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Report for Faculty experiences and expectations with technology: Findings of 2014 ECAR faculty study By Ekaterina Kombarova and Anguelina Popova. This group discussion focused on the ECAR Faculty IT survey that began in 2014 and attracted participation from 151 institutions in 13 different countries. Participating in the survey allows schools to benchmark their IT services and compare their faculty IT attitudes with those of other schools. The discussion centered on the experiences of AUCA and other schools that conduced the survey. The topics addressed included online learning, uses of mobile technology in the classroom and how faculty perceive the benefits of integrating technology into their teaching. It should be noted that the ECAR faculty study is a fairly standard instrument that is applied to different types of schools, consequently findings should be analyzed with caution and within context. Where findings across institutions are consistent, for example faculty attitudes towards e-books, it might prove beneficial and constructive for AMICAL schools to collaborate and address these more complex topics as a wider group Photo credit: Rayane Fayed

Articulate storyline: reshaping guides, tutorials and the way you present content. Workshop led by Rayane Fayed and Hossein Hamam. This session was a hands-on workshop and showed users how to use the commercial interactive tool “Storyline”. Presented by The American University of Beirut, the workshop showed how easily one can import a standard PowerPoint presentation into Storyline and use the functionality of this software to create a story-type presentation allowing students to interact and engage with the material rather than passively watching a PowerPoint. The workshop participants were given the opportunity to follow a step-by-step process to create a set of interactive slides, learning about concepts such as time-line, layering and creating triggers to create actions in the story. Storyline integrates with standard LMSs.

At AMICAL 2014 we tried something new: An unconference. See for yourself! For AMICAL 2015, we’re continuing the un-tradition with two unconference periods on the afternoons of Friday and Saturday, and we’re pretty sure that your overwhelmingly active participation will guarantee their success. But what is an unconference? An unconference is based on three things: It is informal.Participants set the agenda.It is mainly focused on discussion and exchange of ideas and practices. Who can lead a session? Anyone! Those who submitted proposals that didn’t make it into the conference program are welcome to propose their topic as an unconference session — but so is everyone else! What do you need to know? Each session can be up to an hour long.If you already have an idea for a session, you can pitch it on Thursday.Usually, most session ideas come to people during the conference, while people talk to each other during a break, over lunch or on the bus to the hotel.Unconference sessions can be simple group discussions or hands-on workshops. You don’t even need a slide deck.A session with just two people is fine. Great ideas can come out of small, informal discussions and people always appreciate learning something new. There is no critical mass for inspiration!When facilitating an unconference session, make sure you allow and encourage everyone to feel free to join in late or leave if they want to check out other sessions too.You can submit your session idea any time during the conference by putting your session poster on the unconference wall. You don’t need to make a fancy poster, just a piece of paper with the session title, your name, email or Twitter handle. Unconferences are rapidly becoming important and valuable professional development events worldwide. The Edcamp Foundation, for example, is an organization that helps educators host Edcamp events all over the world, designed specifically for teachers and their needs. Check out this video to get an idea!

Unable to attend the AMICAL Conference this week? Join us online! Beginning with the AMICAL 2015 opening session Friday 29 May, you can watch selected parts of the conference, including the opening keynote as well as many of the presentations and lightning talks. Click below to see which sessions will be webcast, and (during the event) to view the live webcasts: Watch AMICAL 2015

AMICAL 2015 conference has started with the warmest salutation and welcome from the AUBG staff. Participants started to arrive at the beautiful campus, and they were ready to venture into the conference. The first meeting included the coordinating committee. Thereafter, the authentic Bulgarian lunch was served. At 13:30, it was the time for the council committee; future plans, grants, AMICAL collaborative environments, standing committees and other topics were actively discussed, leaving the attendees with vigorous thoughts and ideas to implement. The day ended with the group splitting for the individual standing committees meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to reiterate the goals of the committees and to set the action plan for the following year. The social event that followed was the best way to conclude the day. Photo by Gergana Atanasova

Excited about AMICAL 2015? So are we! Each year, we take a step further towards sharing the AMICAL “juice” with people who are not attending the conference, as well as making sure that those who do attend get the maximum out of the AMICAL experience! Apart from opening up some sessions via live-stream, we are using social media to reach as many people as possible and spark meaningful discussions among conference attendees. The AMICAL 2105 website has links to all our social media channels. Follow us and join the action! The hashtag is #amicalconf. This is the frequency we’ll be tuning in to throughout the conference. Make sure you use #amicalconf so that we can pick up your signals whenever you post about AMICAL 2015 to Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, Google+ or elsewhere. We’ll be aggregating our posts on our Social Media Hub and we’ll be happy to feature some of your posts as well. You don’t need to wait until you arrive in Blagoevgrad in order to start posting on social media. Share a picture from that early morning flight or that new sticker on your luggage! Tell us how excited you are about AMICAL 2015! The best moment to share is now. Once you arrive at AUBG, make sure you check in to the AMICAL 2015 conference venue on Foursquare/Swarm. You might find some very useful tips from our AMICAL page. We’ve also compiled a list of places related to the conference which we’ll be updating. AMICAL 2015 is more than a conference. It is an invitation to connect, discuss and collaborate. Image credit: Jason A. Howie | CC BY

Conference attendees: In recent weeks we’ve sent out a number of announcements by email from contact@amicalnet.org. I know that you’ve read the complete text of each with unwavering attention, but just in case you missed something, here are the subjects and dates for those messages: Arrival, ground transportation & emergency contact info (sent May 23 to all attendees)Travel support recipients: Instructions for reimbursement (sent May 20 to travel support recipients)Sign up for a workshop to guarantee your seat (sent May 19 to all attendees)Unconference within the Conference (sent May 15 to all attendees)Speakers: Technology available + Request for slides & permissions (sent May 14 to speakers)Connect with other attendees (sent May 7 to all attendees)Volunteer as a Convener or Reporter (sent Apr 30 to all attendees) If you’re a registered attendee and you haven’t been receiving the messages we’ve sent you, contact us at contact@amicalnet.org. Image credit: Bogdan Suditu | CC BY

We’ll be using this space during and after the event to share news, reports, and timely information related to the AMICAL Conference. In particular, we’ll be giving space to reports on conference sessions written by attendees: at the end of each conference day, we’ll take any reports we’ve received from session reporters and post them here, along with photos to highlight moments from the program. (And by “we” I mean Dimitris Tzouris, our social media coordinator czar.) Feel free to share the posts widely on social media, in any spaces you feel relevant to AMICAL or the content of the posts, using the hashtag #amicalconf. Image credit: Jonathan Cohen | CC BY-NC

The schedule for AMICAL 2015 is now online, along with full descriptions of all sessions and speakers. Note that minor changes may occur to the schedule between now and the event, and full information on keynotes and certain workshops will be added shortly.In addition to sessions formally proposed, there will be numerous opportunities for less formal discussion around shared interests that percolate up during the event: Unconference: ideas can be pitched on Thursday afternoon and throughout the event, and sessions on Friday and Saturday will allow attendees to lead and participate in informal presentations/discussions/workshops on topics they choose.Breaks and social events: generous break time has been scheduled, as well as evening social events, to give time for informal discussions and meetings.

Registration is now open for AMICAL 2015 - “Clearing thresholds: information literacy & faculty–librarian–technologist collaboration.” Important dates: 8 March: Deadline to apply for travel support (for full & affiliate AMICAL members only).15 April: Deadline to register for the conference. Also: be sure to check out the additional venue information just added to the conference site on: AUBGTravel & transportVisa infoAccommodationThings to doPractical info