So – two of us are off on a conference next week. It looks at a whole range of issues and trends in education, but is primarily focused on the use of ICT. My particular interest is in fostering creativity in the classroom and across faculties and as a former technophobe with a healthy dose of technology scepticism it should be an interesting experience. To demonstrate my new found techno nerd status I’ll be blogging from the conference on this blog and also tweeting @petejellis – follow me to give me an excuse to have my iphone out in lectures 🙂
From the Organising Committee
There are just a few days to go until the inaugural ITL Masterclass National Conference to be held at Twin Waters Resort, Maroochydore on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June with optional pre-conference facilitation from 6.00 to 8.00pm on Thursday 16 June.
The 6 Cohort Sessions offered at this conference will give the delegates a fantastic opportunity to work with their facilitator and colleagues to examine, in depth, a crucial theme related to teaching with interactive digital technology.
The Cohort Sessions can be found in the Master Program – Masterclass
Featured Cohort Session (the product that Bruce will develop):
21st Century Teaching and Learning, facilitated by Bruce Fuda
Bruce will examine the role of the PLN in 21st Century Learning and the role of typical social networking tools like Twitter, Delicious/Diigo, LindedIn/Facebook, about.me and others in building a PLN.
Bruce will focus on Twitter for the purposes of getting quick responses to simple queries and the use of hashtags to assist this, OzTeachers email list for deeper debate around issues, the value of mailing list archives, and then how to market yourself effectively using those tools linked with others such as blogs etc so that people have a simple way to contact you.
It’s going to be about how to combine the tools you currently use effectively, rather than holding one specific tool up as the answer to life, the universe and everything.
Featured Pre-prepared Sessions:
Using ICTs in the Early Years to Improve Outcomes and Using Vodcasts and Podcasts to Improve Literacy
Both presented by Jodie Riek, Digital Pedagogy Coach/Head of Mentoring, Morayfield East State School QLD
Nine un-conference (DIY) sessions have been scheduled so that delegates can discuss topics that interest them now! These sessions will be decided by the delegates, voted on, added to the conference wiki and scheduled faster than you can say cheers! Take the opportunity to choose a topic that you wished they would cover at big fancy conferences, but never do!