Over 21/22 June 2011 the 1:1 Learning Unconference was held in Sydney and promoted to help NSW teachers implement the Digital Education Revolution in their schools. Although interested when I first heard about the event, I dismissed it as too expensive for school funds to cover considering the cost of transport and accommodation. But Ross Woolfe from the Lismore Education Office offered an invite which I was happy to jump at.

An unconference is participant-driven, with pre-event surveys determining what would be presented, and by whom. I was fortunate to be able to present:

• Showcase: Video Conferencing and Moodle
• Micro Learning Session: Painting Animation with Photoshop

The conveners, Ben Jones and Pip Cleaves, demonstrated the use of digital resources during registration and preparation, providing wikispace and cloud documents, sending SMS and emails to encourage and inspire, and encouraging discussion and interaction via twitter, liveblog and flicker.

A huge benefit from this event was the chance to meet some mentors face-to-face, and discuss ideas freely and fluidly. An atmosphere of sharing encompassed the venue, and participants moved between discussions, showcases, and micro learning sessions building new concepts and relationships.

Benefits

• Pip Cleaves (DERNSW) and others demonstrated presentation format Pecha-Kucha – 20 slides at 20 seconds each
• Paul Ganderton (Sydney Boys High School) showed benefits of using Moodle blogs to encourage students to contribute and collaborate
• Glynis Jones (UTS) described how to use reflective blog to evaluate video conference learning from student viewpoint
• Matthew Kearney (UTS) expressed interest in demonstrating video conference learning with pre-service teachers
• Ben Jones (DERNSW) discussed the use of ePortfolios for scaffolding, aggregating, and archiving project work
• Cathie Howe (Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre) led a discussion with Alice Leung (Merrylands High School) describing the use of narrative and gaming psychology to motivate students (this can be implemented into an online learning environment like Moodle)
• Alisa Williams (Braidwood Central School) showcased Edmodo as a social media for distribution and communication within the classroom

On return to Lismore (via train due to grounded flights) a pecha-kucha outlining the benefits of the unconference was presented to Ross Woolfe. This will also be presented to Kadina High staff on 18-Jul-2011.

Downloads

• 2011 Unconference Pecha-Kucha (ZIP 3.7MB) - Powerpoint including notes
• pk20.gif - animated gif for 20 second countdown

addendum

Due to the fluid nature of sites; some links have aged out and are marked with strikethrough