Inspire Connect Engage Create
Teachmeet
TeachMeet Takeover NEEDS YOU!
52 years ago
by tombarrett
in Teachmeet
The last time I wrote about TeachMeet Takeover a handful of intrigued companies had shown some interest in allowing teachers to use their stands at BETT 2010 to talk about free tools. Now we have seven who have signed up ready to be taken over!
I don’t enjoy the BETT show very much. The TeachMeet is always a tonic and the opportunity to meet people also helps, in part, to dilute the overwhelming nature of it all. In my opinion the biggest challenge for the TeachMeet community is to encourage new people along to the events. TeachMeet Takeover is about taking the message of free, powerful (mainly) online ideas to other teachers attending BETT 2010.
In a nutshell: Educators presenting about FREE ideas on the vendor stands at the world’s largest educational technology event. Sharing inspiration for free.
Take a look at the wiki, the companies are willing. The timetable is filling up. Are you up for helping? Can you spare 10 minutes on the day that you are at BETT 2010 to talk about free classroom ideas?
- What do I have to do? >> Bring your great learning ideas to BETT and talk about them.
- What can I talk about or present? >> Free ideas, that is the only required aspect. It can be successful work online / offline. It can be school based projects or simple class ideas that have worked really well.
- How long does it need to be? >> Completely up to you. Companies have signed up for 30 minute takeover slots.
- When is it? >> Throughout the full course of the show – Wednesday-Saturday. See the wiki for details.
- Do I have to be a teacher? >> No, just have practical learning ideas that work.
- How formal is it? >> In the same style as TeachMeet, relaxed and fun.
- Do I need a prepared presentation? >> If you like. Or not – just examples of work to talk about – illustrate it how you like.
- Where will it be? >> Each company has signed up to slots of time on the wiki. They have added their stand location too.
- Where do I sign up? >> Go to the wiki and add your name.
TeachMeet BETT 2010
42 years ago
It is that time of year again when London Olympia is transformed into the BETT Show. TeachMeet BETT is taking place again this year on the Friday night, between 6.00pm and 9.00pm, in the APEX room.
Earlier this year I was able to confirm that EMAP (the organising body behind BETT) offered the TeachMeet community 3 consecutive nights for free in the APEX room. The proposed events, some yet to be confirmed, are as follows.
- Wednesday 13th January 2010 - TedX Event
- Thursday 14th January 2010 – Amplified (TBC)
- Friday 15th January 2010 – TeachMeet
As you can see from the TeachMeet wiki link over 25 people have signed up for the Friday event already and we even have our first presentation pencilled in.
In my opinion TeachMeet BETT 2009 did not have enough presentations about practical, working ideas for learning that could be used in the classroom the very next day. Also the event itself did not have the feeling of the local, regional TeachMeet events that I have attended.
The latter is I suppose a result of the scale of the event and that I am sure is set to be the same this year. With that in mind I have only one request for this year’s TeachMeet BETT:
Only sign up for a presentation if it is something that is practical and applicable to the learners some of us will return to on the Monday. No products, no theoretical stuff, no rants.
It doesn’t even need to be limited to “classroom” practice, which is so often referred to. Learning can happen anywhere – so how are you inspiring learning? What real stories have you got to tell?
It is these narratives that inspire people the most, not weighty theories, we want a window for us into other learning activities . It is the closest we can some to actually being in the classroom with other teachers. We draw parallels with our own practice and ask ourselves, will my class be engaged by that? How can I apply that great idea?
Please consider signing up for a presentation, even if you have never done it before, share your story, share your great idea.
TeachMeet Takeover
232 years ago
After BETT 2009 there was plenty of healthy discussion about the ways that TeachMeet could reach beyond the Apex Room which we have resided for the last few years. Could Teachmeet Takeover be one of the answers?
I have been organising the TeachMeet event for the Friday night (please sign up on the wiki) and as part of that, have been in touch with lots of generous sponsors willing to offer their support for the event. One thing I can report is that there is a general enthusiasm from these sponsors to do more for the teaching community at the event. To provide something beyond the usual food, drink and wifi. If you have any good ideas please let us know?
One of these sponsors who has helped progress the idea of TeachMeet Takeover is Chris Ratcliffe (@chrisrat) from Scholastic – who kindly offered some time on their stand during the show. After a talk with Stuart Ridout my co-conspirator for #TMBETT2010, I decided to test the water on Twitter and see what sort of response we get from other teachers and vendors. That was first thing this morning, currently we have these companies expressing an interest in offering time on their stand:
I am yet to confirm things with these 6 but it is great that they are willing to back the idea when it was just in it’s infancy this morning.
So what is TeachMeet Takeover?
- Short time slots of 30 minutes or less on vendor stands throughout the course of the show.
- Teachers taking over – no affiliation to the vendor or obligation to help sell their products.
- Education professionals talking about FREE ideas.
- Informal presentations of good, quality ideas that you don’t need to pay for.
- Vendors sign up for time on a wiki.
- Educators put their name down in a time slot to talk on the wiki.
This is my simple outline but I want it to evolve with the help of the wider community, so please let me know what you think and any ideas you have.
>> If you are a company with a stand at BETT 2010 and you think you would like to offer us some time then just leave a comment or get in touch with me and head over to the wiki and pencil in some times. I suppose the only thing that a #TMtakeover needs is people to talk to. Saying that internet access and projector facilities would help things along. I look forward to seeing more signup.
>> If you are an educator or teacher attending BETT 2010 and think you have a simple idea to share then take a look at the wiki, find a slot that has been filled by a vendor and pop your name down. No real need for a formal presentation -although some visuals or demo of the tool will be useful, just make sure you know your stuff and the idea is FREE. Watch out though, there may be some more Takeover guidelines coming soon!
In my opinion this is a good opportunity for the Teachmeet community to share it’s various expertise beyond the usual crowds. Let me know what you think and also how we can develop this idea even further to make the most of the offers that have already been made.
TeachMeet Updates
12 years ago
by tombarrett
in Teachmeet
It is exciting times for edtech professional development as the TeachMeet concept goes from strength to strength. This is a post to update you about the range of TeachMeets that have taken place recently and are currently being planned for the near future.
The popular unconference has shown it’s flexibility over the last year as a whole variety of events have been successfully run. My first TeachMeet was at the Scottish Learning Festival in 2008 and I have been privileged enough to be have organised one in the Midlands as well as attend many more. The ethos and atmosphere remains the single most important constant – open, friendly, innovative.
Last Tuesday I headed down to Channel 4 HQ for their Summer Education Conference. It carried the question of “What Comes Next?”, exploring the future of schooling in the UK. As a closing act they invited Ian Usher and I to host a TeachMeet. It was small in scale but not in terms of the ideas and innovation that was shared – as usual this was varied and hugely interesting. Take a look at the Connect recording for a flavour of the event.
TeachMeet North East took place in Tyneside Cinema a couple of weeks ago with about 50 people attending. From all accounts it was a very successful event with a high percentage of people who were attending TeachMeet for the first time. You can catch up with the presentations and the links to the FlashMeeting recordings either on the wiki page or in the Ning for TeachMeetNE.
TeachMeet Student Edition was the first variation of the original concept specifically designed for student teachers and teachers in their probationary year. Run by David Muir from Strathclyde University in early June it attracted around 60 people according to those signed up on the wiki. Once again you can get a full replay of the presentations and the event from the FlashMeeting.
TeachMeet the Islay Variation – education 2020 Conference – In June lots of people packed their bags and headed to the Isle of Islay off the West coast of Scotland to take part in the education 2020 unconference. It explored the theme of what education will look like in 2020 and what challenges might we face. Take a look at the wiki for the way they organised the event and here is a stack of pics and videos from the event in a Flickr group. Here is the Flashmeeting too to catch up.
I really appreciate the archiving of these events through the web conference recording and Leon Cych has also done some great work recording those events he can attend and publishing the presentations on the TeachMeet Blip TV channel. This is sponsored by Futurelab and offers those unable to attend a way to learn from the event.
There is a range of TeachMeets on offer in the remainder of this year, here is the full range that I am aware of. Plenty of choice both in terms of location and the style of the events – I would urge you to attend if you can make it and have never been before.
>TeachMeet SuKe – Sussex and Kent. Tonbridge, Friday 18th September, 7-9pm. Sign up or contact Stephen Lockyer(@mrlockyer)
>TeachMeet SLF09 – 23rd September BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay. Returning to the Scottish Learning Festival for the 4th year I am sure it will be another successful night. Get your name down!
>TeachMeet Skolforum – if you happen to be in Stockholm on the 27th October between 4.30pm and 8pm why not join our Swedish colleagues.
>LeadMeet - Scottish leadership edition. LeadMeet is a variation on the now tried and trusted TeachMeet format. This time we are concentrating on educational leadership. Wednesday 29th July 2009, Carlton Hotel, Edinburgh.
>TeachMeet North West – 22nd October 5-10pm at the BBC 21st Century Classroom, Salford, Manchester. Join the folks who have already signed up.
It is great to see a range of national and regional events springing up and I wish all the organisers all the success for their respective meets.
If you are in a position to support these events through sponsorship I am certain that it will be gratefully received. Small contributions are all that is needed and every event relies upon kind sponsors to help cover the minimal costs involved. Please get in touch with the organisers through their wiki pages or leave a note for me and I can let them know you are interested.
The BETT Show organisers have picked up on the vibrancy of the TeachMeet community and Merlin John recently spoke to Martin Jack of Thinkdifferentevents (who runs the seminars for BETT organisers EMAP) about a generous offer of the Apex room at Olympia for three separate evenings, three separate TeachMeets, during the BETT Show 2010. I hope to find out more about the details of what this offer entails. It will be very interesting to see how the TeachMeet community responds to it and perhaps how over the course of the year 3 separate events unfold.
Teachmeet North East London
43 years ago
by tombarrett
in Teachmeet
Last night I attended the North East London Teachmeet held at the Learning and Development Centre in the London borough of Havering.
I was invited to do a mini-note presentation and talked about the use of technology as part of a blended learning environment. My talk was titled “Mr Barrett I Have Got Glue on My Laptop” and I used Prezi for the first time which worked really well.
I was pleased to have an opportunity to meet Dawn Hallybone who talked about Games Based Learning in her school. She talked about using the Nintendo DSs and Pictochat as a way to do shared writing. A lovely idea to engage lots of children with writing. I will be picking her brains some more as we place our order for a class set of Nintendo DSs for our Year 4 children. (Should we get the new DSi though?)
Ollie Bray, the ever present feature of many TeachMeets, was attending and talked through some of his work with Maps, Mashups and Milkfloats. Some of the first person navigation of Google Earth he talked about, using the GE API, would be ideal to enrich a storytelling unit. I also loved the Milkfloat driving which was a lot of fun. Olli never fails to leave me with something to think about and take away to use in my classroom. A great talk.
If you attended I hope you had a fruitful evening learning some new ideas and meeting people. Please let me know what you made of it all. If you you enjoyed it perhaps consider coming to Teachmeet Midlands on the 15th May at the NCSL in Nottingham.
