Written by Bex Ferriday, CESI Digital Education Team<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I\u00a0was able\u00a0to view\u00a0the\u00a0CESI Learning and Teaching Conference through a variety of lenses this year, which was quite an eye-opener.\u00a0\u2018Lenses\u2019. \u2018Eye-opener\u2019. See what I did there?\u00a0But enough of the optical allusions\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Sitting on an online committee\u00a0and helping to\u00a0organise\u00a0an online conference\u00a0was a genuinely refreshing change. The shift to digital in all aspects of life since last March meant that a theme for the conference:\u00a0building on the lessons from a year of blended and online learning<\/em>\u00a0presented itself\u00a0before we even\u00a0began.\u00a0However, hosting\u00a0the conference online\u00a0presented\u00a0some\u00a0specific\u00a0issues.\u00a0On the plus side: no having to book a venue or spend money on lunch, saving a load of money.\u00a0On the minus side:\u00a0the risk of\u00a0losing those brilliant\u00a0real life\u00a0networking opportunities\u00a0that can be had\u00a0between sessions,\u00a0while\u00a0simultaneously\u00a0making the conference nothing more than a\u00a0\u2018Death by Zoom\u2019\u00a0experience for attendees already tired with staring into screens\u00a0all day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n On the\u00a0other\u00a0minus side: no free lunch.\u00a0Or pens.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Online conferences\u00a0demand that we\u00a0who work in technology\u00a0practice what we\u00a0preach and\u00a0look\u00a0for innovative ways to present information\u00a0(did I mention Death by Zoom?).\u00a0Committee meetings were lively\u00a0and\u00a0funny, and\u00a0friendly,\u00a0and\u00a0it was quickly decided that blended and asynchronous elements should be mixed with more traditional \u2018live\u2019\u00a0content.\u00a0Online\u00a0galleries for academic posters,\u00a0digital breakout rooms for\u00a0networking and\u00a0discussions\u00a0and the opportunity\u00a0for academics\u00a0to \u2018show and tell\u2019 their digital education-based successes from the past year,\u00a0were all agreed upon quickly,\u00a0along with Teams channels for people to wander in and out of at their leisure before, during and after the event.\u00a0For me, one of the most \u2018fun\u2019\u00a0decisions was\u00a0to include \u2018Pecha Kucha\u2019 presentations this year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n At\u00a020 slides and twenty seconds per slide,\u00a0a Pecha Kucha\u00a0is the presentation equivalent to bungee jumping.\u00a0Slides, ideally, should\u00a0be image-based, with\u00a0little or no text\u00a0and the total time of six minutes and 40 seconds forces the presenter to be clear, cohesive,\u00a0and\u00a0succinct.\u00a0Who said PowerPoint was\u00a0dull?\u00a0Being\u00a0a foolhardy idiot of some repute, I sent my proposal for a Pecha\u00a0Kucha,\u00a0and it was accepted.\u00a0(Independently\u00a0of me being on the conference committee\u00a0I should say. If my idea\u00a0was rubbish, the rest of the group would have told\u00a0me,\u00a0and it would have been rejected.)\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I\u00a0co-chaired\u00a0a couple of sessions\u00a0on day one of the conference.\u00a0That was fun, because nothing went wrong, and I wasn\u2019t\u00a0really\u00a0needed, so\u00a0I\u00a0could sit back and enjoy the\u00a0presentations. Which I did. Because: wow\u00a0\u2013 there\u2019s some\u00a0really innovative\u00a0and pedagogically\u00a0sound\u00a0stuff going on in our Schools.\u00a0Note to the CESI: we\u00a0need\u00a0to do more \u2018show\u00a0and tell stuff\u2019. Sharing\u00a0successes \u2013\u00a0and ideas\u00a0\u2013\u00a0around digital education\u00a0with peers is the best way to get engaged, get confident, and\u00a0keep this innovation snowball going.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n