IOW Conference Show and Tell: Let's Not Preach To The Converted

The Show and Tell took place on the Saturday night in a local pub in Newport. The pub was a great venue with good food and a large function room that was soon to be filled by rowdy language teachers. I had volunteered to talk about what can be done to promote the use of ICT amongst colleagues.

After being told that the person due to do the presentation just after Joe Dale would not be taking part, I thought "follow THAT" as Joe was sharing his wonderful ideas and tricks to turn powerpoints into truly interactive classroom resources.

Preaching to the Converted - Upload a Document to Scribd

As a summary, I would highlight the following:

• I believe that 100+ brains are better than just one-even if it is mine! That's why I love twitter and social networks.
• Networking is one of the most effective ways to solve problems-ours and other people's.
• Twitter is spontaneous, messy, professional and individual-that's real life
• Diigo is the best platform to find like-minded colleagues to exchange resources and ideas with them.
• I am a Ning addict but sometimes, sharing is just about making yourself available and dipping into selected conversations. Time IS a precious commodity.
• VPD is the future-When will we get regular VPD free periods to network and exchange ideas about Learning & Teaching?
• To anybody who tells you that they prefer talking to "real people" rather than take part in online communities, tell them that I have met a lot of people from my online communities at the IOW Conference-they seemed pretty real to me...

• Sharing does not just happen, opportunities for sharing must be engineered within the school context. It must also be a genuine two-way process.
• All threats and inconveniences can also be opportunities to "spread the word" within and across departments, across the LA, the country, internationally...