As a first time attendee at the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) bi-annual conference I was impressed by the level of dialogue and enjoyed gaining an insight into the New Zealand Context. Mark Brown’s article in The Dominion Post on April 11 was often referenced throughout the conference in both the first keynote by Paul Basich and in the closing comments of the conference. He mentioned that “distance education is becoming the new normal” which exemplifies how “the digital revolution is transforming the halls of learning”.

I presented a workshop and a paper at the conference. The ninety minute workshop involved about 20 attendees and included CEOs, academics and PhD students. The title of the workshop was: Operationalising good practice in technology-enhanced learning and teaching. There was strong engagement from the group and I combined both discussion and presentation culminating in the sharing of the Good Practice Report on Technology-enhanced Learning and Teaching.

I also presented on the National Networking Initiative. This was a short presentation at the end of the conference and a number of attendees from the workshop also attended this session. Wellington is an amazing city and I rate it as one of those must see places. The waterfront walk, cafes, artwork and Backbenchers Pub were the highlight. I also stayed at the trendy Museum Hotel which added the icing to the cake.