The early approval call for Proposals is open for ICDE 2017 in Toronto

Flowers near Niagara falls, summer 2015

As you probably know by now, Toronto, which is home to the Blue Jays baseball team and their awesome Rogers centre right next to the CN Tower, the hockey hall of fame and the Bata shoe museum is hosting the 27^th International Council for Open and Distance Education world conference in October 2017. This beautiful city also boasts with 11 swimming beaches and lovely waterfront parks. And friendly people. (The people of Montreal is also friendly but most of them speak French and my French vocabulary of about 100 words did not cut it). Another bonus about Toronto is that you get to see the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side! I love food and therefore I need to mention Canada’s poutine here – simply delicious and definitely worth a try.

The theme of the conference is: ‘Teaching in a digital age – re-thinking teaching and learning’ and all proposals must be in line with one of the 5 specified tracks. Presentations can be done in English, French or Spanish. The 2017 conference promise to be even bigger than the 2015 conference that was held in Sun City, South Africa. The Contact North University is expecting 2000 delegates from 95 countries. In line with this large show of interest, the organizers arranged for an early approval option for proposals. Although the last date for proposal submissions is 30 April 2017, people who submit their proposals before 31 December 2016 will receive feedback about the results of the peer review process after about 8 weeks and can start planning accordingly.

Abstract proposals must be submitted on the conference web page and the maximum word count is 600 words. Here are the 5 tracks that will be covered: 1) Emerging pedagogies and designs for online learning 2) Expanding access, openness and flexibility 3) Changing models of assessment 4) New delivery tools and resources for learning 5) Re-designing institutional business models.