5th VRT2012 - Welcome Address by Heike, Shelly, Berni and Steven

[stevenherder]

Friday, 20 April 2012 - 7:30pm GMT | 4:30am Tokyo (Saturday) | 12:30pm Los Angeles

Recording: http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p34ejf3s075/ (26 min)

The evening was called, "A rather excellent start to the conference..."

Conference organizers

Heike Philp  

@heikephilp

Heike Philp is founder and CEO of let’s talk online sprl, Brussels which has provided technology support for language learning and events in real-time via the internet since 2003. Previously she held the position as general manager of LANCELOT School GmbH i.L., an accredited teacher training center for language teaching in real-time via the internet by means of virtual classroom technology and virtual worlds. With over 20 years in education and with Germany’s first live online language school, Philp co-initiated two European funded projects and worked with 35 European partners including 17 universities to develop accredited and certified teacher training courses. (for more info see comment box below)

 

Shelly Terrell  

@shellterrell

Shelly Sanchez Terrell is a teacher trainer, author, and international speaker. She is the host of American TESOL’s Free Friday Webinars and the Social Media Community Manager for The Consultants-E. She has co-founded and organized the acclaimed educational projects, Edchat, the Elton nominated ELTChat, The Reform Symposium E-Conference and the ELTON nominated Virtual Round Table language and technology conference. (for more info see comment box below)

Berni Wall

@rliberni  

Berni Wall has been an English language teacher, teacher trainer, examiner and mentor since 1977. She has taught University, Further and Higher Education, as well as 6 years of Primary school. She has also worked as a teacher trainer and as an English Language Examiner. Berni set up her own English language training business in 1995 delivering corporate language training for large multi-nationals SMEs and government agencies. (More in comment box below)

Steven Herder

@stevenherder

Steven has been teaching within the Japanese EFL context since 1989. Having over 20 years teaching experience at the elementary and secondary school level, he is currently an assistant professor in the International Studies department at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts. He is also extremely active in professional development within the ELT community. He co-founded MASH Collaboration in 2007, an online community devoted to professional development through collaboration. He is an avid user of Skype and can often be heard saying, “Collaboration creates just the right amount of tension to get lots done.” He also spends time editing numerous articles, academic volumes and proceedings, and leading teacher training seminars for various companies throughout Japan. Steven works from the perspective that, “being a teacher means a never-ending commitment to learning”.