ULearn returning to Christchurch

CORE Education’s annual conference for educators, ULearn, will return to Christchurch in 2009 after a very successful event in the city earlier this year.

The conference held at the Christchurch Town Hall and Convention Centre in  October focused on integrating new technologies to empower learning and transform leadership. Nearly 2000 delegates from around NZ registered.

Conference manager Gwenny Davis says ULearn08 and its associated pre-conference workshops made up four days of back-to-back inspiration, education, ideas, strategies and fun, equipping NZ educators with all they need to transform their teaching, learning, school or early childhood community.

“Venues in Christchurch are ideal for the ULearn conference. At times we have nearly 50 sessions going at one time in different meeting spaces around central Christchurch. And it’s a huge undertaking seating all of us for dinner at the Westpac Arena. The support and assistance we received from the venue providers helped us make the decision to return in 2009,” she says.

“It also allows room for further expansion – the number of delegates increases every year and fortunately our Christchurch venues have great capacity,” she says.

ULearn has been going since 2005, and previously has alternated between Christchurch and Auckland.

The conference is run by Christchurch not-for-profit educational research and development organisation CORE Education to provide professional development, networking, gauge trends, provide information and celebrate best practice in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education.

The conference is estimated to bring more than $2million to the local economy, a figure arrived at through a Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism formula.

“If people book early, the cheap flights and the very reasonably priced accommodation around the city centre mean that coming to Christchurch can be quite cost-effective for our delegates. The savings we can make holding the conference in Christchurch certainly helps us keep registration fees at an affordable level too,” Ms Davis says.

ULearn09 (7th-9th October) will be preceded by workshops on Tuesday, 6th October.

For more information on the conference, visit www.ulearn.org.nz