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Worldwide Jesuit Conference on Adult and Distance Learning is first of its kind

Contact:  Melissa C. Di Leonardo
(202) 862-9893
mdileonardo@ajcunet.edu

Washington, DC (October 20, 2006) - The first worldwide Jesuit education conference on adult and distance learning, of which the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) is a sponsor, will take place November 1-3, 2006 at Regis University in Denver, CO.

The conference, which comes at the end of an Ignatian anniversary (2006) year marking the 450th anniversary of death of Society of Jesus founder St. Ignatius and the 500th anniversaries of the births of Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, companions of St. Ignatius, will examine how Jesuit institutions might continue to creatively use new technology and Jesuit pedagogy to reach out to adult, part-time and distance learning students.

Richard Vigilante, Executive Director of the Jesuit Distance Education Network (JesuitNET), noted that "throughout its four-hundred year history, Jesuit education has adapted to the needs of many diverse learners--traditional age and adult, full-time and part-time--around the world."  Together with the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S., JesuitNET seeks to meet the diverse, growing needs of both traditional and non-traditional learners by providing a flexible and convenient way to learn, and by complementing classroom learning on Jesuit campuses.  

AJCU President Fr. Charles Currie, S.J., is one of the keynote speakers for the conference, along with Susana Di Trolio, Executive Secretary of AUSJAL (Association of Jesuit Universities in Latin America); Fr. Michael Smith, S.J. from the Jesuit Theological College in Australia; and Peter Stokes, who is Executive Vice President of Eduventures, LLC. In 2005, the Chronicle of Higher Education called Peter one of "higher education's new generation of thinkers" shaping debates on education policy and practice.

Conference participants will be able to choose from have roughly 25 workshops, which will address a wide range of areas related to technology-based learning including: Best Practices in Developing Instructors for Adult-Centered Online Learning Environments; Online Course Hosting, Open Source and Mesh Computing; Preparation and Support for Faculty Teaching Online; and Developing Models for Working Together: Planning and Developing e-Learning Inter-university Programs.

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