DAVE CILLAY, Washington State University

      Changing technologies, pedagogies and policies give rise to many questions. As educators, we are increasingly expected to be able to evaluate the potential importance of these developments for our own organizations. Among the questions of particular importance to higher education are these: How can our organizations address issues of student authentication? What strategies might we usefully employ to assess the learning of our expanding population of online students? What practices are higher education institutions adopting to authenticate their distance education students? How are Personal Learning Environments re-shaping students’ learning experiences and with what pedagogical implications? What role might immersive learning environments play?
      At the core of Web 2.0 is community, connectedness, and collaboration. How can CE harness these tools in our program offerings? Social networking is the socialization and personalization of education and learning among students. Institutions of distance education are faced with the challenge of encouraging community among its disparately located online learners. They must create a more cemented sense of connection and affinity with their respective colleges and universities beyond their academic years to become a resource for alumni relations and development. We will explore these issues and present best practices in using emerging technologies in social software for education.