Category Archives: conference

conference, keynote

Sometimes it does go wrong…

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Today I delivered the keynote at the JISC RSC Eastern eFair at Hertford Regional College.

Though the presentation went down well, lots of positive feedback I did have a few technical hitches. Now I made the most of them and used it as an opportunity to talk about the issues of practitioners lacking confidence in the technology and not wanting to use it in case it went wrong. The point I made was that tradition, technologies sometimes fail us, but as professionals we compensate and change what we were going to do. For example if your marker pen runs out of ink on a traditional whiteboard, doesn’t usually stop someone from ever using one again. Likewise if someone has used a permanent marker on the whiteboard, does this stop you ever using one, because the one day you come across a whiteboard where this has happened will ruin your lesson. Practitioners sometimes decide they won’t use the VLE as sometimes it doesn’t work! Would they say the same about a physical learning environment ie a classroom? Sometimes they don’t work, like when it snows for example. So yes sometimes it does go wrong and as a professional you need to either fix it, or get someone else to fix it, or change quickly what you were going to do.

So what went wrong?

Firstly, though I was assured that once I had logged into the wireless network that it wouldn’t time out. It did. Took a minute or so before I could start.

The other issues was about two thirds of the way through the presentation Keynote on my Mac froze! I couldn’t move to the next slide. Without checking fully I think what happened was one of two things. Either the script auto-posting to Twitter was not working properly. Or Powerpoint which was also running on my Mac decided to “hog” all the resources and stop Keynote from working properly. Whatever it was it did mean that I couldn’t move my slide forward for a few minutes.

In the end the pause worked fine as we could discuss technical problems and also showed that tech problems happen to all of us.

conference, vle

RSC SW 5th Annual Conference

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Last Thursday saw me venture down to the University of Exeter for the JISC RSC SW Annual Conference. I have been to all of the conferences and presented at many of them, keynoting at last year’s with David Sugden.

This year I was just a normal delegate, which was nice and different. I rarely go to conferences as just a delegate these days.

I also took the chance to try out just using my iPad as my main note taking, blogging and twittering device. It worked out just fine as you can read here and here. Following on from my earlier blog post on using the iPad at a conference I can see the iPad now replacing my laptop at these kinds of events. For longer events such as ALT-C or Handheld Learning I will take my laptop with me, but leave it in the hotel room so that I have use of it in the evening for video editing or audio editing.

Well back to the content of the conference…

I didn’t get much from the two opening keynotes, they were interesting, but didn’t in my mind inspire me to change my practice. Others though did find them more inspiring.

The opening keynote talked about the enterprise culture at the University of Plymouth and how it was changing what they did.

The second keynote was on Business and Community Engagement, which was by JISC.

The first session I attended was on Social Enterprise and how many business organisations now have a social motive over a profit motive. 

The second session was from JISC TechDis on engaging with SMEs. Gloucestershire has a large number of SMEs compared to somewhere like Bristol and often they can not “afford” to send their staff on training and staff development. In an interesting discussion we looked at the issues and challenges facing SMEs in the South-West and how FE providers (and others learning providers) can engage them and use technology to meet these challenges and break down invalid assumptions. One of the key conclusions was that there are cultural barriers both in the SMEs and in learning providers that need to be broken down before we can really provide solutions.

After a good lunch and lots of networking, it was time for the afternoon sessions.

I (with a little reservation) attended the session on Second Life by Bex Ferriday from Cornwall College.

She gave a very entertaining and informative trip through Second Life, lessons learned and some really good ideas on how to use Second Life for teaching and learning. I liked the idea of how it can be used with some groups to break down barriers and enhance communication – and once Second Life goes browser based I think this could see much more use being made of Second Life.

I also liked the idea of the underwater art gallery that contains student art that couldn’t exist in real life.

After more tea, it was Vicky Weavers from Weston College and their VLE Bronze, Silver and Gold standards. In many ways their standards are similar in concept to the five stage VLE model I put forward in an earlier blog post. One aspect of their model I did like, was that you only gained the standard if learners actually used the VLE.

What I was also interested in was the implementation, the carrot and stick approach. Weston College like most had tried the softly softly approach with limited sucess. The enthusiasts had certainly used the VLE effectively, but the use was sporadic and whole areas were not using the VLE. The college did feel, from student feedback, that access to online resources and learning was a “student entitlement” and that provision of such was patchy and lacked consistency.

By using a combination of clear standards, senior management, quality, other college processes and importantly middle management; the college was able to increase use of the VLE by staff and to increase use of the VLE by learners.

Some good ideas to take away.

I then popped to see the Futurelab demonstrations, some nice new technology there.

The final keynotes were on cloud computing, specifically Google Apps. I can see many FE Colleges moving over to Google Apps as a way of both enhancing student provision and saving money.

Overall a very information and interesting conference with lots of useful stuff to take away.

conference, ipad

More iPadding

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Okay so we coming up to lunch here at the RSC SW Summer Conference and I only have my iPad. Am I missing my laptop?

To be honest no.

I will say typing is a little more challenging depending on the room you are in. makes me realise I might need to get a case that allows me to slope the iPad for easier typing. Or I should have bought my Bluetooth keyboard as well ( though that would have meant more to carry).

It would be nice to have the camera adapter then I could easily upload photographs to the iPad. Having said that I guess I should have set up my Eye-Fi to wirelessly upload pictures to my iPad using the Eye-Fi App, though I am not sure if that is possible. Something to look into for the future.

Osfoora HD is working well as my Twitter client, but I have been using my iPhone to take some photographs and upload them through the iPhone Twitter App.

Working well and showed it off to a fair few people over coffee.

conference, ipad

iPadding

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So after writing a post about using an iPad at a conference, here I am at the RSC SW Conference in Exeter and I have left my laptop back at home and I have only bought my iPad.

Will it work for the whole day?

Will I be able to use it to make notes, check URLs, Twitter and Blog?

What about wifi? Well I have bought my Google Nexus One with me with it’s portable wifi so hoping that will work if the wifi doesn’t. I also have the iPhone as a backup.

I am not presenting so that is one less thing to worry about, though I can present with the iPad as I have the VGA connector.

It will be interesting, more later…

conference, ipad

iPad Conferencing

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So here’s a question, will Apple’s new iPad make a significant difference to the way that delegates will behave and work at conferences?

It’s still (very) early days for the iPad, and even though it has been on sale here in the UK for less than a month, many people I have spoken to are looking at the device and wanting to buy one. Equally there are others who won’t touch it with a barge pole!

Handheld Learning (now happening in January) will be an interesting conference for many reasons, one of the things that will make this conference specifically interesting will be the number of iPads at the conference. This year if you register early you will receive a free iPad. Now this means at the conference itself, a large proportion of delegates will be bringing an iPad.

So how will they be using that iPad and what difference will it make to the conference?

I have previously on this blog written about amplified conferences and social reporting. In the article I noted at the JISC Experts meeting that:

We used Twitter quite a bit today, so much so that the tag #jiscexperts09 became a trending tag on Twitter.

Lots of comments, discussions and conversations. Some went off tag and continued outside the event.

A really useful and interesting back channel to what was happening in front of us.

I did note the limitations of using Twitter at conferences as well as the advantages.

If you are using Twitter to allow the delegates to converse about the event in a kind of back channel then the fact they are not using it, is probably not a bad thing, as they are probably interacting face to face.

I made the suggestion back then that:

One of the downsides of Twitter (which is also a plus point) is that it is just text and only 140 characters of just text. If you did use social reporters then they could also use other tools to help capture the event for both the delegates and others. They could be uploading presentations to Slideshare, posting photographs to Flickr, pushing videos to YouTube, broadcasting live using Qik, blogging, recording to Audioboo, etc…

So how would this kind of thinking relate to the iPad?

Well the iPad does allow people to use Twitter, but does not have a camera, so stuff like Qik or use of Flickr is not possible; so there are restrictions on how the iPad can be used to amplify the conference.

If lots of delegates have an iPad, then you would expect the back channel to be quite active, but would it be any more active than it is already. I don’t think it will be. Those already using Twitter on other devices, will either continue to use those devices or will switch to the iPad. The key question is will the iPad encourage and facilitate those who don’t use the back channel or use it rarely to engage with the conversation if they had an iPad. Personally I don’t think there would be a big impact, a few delegates may join in with the conversation as they now have a connected device, but I can’t see why others would start to join the conversation. If they can’t see the benefit of using Twitter in this way I can’t see them changing their behaviour as they are now holding an iPad.

However Twitter is just one way for delegates to engage with the conference and is most certainly not the only way and the iPad then can have a much greater impact.

Live conference programme

We are use to having the conference programme handed to us in paper format. People scribble, fold (and generally in my case) lose it. Imagine an iPad App that holds the whole conference programme. One that can be updated if things change, links to presentations and recordings either before, during or after the conference. It would be nice to be able to star sessions so that you don’t miss them,

Venue Maps

Interactive maps of the venue so you don’t get lost! Some venues are very compact and it is impossible to get lost, but at large events or those on university campuses it is very easy to get lost as you trek miles (okay yards) to find the room in which the session is taking place. Add in GPS tracking and you could “track” other delegates!

Sharing contact details with other delegates

There is already an iPhone App for the purposes of sharing contact details. Bump already allows you to very easily over the internet to share contact details. In order for it to work though you do need to enter in your contact details.

Shared note taking

Anyone who has used an Etherpad clone will realise how useful shared note taking can be between delegates at a conference or meeting. Ensuring URLs are correctly written, e-mail addresses, references, questions for the end of the session, etc… It saves everyone making their own version of notes from a session. It is also useful for those that couldn’t make the session, say they were in a parallel session.

Of course anyone who has an iPad who has tried any Etherpad clone will realise that Etherpad doesn’t work on the iPad. Nor do most wikis I have tried and Google Docs.

Evernote has an iPad App but in order to share a notebook you need to have Evernote Premium which is not something everyone will want to pay $5 per month or $45 per year for.

There are some Apps that allow you to collaborate on a virtual whiteboard, but this is not the same kind of functionality as the note taking capabilities of Etherpad.

Shared whiteboard

The Groupboard App allows delegates with iPads to share a common whiteboard to make “notes” and draw diagrams. The free version allows up to five people to collaborate, anymore and you have to pay.

Live streaming

Many conferences stream keynotes and sessions live over the internet. Allowing remote interested parties an insight to the conference and join in over Twitter or similar channels. Streaming sessions is also useful delegates attending the conference, for those that can’t get into sessions which are full, those that are running stands, those networking or for those sessions which start first thing in the morning! One consideration that conference organisers may want to consider is that standard Flash based streaming doesn’t work on the iPad or the iPhone. If you use services such as Ustream it is possible to send an iPhone friendly stream that can be viewed by the Ustream App.

Live blogging

Blogging about keynotes and sessions is a great way to make both notes and reflect on the key points. Adding images to the live blog can make it real for those remote readers and remind those who were there what happened.

There are certainly many ways in which you can live blog using the iPad, if you have a WordPress blog there is the WordPress App for example.

Another way of live blogging would be to use a Posterous blog, this can just be e-mailed from the Mail App on the iPad. You can attach images and video.

So how do you get images and video on the iPad, considering it doesn’t have a camera. By using the iPad camera connection kit, you can easily add images and video from a digital camera.

Key is that the blog posts are tagged with the conference tag.

Reflective blogging

Blogging after the presentation or keynote, during a break or back at the hotel, the iPad again makes an ideal tool for this.

Enhanced presentations and keynotes

Presenters at a conference where the majority of delegates have an iPad will have the opportunity for a more enhanced conference experience in relation to viewing the keynotes and presentations.

I have been using Twitter during various presentations, not always successfully but when it works it works well. The ability to deliver live links, images and information to delegates can really enhance a presentation make it more relevant and useful. You can also pose questions to the audience and with a voting platform or polling tool you will be able to view results.

Or just get them to raise their iPads….

This can certainly engage the audience. Using services like Twitter allows presenters to ask questions that delegates can answer via their iPad is another way of asking questions.

Enhanced workshops and debates

As with presentations, using an iPad at a conference would allow workshops to be a more enhanced experience. The iPad could be used to both deliver key parts of the workshop and as a tool to allow workshops participants to collaborate and work together. Most workshops require delegates to feedback, undertaking this activity through the iPad (say via a blog) would allow others in the workshop to comment on the feedback. Likewise it would also others (who did not attend) to see the feedback.

Using an iPad during debates for votes and questions as well as adding to the debate virtually would make for a deeper debate in some circumstances.

Shared bookmarking

From my experience, a conference is full of useful links, blogs, articles. Bookmarking services such as Delicious allow delegates an easy way of adding and sharing links.

There is an iPhone App (which works on the iPad) and an easy to add bookmarklet to Safari. The only real downside is that Copy and Paste is not as a easy as with using a standard computer.

Key is that the links are tagged with the conference tag as well as other relevant tags.

This will allow delegates to find links later back at base.

Flickr feed

As well as blogging you could also upload images to Flickr, something like FlickStackr can be used for uploading images from the iPad.

So how do you get images and video on the iPad? As already said by using the iPad camera connection kit, you can easily add images and video from a digital camera.

Key is that the images are tagged with the conference tag.

Summary

Many of the above points can also be useful for teaching and learning as well as conferences and events. Maybe the basis of a future blog post.

Anyone who has read this far will realise that none of the above is in fact dependent on all delegates having an iPad. All of the above can be easily done now even if delegates only use their laptops or their phones. In some cases it will be easier with a laptop (look at Etherpad or a conference wiki). However the key isn’t it in fact with the technology but the culture of both the conference organisers and very importantly the conference delegates. I have attended many different conferences where use has been made of social networks for the conference, a conference wiki, cloudworks and more.

However my experience is that the majority of delegates do NOT participate in these extra-curricular networks whilst at the event, some do before and some do afterwards, but generally very few do during the actual event. It is key for any of the above to work that giving each delegate an iPad isn’t sufficient, they also need to be motivated to participate over and above been a passive delegate at the conference. That is a responsibility for both the delegates and the conference organisers.

apple, conference, iphone, keynote

WWDC 2010 Keynote

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Today is Steve Jobs’ Keynote at WWDC. It will be on around 6pm here in the UK. There is no live feed and I expect to follow the key announcements via Twitter or Engadget.

Traditionally we get to hear about new products and new software.

As might be expected the web is rife with rumours about what we will hear about. I’ll let you Google them to find what they are.

I am expecting to see a new iPhone, and though I am pleased with my iPhone 3GS will be thinking about upgrading to the new one if it does more than the 3GS does. Key new features for me are not so much the multi-tasking that we will see in iPhone OS 4.0 as that will work on the 3GS, but new hardware features. I would like to see a new camera with a better lense. The 3G camera is rubbish compared to the 3GS, but many other phones have much better cameras and I do use the camera on my iPhone a lot. Prior to retirement I used the camera on the Nokia N95 a lot too.

I doubt we will see the portable wifi hotspot that Android 2.2 brought to the Nexus One which is a pity as that is such a useful feature of that phone. Now using it more than ever.

Will be interested to see if there are any details on a new version of OS X and what that will bring to my Mac.

Not long now…

alt, conference, e-book, ipad, podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #048: It’s very warm out there

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James talks about EdTech 2010, pilots, the iPad, JISC CETIS Mobile Tech Meeting, Android 2.2, Lessig Method and the ALT Learning Technologist of the Year Award 2010.

With James Clay.

This is the forty-eighth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, It’s very warm out there

Download the podcast in mp3 format: It’s very warm out there

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes

Shownotes

conference, keynote

96 slides in 12 minutes – Presentation Styles

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At a Becta LSIS Learning Innovation, Embracing Technology Conference at the NEC last year I had a twelve minute slot for a presentation on how the future of learning is mobile.

I did use slides.

Now the accepted model for powerpoint presentations is 2-5 minutes per slide, so if I was presenting according to the accepted model I would have had no more than six slides.

So how many slides did you have?

I used ninety six slides.

Did you really?

Yes I did.

I remember been asked to send a copy of my presentation to the organisers, which I had to do via a version uploaded to the web as it was too big for e-mail. I then got a “worried” e-mail reminding me that I only had twelve minutes and that I might have too many slides. I did in fact cut a few slides, I think initially it was over a hundred… so cutting to ninety six was quite tough!

Even at the event, I was taken to one side and reminded how important it was to stick to the timeslot I had been given.

Then it was time….

I use to have quite light slides when I started doing conference presentations, but was noted by someone else that my slides a few years ago were getting more text heavy… and it was true! I had more and more text on my slides.

So I decided to stop how I wrote my presentation slides and think again about how and what I present.

Most times text is on slides as a crutch to the presenter who may not know their stuff, or certainly doesn’t have the confidence to present without the security blanket of lots of text.

I decided that if I was using words I would use phrases or key words. Where possible I would use images.

So where do you get the images?

Most times they are images I have taken myself or had taken for me. But for a lot of images I use creative commons licensed images from Flickr. There is a wealth of images available on Flickr and they can be used to convey lots of different things. If I can’t find the image I want, I have been known to get the camera and go and take the image. I also upload my images to Flickr, not just so others can use them, but if I am out and about and I want to use one of my images I needn’t worry about having it on my computer as it may be on my Flickr account.

Images are very powerful and can convey and support what I am saying

But what about the text?

Presentations are not about text they are about presentations.

Word documents are about text, so write a Word document or a blog post.

I try to use a small number of words and where possible avoid bullet points.

I have seen too many presentations that consist of bullet points with lots of explanatory text, often too small to read!

But when I post my presentation online…

Come on, really who is the presentation for, the audience in the conference room or the online audience.

Remember that the core audience for a presentation is the live audience in the conference room. It is not the remote audience who will only read your presentation and won’t get the full benefit of your actual talk and any questions afterwards.

If it is necessary to offer a more detailed presentation online. then video or film the presentation. Or how about creating one text heavy presentation for the online audience who won’t hear you and one for the live audience who will.

Anyone who puts loads of text onto a slide so that it makes sense to someone who reads it online (notice the use of the word reads) then they might as well not present their work and just print it out and let us read it.

Presentations that are watched are different to documents that are read.

Use the right tool for the right audience and the right location.

I can’t take all the credit for how I create my slides for my presentations, one of the articles I read gave me a real insight into making a good looking presentation. The article talks about the different presentation styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and reading it, it makes a lot of sense to me.

So what of the rules about 2-5 minutes per slide?

If you know the rules, you can break the rules.

So how did I do?

Yup, I delivered all ninety six slides in twelve minutes. Got lots of positive feedback as well. The feedback was on the content of the  presentation and what I said, and not on the presentation slides themselves.

Job done!

conference

PELC10 – Day 2

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It’s day two of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference.

I am looking forward to Dave White’s keynote.

The education sector is constantly chasing the tail of the latest technology. Innovation ‘out there’ on the web generates paranoia that we might be missing the latest opportunity and the suspicion that our students are experts in everything. We create profiles on every new platform just in case they become ‘the next big thing’, collecting solutions-looking-for- problems and losing our focus on what students and staff might actually need.

Having seen him speak at the ALT-C Fringe I am expecting to enjoy his presentation.

After the coffee break, it will be time for the debate session I am taking part in, Floods? Snow? Swine flu? Terrorist threats? ‘Keep calm and carry on’.

Culturally, most institutions do not incorporate online or virtual learning into everyday working cultures, at any level: management, staff or students. Those who do not routinely use digital options can’t see that closing the physical institution need not have a significant impact on the business of the institution, if that business can be carried out at home or online. The issue is not to focus upon contingency planning, but to focus on changing the way people work when there isn’t snow and changing the way people think when there is. A

Also read my original blog post on the snow in January and my more recent post, “million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten”.

After lunch I am chairing another debate, the great debate.

This forum will explore methods for categorising learners approach to online platforms and how this can influence edtech/pedagogic strategies. It will focus on Marc Prensky’s famous ‘Digital Native & Digital Immigrants’ trope and the more recent ‘Visitors & Residents’ idea proposed by David White.

Following the infamous Devon Cream Tea it will be the closing session and the prize draw! Overall a busy second day.

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PELC10 – Day 1

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So it’s the start of the Plymouth e-Learning Conference down here in, well… Plymouth.

A packed day with an excellent keynote expected from Josie Fraser.

The use of social media platforms, tools and practices are increasingly recognised as a critical way to facilitate learning and teaching and staff development. Josie Fraser explores how the shift towards more informal and less centrally controlled forms of communication and activity has come about.

Focusing on two critical concepts – digital identities and digital communities, Josie will explore the opportunities and issues that these present the education sector with, and the role they can play in designing and facilitating learning.

I am after the coffee break tempted by a couple of sessions. One of these is Twitter is dead: Reflections on student resistance to microblogging by Tony McNeill from Kingston University.

This paper will argue that Twitter occupies an awkward space: neither part of the institutionally supported digital environments and toolset accepted by students and used within their ‘curricular sphere of practice’ nor currently part of the digital services used in their ‘personal sphere of practice’. As such, Twitter initiatives risk being marginalised, falling outside the repertoire – both ‘imposed/top-down’ and ‘vernacular/bottom up’ – of the technology-enabled communicative practices of the students we wish to engage.

The other is Technologies Are Bad News for Adults Who Work With Children with Simon Finch of the Northern Grid for Learning.

Not so long ago if a teacher wanted to communicate with a student they would either speak with them or write a note in the learners’ book, or on their assignment. If they wanted to communicate with the learners’ parents, they would phone or write. Today, with increasingly accessible, affordable and usable social media, teachers and learners can communicate anytime, anyplace and anywhere. Digital cameras, mobile phones, micro projectors, and internet access can all be powerful tools to support learning and yet increasingly teachers struggle to manage their digital identities and interactions – sometimes with serious consequences.

As with many conferences there is another session on at the same time that I would also like to go to – ASSET: Enhancing feedback provision using video.

ASSET is a JISC-funded project led by the University of Reading which aims to tackle the sector-wide issue of improving feedback provision for students. ASSET uses Web 2.0 technologies to support staff in providing ‘feedforward’ and timely, quality feedback to students, via video and audio casts.

Another session I will go to, The Sage on the Video- Recorded Stage by Fiona Concannon and Sharon Flynn of the National University of Ireland.

This paper outlines a case study of the use of an automated lecture capture within an Irish university. It considers students’ reported experiences in using and viewing lecture recordings, and the implications of rolling out the service campus-wide.

Over lunch I hope to record (and stream) a live episode of the e-Learning Stuff Podcast as part of the Fringe.

Following lunch there are a couple of sessions that I quite like the idea of, the Learning Cafe which is looking to the future of learning. There is also an interesting sounding workshop, How to use social software to boost learning.

There is no doubt that web 2.0 and the use of social software has changed the way people use the Internet. The majority are familiar with tools like social networks, blogs and wikis. The fact that social software can support students while they are using an e-Learning environment or a personal learning environment is widely accepted.

But how exactly does social software support users? Which social software concepts should be used, and which should not? What can they be used for? And how can technologies, available today, help us to design a better education?

The goal of this workshop is to raise awareness that social software has to be integrated intelligently and as a form of connection between different techniques. It is not enough to add a specific gadget, there has to be a particular benefit. Educators have experiences on how to design lectures and computer scientists know what technologies are available to support learners. Interactive tasks will involve the audience to exchange experiences from a technical and an educational perspective.

Hmmm, choices, choices.

Later on, after the tea break, I think I will go to Fleur Corfield’s session, entitled, Supporting an Innovative Curriculum in a Traditional HE Environment.

Universities have a recognised need to react to a changing environment, from changes in the economy to government initiatives with a focus on widening participation. There is acknowledged need for them to fit this changing environment by taking a new approach to course/ product development.

There are a couple of sessions later that sound good, including Zak Mensah’s Methods and merits of good design practices for digital media.

Digital media: where to start? In this session we explore why you may wish to consider digital media, and how appropriate preparatory design of digital media supports the creation of good resources for teaching and learning. We focus on the challenges of using digital media, and offer suggestions for meeting these challenges.

Tonight is the conference dinner with Snorkel the Turtle, who is not on the menu, but will be swimming around the tanks of the National Aquarium.