  Last year Eric Meyer, renowned author, speaker, and expert on all things CSS, was the keynote.  This year we had the pleasure of hearing from Greg Rewis and Stephanie Sullivan.  Rewis is currently an “Adobe Evangilist” and way back when was part of the team that developed GoLive (before Adobe bought it) and later Dreamweaver. Stephanie Sullivan owns W3Conversions and is part of the Adobe Task Force with the Web Standards Project.  They recently co-authored Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS4.

In addition to giving the keynote, both gave additional presentations during the conference.  We attended both of Stephanie Sullivan’s: Content: Everywhere, Everyone, Everything and CSS Tips & Tricks for Design Challenges. I thought both sessions were really informative.  She went over things that I kind of knew already, but it was great to have the affirmation and to see how she deals with web design challenges.

Other great sessions I attended were Eric Meyer’s session on Javascript, Richard Worth’s session on JQuery (a really nice intro for someone who has not yet used it), Chad Udell’s session titled “Developers are from Mars, Designers are from Venus” (loved this one).

If you or anyone on your team works with the web, I cannot stress enough, the importance of attending at least conference a year related to web development.  Spring <br /> is a good option if you are in the OH, WV, KY, PA region an only swing attending one conference a year.  This industry (web design and development) moves quickly and if you don’t keep up, your web work will soon look and feel dated – believe me I know.

If you haven’t attended or planned to attend anything yet this year, consider attending one (or more) of these conferences:

Higher Ed-related:

• Sept. 21-22 – EdUi – Charlottesville, VA
• Sept 28-29 – WV Higher Education Technology Conference – Morgantown, WV
• Oct. 4-7 – HighEdWeb – Milwaukee, WI

Web Design & Development:

• An Event Apart (various  dates and locations)
• Web Design World (incidentally Greg Rewis and Stephanie Sullivan are both speaking at WDW this year).

Other Conference Suggestions?

These are just a few of my favorites, if you have suggestions for other great conferences to attend, post to the comments!

Here is the latest from the 2009 WVHETC:

Conference Registration is Open!

Registration is now open for the 2009 WV Higher Education Technology Conference. Register before the early-bird deadline (Aug. 29) and save!

Attendee Registration – $120.00 ($140.00 after Aug. 29)*

Includes:

• Admission to all conference sessions
• Monday Opening Session Luncheon
• Tuesday lunch
• Wednesday Keynote Speaker Breakfast
• Refreshments and access to the exhibitor area

Extras:

• Social Event (Wii Games and Food) – $10.00
• Golf Outing (Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 30. Call Doug Saunders 304-293-5192 x232 for more info)

  * Please note that single day registration ($60.00 per day) is also available.

Student Registration (Valid student ID required) – $30.00

Student registration includes:

• Admission to sessions and refreshments only.
• It does not include Monday or Tuesday Luncheon, Social Event or Wednesday Breakfast.

Extras:

• Student Social Event (Wii Games and Food) – $25
• Student Monday Keynote Luncheon – $15
• Student Tuesday Luncheon – $15
• Student Wednesday Breakfast – $15

P.S. The Call for Proposals ends in 2 weeks!

Creating a College Web Style Guide: Principles, Processes, and Prototypes
Jesse Racine, Web Designer and Developer for McHenry County College, entertainingly presented the importance of keeping things uniformed for your site. He explained the importance of creating a web style guide is to “improve quality of communications by being consistent.” Navigation will be more predictable this way making the site user-friendly. He also explained that having this guide will also save one their time and money.

Colors on the Web: Few Things, Great Results
Martha Carrer Cruz Gabriel presented on the fascinating subject of color. I am interested in this subject because of my interest and background in painting. She explained the importance of color and how we physically and psychologically react. Martha is the Director of Technology at New Media Developers, Ltd. She is also a professor of digital design and games design courses at Brazil’s Universidade Anhembi Morumbi. Martha explained that people will notice the interface first and that the color shapes the page’s meaning. So, color is something you feel when looking at many different mediums. So, think about those who will be utilizing the website. What is the best combination of colors for expressing this message?

New Initiatives in Web Standards Education
Chris Mills, Developer Relations Manager for Opera Software ASA, talked about the issue of websites and absence of web standards. He bluntly explained that the lack of education and lack of interest contributes to this issue. He is determined that the easiest clients to work with are web developers who are concerned.

It is interesting how he handles this difficult arena. Again, he stated the importance of education and training material. The group delivers an up-to-date free course on web standards. This free course can be found at http://www.opera.com/wsc which I have previously visited. So, his plans are giving web standards more credibility and providing certification for those who complete the course.

Internet Evolution Through the Eyes of a Deaf User and Web Professional
Svetlana Kouznetsova, Web Designer and Developer for Lehman College, began her presentation announcing the high 97 percent of inaccessible websites. She described a different perspective on the frustration of inaccessibility. She explained how similar having a disability is to handling a stroller in public, like at an airport. One may feel frustrated when he or she is unable to understand the dialogue of a foreign film or you may even be frustrated because of your outdated technology that you are stuck using. To have an accessible website, one can maintain clean codes and follow accessibility guidelines while having a creative design. Many people believe their site will be plain and unattractive which is not true. The presenter showed a video without the sound and captions. As you can imagine, it was impossible to grasp what was happening. I can relate to this because it is impossible for me to watch a foreign film or even a Shakespeare film without the captions. She explains that it is important to include captions with videos as well as include the transcripts for podcasts.

Accessible Video Interface
Many universities are now presenting videos on their websites. It is important that these videos include captions and are manageable. Gabriel McGovern, Web Designer for Portland Community College, explained that one is able to create high quality Flash videos that have a consistent design and is easy to update. By building the right interface, you are able to make changes that will automatically update all of your videos.

He talked about creating the captions using a free application called Media Access Generator (provided by the National Center for Accessible Media). In addition, the creator will need to time the captions along with the video. You are able to determine what is important for buttons (mute, forward, pause, captions, etc.) and customize the buttons in Flash. You are also able to create a transcript page for accessibility so all you see is text. Another feature that allows accessibility is the xml file (smil.xml) which determines what size video to load for an individual machine. The video can be for download or streaming.

What conferences have you recently attended?

Sarah’s notes on the conference: Wednesday was the final day of the WV Higher Education Technology Conference.  Malcolm Lane spoke at the breakfast session.  I was talking with someone later (either Jay Allen or Chet- can’t remember) and they said it “was a really nice walk down memory lane.  No pun intended.” 

After that I dropped in (a little late) on Lydia Mong’s session called “So, you Expect Them to Read that? Designing Text that Begs to be Read.”  As a designer, it was really great to hear someone actually defining, calmly and very nicely why using some techniques are simply bad.  I mean I TELL my students in PR319 that ALL CAPS is harder to read, but I’ve never really been able to explain WHY that is.  Well, Lydia has a great slide that shows why.  It was also great to hear affirmation that, yes, centering your text really looks amatuerish and that you should never, ever underline text unless it is a link.  Lydia had a much nicer way to explain all that, though.    [If you want to learn more about better text design, I think the ITRC/Extended Learning covers this in faculty development sessions.  Contact them for more info.]

The last session I attended was called “Speaking the Student Language: Leveraging Web 2.0 in Higher Education” by John Cummings from Marshall University.  I loved this presentation too.  He spoke about a lot of the social media services and sites Alisha and I have been researching lately and echoed what Mark Greefield had to say about communicating with Millienials.  There are a lot of fantastic tools out there that higher ed can tap in to.  I’m hoping we can cover a lot of them here on this blog, but if you are interested in what he had to say, he posted much of his infortmation on a Google group to share.  Go to http://groups.google.com/group/wvconference (link corrected 10/9)

Conference Comments: The conference website also has a Thank You message up and inviting comments on the conference.  If you attended, you may want to visit and offer your feedback – even if it is just to “ditto” what someone else said.

Alisha’s notes on the conference: Throughout the WV Higher Education Technology Conference at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa I attended presentations, vendor booths, and poster sessions that revolved around the conference’s captivating anchor, Mark Greenfield.  He discussed the changes that are occurring in technology including web trends (which you can find on Mark’s del.icio.us bookmarks).  Presenters and vendors publicized new technology topics and disseminated their information.

Every session that I attended related to my background and present-day work.  It was very beneficial to hear the presenters’ points-of-view on all of these topics about the unfolding and improving web technology for the Digital Millennials such as social networking, multimedia, (text) design for on-line courses, and digital imaging for instructional techniques.

I appreciated that Ann Rose presented a very useful tool during her session, “Using Web 2.0 Tools to Support Program Accreditations.”   We experienced the magic of recording audio while writing.  You are able to simultaneously take notes and record what you have to say.   The notes are taken with a smartpen and written on “dot paper.”  You can transfer the notes to your PC.   The student teachers at West Liberty utilize this tool while they observe cooperating teachers.  It is helpful for the student teachers in the Education Program to share these digitized notes and recordings with fellow classmates and instructors.

Bruce Palmer was the presenter for “Histology On-Line: Learning the Very Small Calls for Giant Innovations.”  He has taken on a fascinating large project digitizing microscopic anatomy.   The project will enable students to interact with the media for their individual learning styles.  It will be helpful for WVU’s large Histology classes.  Students will be able to view the slides in advanced.  Then, the students can take their questions about the anatomy to the class professor.  This will result in on-line courses because of the image copyright.   This is a very large project so I’m not sure when it will be completed.

Lydia Mong presented the “So, You Expect Them to Read That? Designing Text that Begs to be Read” session.  She explained that viewers read a computer screen differently than a book.  The ideal width of a line is 2 alphabet widths for a screen.  She also touched base with us on the importance of white space.  It is unnecessary to cram all of the text together.  Text needs “space to breathe.”  Here is the outline on her “Tips for Increasing Readability”:

•    Avoid cluttered displays
•    Place important items consistently
•    Don’t use too many fonts
•    Use a readable font size
•    Use upper and lower case letters
•    Reserve Bold, italic, and brighter colors for emphasis
•    Reserve underlining for links only
•    Use contrasting text and background colors
•    “Chunk” your content
•    Tips for increasing retention of information
o    Use text for presenting facts
o    Use multi-media graphic formats for new, unfamiliar, and conceptual information
o    Use both animation and text to explain processes or procedures

These are great preparation tips for satisfying viewers so they will commit to remembering the information.

Monica Brooks explained how they are changing their ways to better engage students using Web 2.0.  Her session, “Embedded in the Hills: Faculty-Librarian Collaboration in WV,” explained the use of a widget for students and librarians to communicate.  The students were able to send a question to any of the university’s available librarians.  The library also created a blog using Blogger for students’ research.  This is a great way for participating with questions and answers.  Monica explained the importance of providing the university with tips on plagiarism and biased resources by sharing a video.  The library will soon be gathering data to understand the levels of students’ problem solving skills using technology.

What did you think of the conference?

Sarah’s notes on the conference: The second day of the WV Higher Education Technology Conference went really well.  I missed the first session I wanted to go to, Adam Glenn’s presentation on the Lessons Learned – WVU Website Design.  I did catch Dave Olsen’s sessions on iTunes U and slate/Evaluating a WCMS. Both were quite good.  (Nice job Dave!) If you don’t know what these projects are, contact Web Services and find out more.  They are both really interesting.  iTunes U allows users to search, download, and play educational content from the iTunes Store just like they do for music, movies, and TV shows and other podcasts. This is a really valuable tool that faculty and students should learn more about.  It can be incorporated in to almost every kind of class and can really augment the learning experience.

Slate is a web content management system (WCMS) developed using Ruby on Rails and is focused on rapid production of traditional-style Web sites created by WVU Web Services. Dave demoed the system AND shared some lessons learned from deploying it.  He also gave some great tips on how to evaluate a WCMS.

I gave my presentation on WordPress – I think it went ok.  I’ll post the content here as a blog post soon.

There was also a session called “Web CMS – an open-source approach“ by Shane Jordan at Fairmont State.  He is using Drupal for their web presence and I was really interestred to hear more about that.  I was considering Drupal for what I want to do with the OIT website, but I am 99% sure we are going to use WordPress Mu instead.

After the Roundatable Luncheon, were Poster Sessions.  There were several interesting topics.  I talked to Richard Pierce from Fairmont State about his poster titled “Goodbye CMS or Why I Don’t Care What Java Version I Have.”  In this case, CMS means “Course Management Software” rather than Content.  He’s using Google Apps rather than Blackboard for his classes because it saves time, (doesn’t require Java), and the students become familiar with tools they will likely need to use or want to use outside of the classroom.  I thought that was an interesting point because once the students are done with school, they won’t need to use Blackboard again.  They probably will need to use Google, though.  So it is easier for him and they get more out of it.  Interesting point, no?

After the poster sessions, I sat in on Chris Southard’s presentation on “Photography and Multimedia.”  Chris works for WVU Creative Services and he demonstrated how Photographic Services is utilizing Smugmug to host and sell photos they take at University events.  Smugmug is a website that many professional photographers use to share and sell photos.  Think of it as Flickr PLUS.  He also demonstrated some interesting things they are doing with capturing audio at the events they shoot and adding it to a slideshow that they put on the web.

The last session I went to before needing to leave for the day was Michelle Rodney and Sucharitha Bachanna’s session on WVU eCampus.  I work with Michelle and Sucharitha here at OIT, but I wanted to learn more about WVU eCampus and how it works.  It’s pretty impressive what a massive system it is and how much is behind it.  I need to check with Michelle on the numbers, but I think they said that the average number of users on at one time is around 3,000.  That’s a lot of people on at the same time 24/7.

UPDATE: OK, I did get a correction on the stats for eCampus.  The maximum number of concurrent users on eCampus was 2,856 in Spring 2008.  So it wasn’t an “average” number but a “maximum” number of users on at one time.  If you are interested, they post the stats online here: WVU eCampus Statistics

Alisha’s notes on the conference: Click to go to the post

What I came away with (aside from thinking “Man, I wish I had done my presentation slides like that”) is how vital it is for organizations to be flexible and willing to adapt.  You have to be willing to innovate and explore new ideas to be successful in what you do.  The rest of the world isn’t keeping things the way they are simply because that is the way it has always been done.  No sir. The rest of the world is always looking for ways to do it better.   

So anyway…yes, it was a great keynote, I’m really glad I got to see it.  

I only had time to attend one session, Social Media in Education.  It was very interesting. I came away with some ideas for incorporating social media in the class I teach.

If you are attending the this year’s conference, what do you think of the conference so far?  Did you catch the keynote?  What sessions are you going to or have been to?