CEGSA Conference – personal jottings July 24, 2006
Posted by Al Upton in 3. SA Blogs, Blogging, CEGSA, My Perspective, learning.trackback
Not a summary – a quick tap and type before I go to school tomorrow - see what comes of it. Just for me initially. Feel free to get what you want from it 
Personally much of my experience of the conference clarified that I felt I was on the right track, have had a fair glimpse of what’s happening and what’s possible. I felt that I’m reasonably well informed. I have managed to establish a personal professional learning foundation to build on. Of course, there are many areas of ICT integration that my knowledge, skills and abilities are left wanting. No, not ‘wanting’ - that’s how I want it. There’s only so much we can and should do. Other participants in informal conversation agreed with the concept of “well I already knew that - but this is cool, it clarifies my own directions and understandings” – I paraphrase. Plus there were also those wonderful extra tips, try this try that, different perspectives, different ways of getting over the same basic message and material. Keynote speaker, Derek Wenmoth is a wonderful example of this. Plus Derek spoke so articulately to those who are new to the ‘message.’
Chats with other participants really weren’t all that different. Participants were able to build on where they ‘came in’ NB I didn’t get a sense of the oft quoted “I’m preaching to the converted”. There seemed to be quite a few I met who were getting a taste of the value of ICTs in Learning. More than that – how they do and can fit in. Exciting stuff. Building on our current entry levels and levels of comfort.
General comments remember …
Workshops I attended, heard of and gave seemed to have wonderful similarities. They provided stories, directions and opportunities. What more do we want from a conference?
*** There IS something wanting – something that doesn’t feel right – and I’ll let you know when I know, maybe in a separate post.
A Highlight
1. Collaborating and presenting with Graham Wegner. Being in some minor way responsible for raising his profile here in South Australia. Graham provides an excellent local example in terms of exploring and promoting Web 2.0 tools for professional learning. Please check out Graham’s blog and his ‘CEGSA Wrap Up.’ It was wonderful to present workshops and a presentation on our different contributions and perspectives.
A Disappointment
My ‘invited speaker’ presentation (the one I shared with Graham) was not the one I had spent such a long time planning and preparing. Despite two backups and testing that morning, some unknown ICT law was against me and I had 10-15 minutes to put some saved slides from drafts together. Good support from Graham during the presentation – working his ‘touch/non-touch tablet machine’ for me 
Some great feedback from different people, in particular keynote speaker Lindy McKeown who also added ”remember never tell them you’re not presenting what you’d planned”. Top advice, I’m enjoying the learning curve and am still making the same mistakes here 
I had planned the provision of my stories, directions and opportunities to share. My planned message of connecting learners and learning in a realistic and manageable way was missing. I wanted to encourage relevance, engagement and motivation in lifelong learning. Other aspects eg ‘the big picture’ were there with a greater presence than planned. You rode the waves well, thanks Graham
And now I know what is ‘wanting’ from my experience of the conference - not ‘my’ message as above – it’s not really mine, just an emphasis I wanted to share.
After all that wonderful organisation … the keynote speakers, invited speakers, presentations, workshops, the wonderful informal meeting of colleagues in person …
what I was left with was a feeling of – SO WHAT?
Well informed educational practitioners using personally effective combinations of traditional and emerging ICT methodologies and technologies for our connected and collaborative professional learning
… SO WHAT?
What about the kids, the learners, our core business
… in an ongoing, sustainable and meaningful way?
This is where the ongoing role of professional learning organisations like CEGSA are so important.
This is where being highly connected online and having a recognised impact in a global sense is incredibly transparent if there is no positive impact on student learning.
This is where professional learning should become active (not just telegraphic) connecting educators, learners and learning in a realistic and manageable way.
A Delight
Meeting Lindy McKeown and attending her keynote presentation. We have met and collaborated recently online – it was like meeting a long time friend in person.
Some glimpses/phrases from her presentation I’ll investigate further -
The importance of – Access, Practice, Time, Attitude
The Hero’s Journey – Wikipedia Entry
“There’s not enough time!” “What are you doing now that’s a total waste of time?” (or at least a lower priority) ”… now you have time”
top down, middle out, bottom up (system/grass-roots cohesion)
Network control is the death of innovation
edNA www.tagcloud.com Technorati www.whatis.com micro-learning elgg
The connected teacher (Al – it has to be connected to kids learning)
f2f (face to face) give and take be digital to teach digital learners
“Even the way technology is taught in schools is boring!”
You want the real thing NOT CONTRIVED
Trifle is integrated but it’s elements are integral – not mush
Travel buddies help you get into stuff
“I can’t talk into computers!” – “When you talk to a phone are you talking to plastic?”
Wonderful, someone else is acknowledging machinima !!! (google it for more)
thinkgeek.com 2old2play.com (a couple of shared favourite sites)
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
… we need to encourage a new wave of mentors
So, it’s not SO WHAT? it’s WHAT NOW?
an exciting promise of now – a call for a state wide professional learning push to, for example …
provide stories, directions and opportunities
for South Australian blogging networks
that encourage relevance, engagement and motivation in lifelong learning.
What resonated with me (how often did I hear that phrase?) is the conference was a huge success because it pointed to WHAT NOW?
Comments
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Al, if you find all of your original notes and presentation, then you have the starting point for a next step venture in terms of professional opportunity for others. I’m thinking that a TSOF based day for 15 – 20 educators interested in developing their blogs (class or own) with us two as facilitators – is that a good WHAT NOW?
Thanks very much for letting me “ride your coat tails” at the conference – it would have been easier for you just to be the Invited Speaker and not have to share the spotlight. I appreciated your participation in my workshop and your kind words at the end – I can no longer play the “I’m brand new at this” card anymore. I was very much a learner along the way – your grasp of the future including in-world learning was an eye opener for me.
I think that what I got out of the conference was a sense that an awareness of social software and read/write technologies is on the up but practitioners of their use still number in the dozens. We are lagging behind a lot of the online education world but not many SA teachers realise that’s the case. The best we can do is be prepared to give others a hand when they are ready because no-one compelled us to dabble in the areas that has made us “expert” (and I use the term loosely and in the context of the SA education system) and therefore, others have to find their own way. We can only help raise awareness.