Create the space for dialogue
During BETT 2010 we, the teachers, tookover commercial stands to talk about free tools for the classroom. Here is rare footage of me in the wild (!) presenting about “Why I think every primary classroom should be using Voicethread.”
Here is the Interesting Ways doc for Voicethread. A big thankyou to everyone at BrainPOP UK for letting me takeover their stand and for sharing the video footage.
Try something different. If it turns out to be a mistake then you’ve learned something, so it isn’t really a mistake.
The TeachMeet community tried something different this year at BETT. We mobilised, we tookover vendors’ stands and talked about free ideas teachers could use on Monday. We made an attempt to pass on the inspiring ideas that are regularly presented at the face to face TeachMeet events, to those who may have never attended one. Teachmeet Takeover made a small step out of the echo chamber that the community often gets caught speaking to.
Yes we made mistakes, we stumbled, but the idea I think is sound enough – here are a few things I have learned, observed and thought about from the last few days of TeachMeet Takeover
I have been thinking deeply over the last 3 days about the relationship between sales driven companies and the teachers sharing free ideas. For some of the talks there were 30-40 people on the stands – we were bringing them in. That is obviously good for the vendor but it also good for teachers sharing ideas with other teachers. Maybe 3 or 4 people stop and look at some of the vendor’s fliers or products, similarly maybe 15-20 people go away and find out about the free idea they heard from a presentation.
Perhaps we need to bridge the often gaping chasm between these two communities if we are to properly amplify some of the messages, ideas and ideologies to the majority of teachers which are so intrinsic to the TeachMeet community. There has been plenty of reference to the disconnect between teachers and those who sell products, but I am more convinced that we need to build partnerships to effect large scale change in schools. The interesting thing is that companies at BETT are desperate to find ways to engage with their users on a more authentic level. I think TeachMeet Takeover has provided a viable option and it works. Importantly the teacher community has acted first on this, it is on our terms, we have defined how this engagement happens and so can keep the right intentions at the heart of what happens in the future.
None of the vendors involved deliberately hijacked an audience to peddle their own wares – they really did just let us takeover. I think that turning people on their stands into real sales is harder then encouraging teachers to look further into a free idea that is presented. Also a person’s subsequent research into how they might use a free tool will inevitably lead to teachers’ blogs and maybe the domino effect is that they start to find out more and more free tools and ideas. We must be aware of the knock on effect a single 10 minute Takeover talk could have in the weeks ahead.
I heard about one teacher attending TeachMeet Takeover who had never heard of Twitter or any of the online tools that were being presented. After his first talk he spent his day at BETT attending most of the other Takeover talks collecting the 8 ideas he needed to win the goody bag prize. Hopefully his head is buzzing with that bunch of new, free ideas and is thinking about how he can best use them to support learning with his class.
A BIG thankyou to all of the vendors and teachers who contributed to TeachMeet Takeover this year.
We were able to apply some of the feedback from Thursday to improve things for the following days – I would be grateful to hear more of your thoughts and reactions from the Takeover events. What should we consider changing or improving for next year? What stories from Takeover have you to tell?
Something new is happening at the BETT show this year, the largest educational technology trade show in the world. Not a new product or technology service. Not a new website or gadget. This year some companies have handed over their brightly coloured stands to teachers. They are downing tools for 30 minutes and giving teachers the controls!
Teachers and educators have voluntarily signed up on a wiki to “takeover” these stands throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday and will be speaking about free ideas. Sharing classroom inspiration for free. This, ladies and gentleman, is…
But why would a brave few companies allow us to takeover their expensive stands? Here are a few reasons, the first from Chris Bradford from BrainPOP UK, one of the very first companies to offer their support (and orange stand) to TeachMeet Takeover:
We support CPD (Continuing Professional Development). To support those who want to be better teachers. We know BrainPOP UK works best as part of a good teacher’s toolkit – we also know teachers call upon any number of other resources. Why shouldn’t we do our bit to encourage open minded investigation into new ways of doing things?
The second set of remarks come from another Chris, this time Chris Ratcliffe from Scholastic UK who has been instrumental in driving this idea onwards:
At BETT, I usually spend a lot of time talking to very interested consultants and advisors (and I like doing so), but I don’t spend a lot of time talking to teachers. My feeling is that as the stands are much more corporate than at the other shows, it is much more serious; and to get people to be excited to come back time and time again it needed something different.
To me, when I came across TeachMeet, it felt like the perfect solution. To have teachers standing up and talking to other teachers about what gets them excited would be just the sort of thing that would lift the show.
If you are attending the show you can see the full timetable on the wiki or why not download our flyer which has all of the details. Not only that but the flyer has details of a competition too in which you can win a £350 goody bag just by collecting some idea, here is a snap of part of the flyer.
If you are at BETT please help by taking part and heading over to the stands, you might learn something from the teachers presenting. If you are not attending be sure to follow along on Twitter, the hashtag for the 3 days of takeover talks is #TMtakeover.
If you are attending, presenting or showing at FETC or ISTE in the US this year why not try something similar. Companies: hand over the controls – let go and learn! Teachers: takeover and share your great ideas for free!
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?