ATDChi News

Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase 2015 Event Recap

Recap provided by Joie Marshall, Training Today Editor

Organizations: ATDChi, Chicago ISP, and STC Chicago

Date: August 18, 2015

Just last week, many local L&D practitioners came together to share information, learn new things, and network with others. As it has been in past years, the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase (CETS) was a robust event.

Held in the heart of Chicago at Northwestern University’s School of Law, volunteers from three professional organizations came together to plan, organize, and deliver a high-quality event. ATDChi, Chicago ISPI, and STC Chicago once again delivered a “cutting-edge exploration of new media and interactive elearning tools.” In its eighth year, this year’s event did not disappoint.

To kick things off, Trish Uhl from Owl’s Ledge LLC, inspired us to take ownership of our own professional development in her key-note aptly titled “Trigger Your Transformation: 5 Steps for Getting Your Professional Development on Track and Keeping Up with Evolving Learning Tech.” Trish provided us helpful steps to identify our path to further our own professional growth, instead of passively allowing that path to be created for us, or worse – a missed opportunity. Trish identified key competencies and supportive models to use that can help us make conscious choices to further our own development. It’s our own professional future; we should own it.

As in the past eight years, CETS was filled with engaging sessions across various tracts (design, strategy, learning technologies, and development). Some of the sessions available included:

- Cheap & Easy Instructional Characters for eLearning

- Why Does Tin Can/xAPI Matter & How Do I get Started?

- Supercharging eLearning Design

- Leveraging Technology for Learning & Doing

- Starting with Questions First: Using the Latest Brain Science to Build Adaptive eLearning That Increases Retention

To see a full list of the conference’s sessions, go to: http://chicagoelearningshowcase.com/

As in years before, the conference presented opportune times for participants to engage with exhibitors and the host organizations for more details.

One new session format included in this year’s event was the Learning Spark. Learning Sparks, inspired by the Chicago Ignite presentation format, were short five-minute presentations on a specific topic. Learning Spark presenters prepared 20 slides and set them to auto-advance at 15-second intervals. This new format at CETS offered up a wide variety of presentation topics that ranged from “Cheap & Cheerful eLearning,” “To Gamify or Not? What Corporate Learning Experts Should Know,” “Engaging Millennials,” among others. Learning Sparks were challenging to deliver, but the inaugural group of presenters did a fantastic job.

Another great add to this year’s CETS was the Showcase Mobile App. This little application was simple to download and even easier to use right away. The Showcase Mobile App allowed participants to review session and speaker information, complete polls, learn about exhibitors and host organizations, and post to Twitter. Check out the Twitter back-channel by searching #CETS15. Also, the app allowed attendees to quickly complete a session evaluation within the app. Talk about effective and efficient!

Thank you to the many volunteers who offered up their talents, expertise, and time to deliver this value-added event once again!

For a one-day, local event, the 2015 Chicago eLearning Technology Showcase offered a huge impact for the registration fee. It surely is the must-attend event in the Chicagoland area for anyone involved in eLearning.