Fusion12 – Day One

FUSION is the annual Desire2Learn User Conference. This year’s theme is Chart Your Course and is being held in beautiful San Diego. While waiting for the craziness of Comic Con to die down; D2L clients, employees, and sponsors started to show up in San Diego to await the beginning of the conference.

Another record-setting year for FUSION – with over one thousand people in attendance. It was obvious from the heightened level of activity that each year keeps getting bigger and better.

Before the official kickoff of the conference, the Demo Pods area was open and swarming with people. The D2L booths as well as the sponsor booths were very well attended. For many people this was their first chance to see the latest D2L release – Version 10. Lots of oohs and ahhs as they checked out the new design possibility, the new tools, and the new user interface.

Also in the morning was an opportunity for attendees to get together for more informal conversations on a wide variety of topics. There were 15 different topics selected for the Birds of a Feather discussion tables. Some of the topics were:

• Using Open Educational Resources (OER) in K-12 Classes
• Learner-directed Learning
• Using Digital Storytelling in Online Courses
• Beyond Courses: Other Uses for D2L
• Using social media in online classes
• Usability testing your implementation? Share tips and tricks.

One of the discussion facilitators from Minnesota (right) thought the 75 degree temps were a bit too much to handle (while it was 95 back in his home town). It truly was a gorgeous morning out on the terrace where the discussions were held.

After the keynote address by Sal Khan of the Khan Academy, there was a round of breakout sessions led by D2L employees followed by another round of sessions led by D2L clients. A couple of examples include:

• Desire2Learn Capture: Why Aren’t You Webcasting Yet?
• Mathamagic – Equations in the Quiz Tool
• D2L Learning Environment Content Tool Gets a Facelift
• Beyond Face-to-Face Training
• Desire2Learn Analytics – Key to Better Quiz Reports and Stats
• D2ADMINISTRATE: Using Desire2Learn LE to Organize the Work of the College

To close out the day at the conference hotel we were entertained by CEO John Baker, CTO Jeremy Auger, and VP Kenneth Chapman. Their annual Product Spotlight was an opportunity to share news about the development of the various D2L products over the past year, and to tell the attendees about the products that will become available as of this fall. Kenneth and Jeremy were kicking it as only they can.

Then it was off to the Padres-Astros baseball game to close out day one at FUSION12.