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Reflections on Learning Technologies 2012
Presentations & Workshops, Learning & Skills Group 3683 views#lt12uk
This year, I was only able to attend the Learning Technologies conference for one day.
Previous learning technology-related conferences that I've attended (not just Learning Technologies) have suffered from one major problem: They have not made best use of my time as a delegate.
Being face-to-face with someone is a rare opportunity, and incredibly valuable. Yet we waste it on things that could be done just as effectively without requiring long-distance travel and hotel stays.
What I want to do in that time is to take part in conversations - even if that's just listening in. It's the interaction between people that can only be done in a face-to-face environment which is worth paying for.
So, this year, I decided to forego the pleasure of any of the conference sessions (except my own, of course - which I tried to make as interactive as possible!)
Instead, I spent the day taking the opportunity to:
- catch up with contacts from LinkedIn and Twitter - including seeing my friends from Xyleme, it was a very pleasant surprise seeing them over from Colorado
- connect with current and potential suppliers
- lead one of Towards Maturity's Exchanges on the exhibition floor - where a group of us basically held an impromptu Action Learning session, digging into a problem raised by one of the participants
- have group conversations about the interface between learning and technology
This was by far the best use of the limited time I had, and by far the most useful conference I'd been to. I didn't come away with many new ideas, but, then, I get those on a daily basis through my RSS Reader and Twitter account. What did happen, through those conversations, was a refinement of my own ideas as they get knocked about by other people.
If I get invited to run a session at another conference, I would like to run it completely differently. Rather than trying to squeeze short interactions into a presentation format, instead, I would like to work on the assumption that people are already up-to-date with my present thinking on the topic in question. Then we could build the whole session around facilitated conversations with each other.
And if was running a conference like this, I would ask all my experts to publish their content somewhere in advance, and focus less on presentation, and far more on questions and conversation.
It's all about practising what we preach as learning professionals!
5 comments
I agree with your thoughts Mark and I also enjoyed this years exhibition far more because I made best use of the face to face time. Chatting with members of my Twitter network I already knew but also meeting new people, I hope these relationships now continue.
In relation to your thoughts on the nature of the sessions and interactivity the Learning Tech conference has always been a bit lecture style for me and not as interactive or practical as it could be. That said there is the Learning & Skills Group in June that does focus on conversations and shared experiences which I’ve attended in the past and thoroughly benefited from.
The approach you suggest is similar to the “flipped classroom” model, would you agree? The key message I take from from this post and my experience yesterday is you’ve got to make the most of face to face time, connect with people, find out about real life issues, share your experiences and learn from others experiences, whether you’re a conference speaker, delegate, exhibitor or a visitor.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your comment.
The “flipped classroom” model is definitely one that I lean to quite heavily. To make it work does require a bit of commitment from participants though, as they’ll need to be up-to-speed in advance.
Mark
Hi Mark,
“Nail on the head", as always - well done on this post!
I have a cunning plan up my sleeve if you’re interested…….
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the conference, Mark. As a small start-up, I’m afraid I can’t justify the fee for this one so made do with one day’s visit to the exhibition. I also used the time to network and met a few people who felt the price didn’t justify the quality or originality of the speakers. (Same old, same old…) So how do we persuade them to price it differently and get some new people into the conference doing new things?
Hi Joan,
If I wasn’t given a free pass as a conference speaker, I wouldn’t attend the conference either. I couldn’t justify the cost to my line manager. If I was really interested in what a speaker had to say, I’d read their blog, or buy their book.
I’m wondering if there’s a space for low cost events, a bit like TeachMeets in the education sector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeachMeet?
They’d still need organising, and facilitating, but could be run a lot more cheaply.
Mark
