uLearn09 - Day 1

It's been a full day here in Christchurch, and there are about 2000 people here!  The vendors room has been jammed, and I had a great chat today with Ian from Toshiba. He told me which laptop to ask for (demand!) for next year :O)

This morning Anne Tolley, Education Minister, gave an exceedingly ho-hum (with no technology whatsoever, hello irony!) talk about how teachers "MUST" integrate technology into education.  She did not give any indication how to do that with the massive cut in funding she has given us, so I guess we will struggle on as usual!

Following Ms Tolley's speech, Gary Stager from The Constructivist Consortium in the USA spoke about the 10 best things to do with a computer. The link is to collaborative notes in etherpad.

I've been to three breakout sessions today:

Podcasting Made Easy (using GarageBand) with Phil Callil.  I possibly wouldn't have gone to this seeing how GarageBand is a Mac programme, but it was easy, and I think I can translate those ideas to PC with not too much pain, especially with help from my PLN on twitter ;-)

The e-portfolio with Lenva Shearing was an informative session on how to integrate the e-portfolio into the new curriculum. As we are overhauling our junior curriculum out of unit work and into themes, portfolios will fit in nicely, and I personally like the idea of efolios.

Blogging: Beyond the Basics with Dorothy Burt emphasised the importance of not just reading blogs, but commenting and creating conversation, as well as creating and maintaining one's digital footprint.

It's 5.20 pm now, and we're all still here, a little punch drunk with the wealth of information we've been given in 1 short day with 2 more to go, but full of eagerness and inventiveness.  While I dread the walk back to my motel in my heels, I'm excited about my own presentation tomorrow: Why Wait? Start Using Blogs and Wikis Now!  Narrated .ppt coming soon!

Enjoy the conference, and I'll see you at the conference dinner tomorrow night!

Kelly