The following confirmed guests are scheduled to present keynote addresses at VITAL '98:

Sept. 9-10, Roger Schank - "Learning and Interactive Multimedia"

Director of the Institute for Learning Sciences; Author of Virtual Learning: A Revolutionary Approach to Building a Highly Skilled Workforce (McGraw-Hill, 1997);

Educational systems are in need of radical change. One way to achieve this change is to create new teaching devices. By attempting to build intelligent computers, we have learned a great deal about how people learn. By putting this knowledge about human learning to use in designing computer-based educational programs we can create effective teaching devices for the future. The key aspect of computer-based learning environments is their ability to allow students to learn by doing. Computers can place students in new, different and interesting environments where they can direct their own learning, following their own interests and achieving goals they set for themselves. Most importantly, these environments can include large libraries of stories, on video, told by experts in particular fields. The student can hear these stories, and learn from them, at just the moment in their own work when they most need help. The programs should be designed around particular learning goals of students, creating scenarios where students are motivated to accomplish tasks that lead to successfully attaining the goals in question. Such goal based scenarios can be used for any subject matter, for any age student, in schools or in business. These programs change what students are learning as well as how they are learning. Students learn how to actually do things rather than simply memorizing isolated factual material.

Sept. 14-16, Rik Hall - "Collaborative Initiatives in Web-based Training and Learning Programs"

Program Director for Distance Education & Off-Campus Services with the Department of Extension and Summer Session at the University of New Brunswick. Founder and Manager of the WWWDev Listserv (World Wide Web Courseware Developers Listserv).

Sept 16-18, Dr. Ann E. Barron - "Design Alternatives for WBT (Web Based Training)"

Director of the Florida Center for Instructional Technology in the College of Education, University of South Florida where she is also an Associate Professor of Instructional Technology.

Sept. 8-10, 1998, Lisa Kimball - "Measuring the Effectiveness of Interactive Web Based Training Programs."

CEO & Senior Consultant with Metasystems Design Group.

How do we know if our online training programs work? How can we be sure the programs are effective programs for the audience using them? These and other key questions facing developers and managers contemplating the use of training programs online will be examined. We will explore what information is available on this topic and discuss the need for more research studies in this area to help us develop a better understanding of how and why interactive training and learning works.

Sept. 15-17, Mani Iyer - "Reengineering Enterprise-wide Learning: Business Benefits From Online Solutions"

President & CEO of TeamScape Corporation, a provider of Enterprise-wide Learning Management solutions.

Corporations world-wide are rethinking traditional approaches to training and learning. Training organizations and job functions are being transformed by the internet and corporate intranets. This session will discuss case studies from several mid-to-large sized companies that are moving their training functions online.

We will cover how trailblazing organizations are going beyond just automating routine training functions. These companies are re-examining their current methodologies and practices, and are taking bold steps to provide highly effective and targeted training to their employees, customers and partners anytime, anywhere.

We will discuss the significant business benefits and cost savings from integrating the entire "training chain" across the enterprise, including employees, external consultants and courseware providers, instructors, students, partners and suppliers. We will also address some of the choices and options available in the marketplace today for creating an enterprise-wide learning infrastructure.

We'll address the key organizational and technological challenges to re-engineering the corporate training process, and building solutions for anyone, anytime, anywhere learning. Finally, we will address how organizations can measure bottom line results, cost savings and increased productivity by investing in online learning solutions.