The event will take place at the University of Leeds from September 9-11 and Digital 2010 is sponsoring a pre-conference workshop on September 8 and the dinner on September 10.

The theme of this year's 15th annual conference is Rethinking the Digital Divide.

The pre-conference workshop will examine the significance of the 'digital divide' theme for small businesses in terms of their activities and associated management and employee skills.

Delegates from the business, skills and educational communities will share their thoughts, facilitated by Gilly Salmon, Professor of e-Learning and Learning Technology at the University of Leicester.

The discussions will be supported by detailed results from regional research into business use of ICT.

Issues the workshop, and the conference, will be seeking to address include whether small businesses have access to technology and connectivity, whether they are aware of the potential of e-learning to meet their training needs, and whether staff at different levels in the business get access to e-learning resources.

Thea Stein, executive director of economic inclusion at Leeds-based Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward, will give a welcome speech at the start of the conference dinner focusing on connecting people to the opportunities available within the region and closing the gap between those doing well in the economy and those not doing so well.

The dinner will be used to showcase the talents of catering and hospitality students from Thomas Danby College.

During the dinner two sets of prizes will be awarded – the 2008 Learning Technologist of the Year Award and the 2008 Learning Object Competition Award.

Digital 2010 is the name for The Digital and ICT Skills Action Plan for Yorkshire and the Humber 2005-2009, which has been developed to provide a framework for development of digital and ICT skills across the region.

For further information on the conference visit: www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/ or e-mail admin@alt.ac.uk.