The conference series was established to discuss and promote various interdisciplinary questions within the scope of eLearning in the corporate, government, healthcare, and higher educations. This year's convention was the eleventh in the series.


At the beginning of the conference, everything seemed quite normal. The keynote by Susan Patrick, CEO of the North American Council for Online Learning dealt with the development of the global workforce and the growing potential of countries like China, India, and Russia. Whereas ICT literacy was defined as the central skill of the 21st century, it was lamented that these skills were not imparted in school. Technology should be embedded in school learning, as it is contended that students today "have technology in their blood".


The earthquake on the morning of October 15th was followed by a power outage and eLearning became one of the victims. The "eReferees" and the audience found themselves in dark, warm rooms, and the conference went on. PowerPoint slides were presented on battery-powered notebooks. Even though many participants failed to show up, the discussions were intense, though perhaps a little more informal.


As soon as the lights went back on, conditions immediately returned to normal. Further slots within the conference were dedicated to digital libraries and learning standards. Very interesting insights were given by Jan Herrington, who promotes authentic learning designs in higher education, and who gave the best keynote of the conference.