The annual get-together for the Irish Learning Technology Association was held this year in Waterford IT. Unfortunately I could not attend the first day yesterday, but I rode down an almost empty M9 this morning to take part in the second day. Today's proceedings opened with the inspirational Lizbeth Goodman taking about disabilities, animation, video, dancing, and education. Really wonderful stuff showing how technology can enhance learning for disabled people.
I then attended a talk by Pearson Publishing about Technology in Action. This was very interesting (though a bit of a "Sales Pitch" as well) - I'd love to have some their assessment tools in NCI. Pearson continue to lead from the front in supporting academics and students. I asked a question about how students react to the use of Pearson tools and found that the responses was very positive. More of this I say!
Then it was my turn - I participated in the "Practice Exchange" session discussing "How come my brilliant idea didn't work?". This was about my failed effort to introduce text messaging into one of my classes. After lunch I delivered a workshop entitled "The Gadget Show" where I discussed and demonstrated using YouTube, Flickr, and Moodle in the classroom. I was happy with how this turned out - O2 provided us with an iPad 2, a Motorola Xoom (fantastic), and a Samsung Galaxy (too small). The main gadget was my iPhone.
Overall - I really enjoyed the day, though it went too fast. I really would have liked to attend on both days, and to have attended more talks. Well done to all in ILTA and WIT for putting on a great Conference. Next year in DCU?
Once again EdTech was very enjoyable. It's good to see more workshops and hands-on activities - fewer presentations. I would like to have seen the learning innovation that won Michael Seery the Jennifer Burke award. Like you I could not attend the whole conference. Lisbeth's work is inspirational. How does she find the time and energy? We are fortunate to have her in UCD.
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