The annual conference of EUROCALL, the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, will take place at the University of Vienna, Austria, 1st-4th September 2004.

I was in Vienna in March checking out the facilities. This promises to be an excellent conference, attracting 300+ people from all over the world. Early bird registration (at reduced rates) finishes on 31 May. Hurry!

The theme of this year's conference is:
TELL and CALL in the Third Millennium:
Pedagogical Approaches in a Growing EU-Community

See:
http://www.eurocall-languages.org
and
http://www.e-lisa.at/eurocall/

I've just had a look at the list of participants attending the EUROCALL 2004 conference on the use of ICT in language learning and teaching in Vienna next week: http://www.e-lisa.at/eurocall/

It paints an interesting picture of the interest in ICT and teaching and learning foreign languages in Europe and in the world as a whole.

The ten countries sending the largest groups of delegates, in rank order, follow:

1. UK
2. Japan
3. Germany
4. Ireland
5. Austria
6. Finland
7. USA
8. Spain
9. Canada
10. Denmark

Finland is sending 7 times as many delegates as France!

The EUROCALL 2004 conference in Vienna last week can be considered an unqualified success. Thanks to the organisational abilities of Klaus Peters and his support team, the conference ran very smoothly and delegates were treated to a vast choice of papers and show-and-tell sessions relating to the teaching of foreign languages (including English as a Foreign Language) with the aid of new technologies. Over 300 delegates from more than 30 countries attended the conference. The website will remain active for some time if you want to see what you missed: http://www.e-lisa.at/eurocall/

And, of course, Vienna is a beautiful city with stunning architecture and as much music as you could possibly wish for. I was delighted that, thanks to the England-Austria football match, I was unable to get a flight home on Sunday, 5 September, and had to stay on an extra day, which I was able to spend sightseeing and soaking up the atmosphere of this great European city.

EUROCALL welcomes new members:
http://www.eurocall-languages.org
and there is a discussion list that both members and non-members can join at:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/eurocall-members.html

EUROCALL 2005 will take place in Krakow, Poland.

The annual conference of EUROCALL, the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, will take place at the University of Krakow, Poland, 24th to 27th August 2005.

This promises to be an excellent conference, attracting 300+ people from all over the world. Early bird registration (at reduced rates) finishes on 31 May. Hurry!

The theme of this year's conference is:
CALL, WELL and TELL: Fostering autonomy

See:
http://www.eurocall-languages.org
and
http://www.eurocall-languages.org.pl

Just a reminder.

The annual conference of EUROCALL, the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, will take place at the University of Krakow, Poland, 24th to 27th August 2005.

The theme of this year's conference is:
CALL, WELL and TELL: Fostering autonomy

See:
http://www.eurocall-languages.org
and
http://www.eurocall-languages.org.pl

Footnote: I am fascinated by the discussion going on regarding the School History Forum. I feel somewhat self-satisfied that teachers of foreign languages don’t appear to get embroiled in such bitter in-fighting over political issues. Not that there is a lack of political debate among teachers of foreign languages but we tend to focus more on issues that affect us directly as educators. The only in-fighting (if one can call it that) that I am aware of focuse on different approaches to language teaching: grammar-translation, the communicative approach, constructivism, etc. – and it’s all done is a very genteel way. Should this forum not concentrate more on EDUCATION and educational issues?

EUROCALL 2006 will take place at the University of Granada, Spain, 4-7 September:
http://www.eurocall2006.com/

But if you cannot attend in person why not join the Virtual Strand? See the following forwarded message from David Barr, University of Ulster at Coleraine. I'll certainly be joining the Virtual Strand as, due to illness, I cannot fly to Granada.

From David Barr:

Cannot come to EuroCALL in Granada this year but would like to get the
"conference experience"?

Why not take part in the VIRTUAL STRAND? It's for people like you who can't
come to Granada or who'd like to know more about the EuroCALL conference.
Can come to EuroCALL in Granada but would like to communicate with people
who can't make it?
The VIRTUAL STRAND is for you, too. You can log in from the conference site
to read and comment on the conference blog as well as to chat to or to
exchange
messages with colleagues who are logging in from anywhere in the world.
This is the first time you'll be able to join the conference from wherever
you are. Since we're still finding out about the best way to give you the
'virtual conference experience', the virtual strand this year will be
limited to the following activities:

The PLENARY SESSIONS are going to be video-recorded and you'll be able to
watch them online at any time during the conference. If you're a member of
EuroCALL, you'll also be able to watch them after the conference because
they'll be archived.

There'll be a CONFERENCE BLOG written by people who are at the conference.
They'll be telling you about the presentations they've been to, the social
activities and even about the venue itself, and you'll be able to join in
the discussion by posting comments and questions to the conference blog.

As well as this, there'll be a BLOBBER that will allow you to talk (in real
time text and probably also in voice) with people at the conference and
others who are attending virtually.

Want to know more? Why not come to the PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP for the
virtual strand? You'll have the opportunity to find out how to use blogs and
the blobber and you'll be able to try out some activities using them. You
may even get some ideas about how you could use this sort of tool in your
own classes!
The workshop is FREE! That's right, you don't have to pay anything to take
part in this workshop.
Because it's all online, you can join the workshop from wherever you are in
the world. Anyone who's in Granada can come to a computer room for the
workshop, but if you login from home or work while the workshop's running,
you'll get exactly the same information and practice AND you'll be able to
chat with people who are experiencing the face-to-face conference and find
out more about what it's like.

We WILL need to know if you're going to join us, so that we can make sure
you get all the information you need in time for the pre-conference
workshop. We’d therefore like you to let us know by filling in the form at
http://www.eurocall2006.com/virtual.htm.

The virtual strand promises to be an exciting and fun experience - do join
us! We're looking forward to meeting you!!

Best wishes

David Barr
___________________________________________

Dr David Barr
D042C, School of Languages & Literature
University of Ulster
Cromore Road
COLERAINE
BT52 1SA

Tel: 028 7032 3085
Fax: 028 7032 4962

The EUROCALL 2006 Conference Wiki is now active. Join in the fun at:

http://eurocall2006.wikispaces.com/

The Virtual Strand will become active from noon, 4 September 2006. Further information is posted in the above wiki.

Dear All

The experimental “Virtual Strand” of the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) 2006 conference has been reviewed by Lesley Shield in the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) online newsletter:

http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/

The aim of the Virtual Strand was to enable people who were unable to travel to the conference venue in Granada, Spain, to participate in the main events of the conference. The main elements of the Virtual Strand were a blog, a wiki, a “blobber” (live text chat) and streamed videos of the keynote presentations and panel discussion. There are some interesting conclusions on how this experiment worked and proposals for its future development. It appears to have worked very well on the whole, with 126 people taking part. The blog and wiki archives and the streamed videos are still accessible:

EUROCALL 2006 blog: http://eurocall2006blog.blogspot.com/
EUROCALL 2006 wiki: http://eurocall2006.wikispaces.com/

Next year’s EUROCALL conference will take place at the University of Ulster, Coleraine:
http://www.eurocall-languages.org