DevLearn 2007: The eLearning Development Conference and Expo

In case you hadn’t heard, The eLearning Guild is hosting DevLearn 2007 in San Jose, CA, November 5-8 2007. I reviewed the list of sessions, and I like what I see. There’s a good balance of practical sessions using current technologies (the usual development tools: Captivate, Flash, etc.) and sessions featuring newer technologies (mLearning, eLearning 2.0 tools). Interestingly, only one session title explicitly mentions SCORM. (I expected to see more, especially a few high-end courses exploring the dark depths of SCORM 2004. Maybe next time.)

The line-up of speakers is great, too. I’m most interested in meeting with these folks, if they have a free moment:

• Ruth Clark | Clark Training & Consulting
• Paul Clothier | LearnHost
• Jay Cross | Internet Time Group
• Silke Fleischer | Adobe Systems Inc.
• Bill Horton | William Horton Consulting
• Tony Karrer | TechEmpower
• Tony O’Driscoll | IBM On Demand Learning
• Mark Oehlert | Department of Defense Acquisition
• Clark Quinn | Quinnovation
    (Yes, Clark, I know I owe you a few beers… )
• Allison Rossett | San Diego State University
• Clive Shepherd | Fastrak Consulting Ltd
• Brent Schlenker | The eLearning Guild
• Ellen Wagner | Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Steve Wexler | The eLearning Guild
• ….and you! Leave a comment on this post if you’re attending!

Co-located with the conference is the Adobe Learning Summit, which looks interesting. This part runs November 8-9. The Adobe Learning Summit is described as follows:

This is your opportunity to discover how Adobe products fit into your organization’s set of e-Learning technologies from various vendors, learn Adobe’s vision for the future of e-Learning, hone your skills using a variety of Adobe tools, and get connected with other Adobe users from around the world.

The Adobe Learning Summit offers some great down-and-dirty courses called Adobe Intensives. Some of the sessions include Video Production with Adobe Premiere, Advanced Flash Professional Techniques, Using Director and Shockwave Player for Serious Game Design, and Ask an Adobe Expert about CS3. I would love to learn more about each of Adobe’s tools, but I hope they make an effort to tie everything back to eLearning. Just my two cents. Oh, and you get to visit Adobe’s headquarters, too, which are located just two blocks from the conference. Very cool.

Although I’m not 100% sure, I should be able to make it to the conference. I just may have to sweet-talk my lovely and beautiful wife.

Author: B.J. Schone

B.J. is the Founding Editor of eLearning Weekly and has contributed more than 150 articles. He works in elearning at Qualcomm, focusing on mobile learning.