teachmeet07
I arrived in the nick of time as John Johnston was halfway through his presentation on scotedublogs. I thought it was a perfect introduction for the evening - an excellent insight.
Terry Freedman showed us that if we want to contribute to the HUGE new “coming of age - an introduction to www” book, then head over to www.ictineducation.org. It is a print on demand project with profits going to a good cause. The first edition of this book was downloaded or read by 60,000 people. A big audience….?
Iain Stangers’ presentation really stood out. For me he showed us the COOLEST software around. dartfish allows you to edit and annote video really easily. You can do it, the kids can do it. You can create these ‘mediabooklets’ that the kids work on, annotating or editing the videoclip to their hearts content. In Technical Education, I had some immediate ideas… Iain talked about using it for internal assessment (kids can do voice over), peer assessment, using it as record of achievment - he had the SQA approve this method of internal assessment. This would clearly be a good way of engaging those kids who hate writing out screeds of text . In the school I am in, the use of ICT in the classroom seems to be a key focus at the moment (eg HGIOS), I will defenitely be trying to persuade some people to get this used in the classrooms! I really enjoyed Iain’s presentation, although his software seemed to be playing up a bit, his enthusiasm and passion for what he was talking about, was very clear.
Next up, Ollie Bray. If I could some up Ollie’s point it was that really simple, small things can have the greatest impact on learners. I am sure he will put up his presentation on his blog if he hasn’t done already! Also if George W can use “the google” anyone can 
David Gilmour talked about replacing standard school websites with a weblog and the effect on the parents. (in my opinion, surely as it is the parent who has the most effect on the child this was one of the most intsightful points of the evening) As David explained, the parents said: “we want to be involved in the school though we are really very busy. We will only get engaged if you can give me the information to get engaged in my kids class.” Weblogs anyone?
Out of the nanopresentations, Lee Carson made a fantastic point “You have a moral obligation to comment”. He was talking about his P7 class blog, and the simple need that the children had - to know that other people were interested in what they were doing. It struck me of the complete simplicity of all this “web2.0-ness”, everyone, on all different levels and in all different ways, just want to be connected.
Dobee (doo be doo). These seemed cool. “Get those digital natives on board”
Nick Hood: Move over moodle and GET WITH THE WIKI! He went down the long road of using moodle and through his experience is encouraging us all to use wiki’s for collaborative learning. Will Glow stand up in comparison?
Andy Black. “I want to scare you to death” ummm - yup, he did! Andy was funny, enthusiatic, and had a clear message: “It’s not about the device, stupid”.
Alastair Thin gave an honest and interesting presentation about his “Martini media lectures” which was followed by Steve Beard who wanted to show us Second Life as an alternative learning environment.
And then it was over! I only looked at my watch once, when IslayIan said the bar was closed! I finally found out where AB is - sitting next to IslayIan I met Mr W, briefly, who gave me a ‘moo card’, very smart. I also saw John Johnston on the way out the door, though I’m sure not many people knew who I was
Hello to everyone who was there - it was a refreshing experience for someone like me who has so much to learn. I look forward to meeting and collaborating with you in the future.
