MacLearning.org and Apple invite you to AcademiX 2009: four regional conferences focused on spurring change in teaching and scholarship through emergent digital learning environments.

AcademiX 2009 features a unique format, designed to stimulate collaboration with your colleagues. National and regional speakers will discuss their applications beyond the LMS, and showcase their innovative uses of Apple technology in emerging digital learning environments.



In addition to these stimulating speakers, each AcademiX 2009 conference will close with a poster session, showcasing local academic innovators and their projects.



Finally, each Academix 2009 conference will also include an optional pre-conference training day, featuring hands-on training opportunities with Apple learning technologies.



Who Should Attend Academix 2009?

Higher Education information technologists, developers, and academic computing specialists, as well as faculty, researchers, and instructional technologists.



Fees

The AcademiX 2009 conferences are offered free of charge. The pre-conference training sessions are also offered free of charge. Meals will be provided during the program agenda.



Conference Themes

Topics explored at AcademiX 2009 will include the democratization of content creation, new tools for distribution such as iTunes U, mobile devices, and more. Each conference will also focus on how to deploy and support technology, successful strategies for faculty and administrative engagement, and how technology is spurring change in teaching and scholarship.



Speakers

Confirmed speakers for the AcademiX 2009 conference include:



* Dr. Charles Severance, Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Dr. Severance also works with the IMS Global Learning Consortium as the IMS Developer Network Coordinator. Previously he was the Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation and the Chief Architect of the Sakai Project.



Dr. Severance will speak on the topic "Evolving Teaching and Learning: Beyond the LMS." His talk will discuss some of the stresses and conflicts in the uses of the current LMS systems and explore how we can gently evolve LMS systems into a whole new life form without upsetting the LMS ecosystem. The concept of placing LMS systems into content instead of placing content into LMS systems will be introduced and early research into the area will be shown and described.



* Dr. Paul D. Hammond, Director of Digital Initiatives, Department of English and Dr. Richard E. Miller Chair, Department of English and Executive Director, Plangere Writing Center Rutgers University.



Their talk will explore the question: with expertise being redistributed by web 2.0 technology, what is the role of higher education to be in the 21st century?




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Submit your poster session

Each conference will host a poster session to give you and your peers a chance to present your innovative uses of Apple technology. Posters will be judged and prizes will be given to the top three. All attendees are welcome to submit a poster session proposal on the registration page for the conference. If your proposal is accepted, we will provide you with a Keynote template and printing instructions.



How to submit a proposal

When you register for a specific AcademiX 2009 conference, you will be given the opportunity to submit your poster proposal, in 250 words or less.



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Pre-Conference Training Sessions

Conference attendees are invited to attend one of two pre-conference training sessions, offered at each of the four Academix 2009 conferences.



These pre-conference training sessions are offered free of charge. These sessions are held from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm on the day prior to the regular conference. Attendance is limited, and acceptance is strictly first-come, first-served.



These training sessions focus on two Apple technologies popular with academic technologists: Podcast Producer and iPhone & iPod touch applications development.



Podcast Producer training session

Podcast Producer is a complete, end-to-end solution for encoding, publishing, and distributing high-quality media. Join Apple for an in-depth look at Podcast Producer, exploring this revolutionary new service of Mac OS X Server and learn how you can automate rich media capture, encoding, and distribution.



What you'll learn at the Podcast Producer training session:

- What is Podcast Producer?

- Understand the components of a Podcast Producer deployment

- How to plan, extend and scale a Podcast Producer infrastructure

- Managing Podcast Producer

- Editing and developing workflows



Who should attend the Podcast Producer training session:

- IT Management looking to automate capture, production and distribution rich media content for RSS podcasting, iTunes U and customized portals.

- Organizations involved looking to centralize and simplify the automatic capture, creation, submission, encoding, archiving, and publishing process.

- Educators looking to simplify media creation both inside and outside of class.

- Current content creators including Faculty development centers, admissions, athletics.

- Deans charged with managing their college's internal and external communications.



Introduction to iPhone Development session

Designed for developers, this session will focus on building both web and native applications for the iPhone OS platform. Learn the basics of Dashcode, a powerful tool for building graphical user interfaces for iPhone web apps.



What you'll learn at the Introduction to iPhone Development session:

- how to build both web and native applications for the iPhone and iPod touch with Apple's developer tools.

- how to build a simple web application with Dashcode and the iPhone Simulator (using HTML, JavaScript and CSS), and a simple native application with Xcode, Interface Builder and the iPhone Simulator (using Objective-C)

-the various deployment scenarios including how to get applications onto iPhones (although the actual hands-on portion will be limited to the iPhone Simulator itself)



Who Should Attend the Introduction to iPhone Development session:

Attendees should have some familiarity with software development; experience with Objective-C would be ideal.



For Public Employees

Apple would be happy to host you for meals at this event; however, please consult your ethics official to ensure that no state laws, local laws, or school rules prevent your acceptance of this associated expense. In addition, please note that attendance at this event by a public official or employee may constitute acceptance of a reportable gift. Should you have any questions regarding ethics or gift laws relevant to this education event, please feel free to contact Genevieve Lewis in Apple Government Affairs at (408) 974-6550.



Questions

For questions, please email academix2009@apple.com.