Post #3 for #blogjune – where I was wishing I was there, sort of…
I had half an eye on the twitter stream and the #edutech, #edutech2014 and #edutechau hashtags today (the organisers could have organised that better). Things were flowing! I guess with ~5000 delegates at the conference there was going to be some noise. Had to have the crap detector on, but people were definitely getting into sharing the love. The great thing about social media is that everyone can participate and it is a great way to get a sense of what’s happening out there…
Lovely to see lots of my Twitter ed-tech & e-learning friends attending and catching up with each other – it made me want to be there. There is something about being part of the gang at a conference, fun times, networking, exchanging ideas, being challenged, and testing our assumptions against others. Then there’s the presentation sessions where you get to hear from speakers – peers as well as keynotes – who usually give us something to consider. I always come away from such events with renewed enthusiasm and a sense of community having spent time with those of like mind.
For now though, I’ll need to be content with attending the conference vicariously via the twitter stream and hope to catch some of those pearls cast before me. It’s a busy time in the office preparing for Semester 2, so plenty to keep me desk bound. But, come later in the year, the plan is to make it along to ascilite2014 where I’ll be able to catch up with friends at one of those conferences.
The three columns in my Twitter feed that kept me in touch with my friends and proceedings at the #edutech conference.
…and today’s Word of the Day is ‘embroil’, nothing wrong with a little embroiling at the appropriate time.