Day one of Ulearn11

Wednesday began with breakfast at Lime with a great bunch of friends then it was off for a final tweek to our presentation, then the magic of the conference beginning.  I am totally in awe of the number of teachers in one place at one time.   I am also in awe of the venue, the organisation, the people, but above all, I am in awe of the hype of learning.  This is MAGIC. 

9am Conference opening and welcome. 

9.30 Keynote by Jack Bacon 

10.45 Break and off we go in a taxi to Novotel for our presentation - A tweet for a teacher...

Claire and I began with our presentation but within minutes it became apparent that the internet was not coping.  Flexibility and adaptability became key as we worked around intermittent connections.  We were able to survey all learners with our google form and share some of the magic of setting up forms and looking at results. Social media survey summary!

Sharing our passion for using the online environment to connect, collaborate, share with an authentic audience followed with links for delegates to check at their leisure.  A number of new tweets were welcomed to the twitisphere.  We shared how we use quad-blogging, mascots, skype, and twitter for authentic learning connections with our learners.   We shared the benefits of a PLN for us as educators.  The intermittent internet access did impact on our presentation, but the true highlight for us was seeing new tweets working alongside our established PLN, collaboratively adding to google docs for keynotes, and contributing tweets.  Our collaborative project continues with HOPO about to launch off on an adventure.    Thanks to the Albatross colony for their generous support with our costumes.  
Next up I had an amazing session 'iPad Apps in the classroom' with the amazing Amanda Signal.  The whole session was amazing... I learnt so much.  The highlight for me is definitely the power of apps to allow learners to create and collaborate.  

Back to the Events Centre for a keynote with Graeme Aitken.  

This was followed by a reception and social time in the Trades Hall.  Ulearn is definitely about the people and the connections for me.  I met so many people face to face for the first time, people I have followed for ever so long on Twitter.  Harking back to Karen Melhuish Pecka Kucha talk, online is fantastic, but offline and meeting face to face is what it is all about.  I relished the opportunity to talk to Derek Wenmouth.  I have quoted Derek’s Ten Top Trends from Core for my assignments this year and it was great to discuss my journey with him in person.  We also chatted through our collaboration ideas for 2012 and he organised an interview for the next day to talk about our Collaborative Classroom project at the ‘imagining stage’.  This is a valuable starting point, a reference, and a tangible record of the journey we are about to embark upon. 

After the reception it was back up to the house to kit up in our Otago outfits and head to Seismic for the Twitter dinner.  Another magic celebration with very special people.  I got an offer for a swap or sell of my Otago jersey by a Frenchman but declined.  However we did settle for a few quick photos…..