I met up with faces I have not seen for a while and having a little catch up. Plus, being stopped to be recorded for an interview on my plans for the day and some other questions. But, it was the usual Jisc event as such, but it had a festival theme to it. Lots of stalls and festival like things happening. I got a few things to think about from the sessions I went to. But I didn't come across anything new, but the thinking. Which is just as important.
In summary:
- In the morning I was dipping in and out of sessions trying to get the most from everything. Some of which I have heard before, so I decided to move on and peek into other sessions to make the best use of my time. These sessions were understanding students' expectations and experiences, ePortfolios into the mainstream and social media best practice.
- Late morning I attended a session on video conferencing by on enabling learning opportunities and learner progression through video conferencing. This is where my next initiative has been given another boost of enthusiasm. A really good session this was!
- In the afternoon, I attended the session on the changing face of assessment and feedback: how technology can make a difference. I got a lot from this too, which made me say to the group; we encourage learning to be social. But why not assessment and feedback? We do in our personal lives and in the workplace. I want to explore this a bit more and see what I come up with. I do want to encourage and experiment more with peer practice myself.
- Then I watched the live stream of Sugata Mitra's inspirational talk. This was very interesting to listen to. Some nice educational stories backed with some video examples.
Also, at the festival, they had this dream wall where I was asked to contribute a statement and for people to paint it on the wall in a nice art form. There was so many things I could ask to be drawn on it. But I decided to settle with a statement I made yesterday; it's time I voiced this. My approach to education is linking learning to a spiritual self; projecting positive proactive #LifelongLearning.
But, it did not make the dream wall. Maybe a bit too deep for the wall!
A good day. But like most events I go to, I ask myself what have I got from today? Was it worth it? What impact did it have on me and for my organisation? But, as in most events I attend, I feel I have heard it before. But then I asked myself, well if I have heard it before, why am I or the organisation not doing this or done it? I think. :-)
