Mr.J’s Blog!

I am a big fan of conferences.  In my time I have been to both good ones and bad ones.  I won’t mention any names – although I will say that the VITTA conference for me has always been one of the best.  So what is it that makes a successful conference and sets it apart from one that is the opposite?  Being involved with the organization of the VITTA conference has given me a different perspective on this, but the general rules still apply – and for me it is all about the delegates.

I recently had the pleasure of attending the ULearn09 Conference in Christchurch, NZ.  I presented some sessions and attended many others – and had a really great experience.  During my time at the Conference I reflected on some of the things that set a successful conference aside from an unsuccessful one – and some of the things that you can do as a delegate to get the most out of an event.  So in the spirit of this reflection, here is my list of things you can do at a conference that will enrich your experience (possibly)!

1. Present a Conference session

 Present a session.  Even if you do it with someone else or break the time slot down and share it – just do it!  Often I find that the best networking occurs in the sessions that I present.  This happens because those that are attending my sessions already have an interest in the topics I am discussing.  I also find that I can get challenged in my sessions by those that have some experience but have questions or some doubts about what I am saying.  It doesn’t matter at all – presenting is definitely not a one way communication and I find I always leave a presentation with lots of ideas to put into practice.

2. Network with people you have never met

Networking is easy with people you know.  It probably isn’t really networking actually!  Find someone you have never met before and make a connection.  There may be no connection to be made – but have a go and see!  It can be easy to chat to those you are seated near in the Keynote or a session and even easier at a time in the day when delegates are taking a break.  Just introduce yourself and have a go – there is nothing to lose and it is great fun.

3. Check out the trade show

Definitely check out the trade show – but further to this, walk up to an exhibitor that is selling a product that you have never seen and ask them about it.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

4. Attend a session that you know nothing about

When you are looking through the conference program prior to the event, pick out those sessions that are of interest but also have a good look at those that are complete unknowns to you.  You may be tempted to rule these sessions out altogether – but how do you know that they are not of value to you if you know nothing about them?  It is a risk – and sometimes you will come away have learnt nothing at all.  However, you could also discover something new and incredible!

Increasingly I have begun to get a little tired of the use of the ‘Web 2.0’ catch-phrase.  It’s not that Web 2.0 tools are not great – in fact many of them are.  However, I also think that many of them are not really that useful in an educational context.  Often they expose students to unmoderated environments teeming with inappropriate advertising and dubious content.  For me, it is all about engagement.

One of the primary tasks in evaluating any Web 2.0 content should be a determination about whether the use of the tool will serve to enhance the engagement of students within the context of the course.  I currently have a student teacher who has been teaching a number of my classes and I find myself using the word ‘engagement’ an awful lot in discussions I am having with him.  Without me knowing it, it has become my ‘word’ of 2009 (at least until I change my mind)!  Watching someone else teach my classes has made me wonder how engaging the tools and delivery methods I use are?  Are forums engaging to students?  If used in the right way, with the right amount of prompting and moderation – absolutely.  As are wikis, blogs, podcasting, online collaboration and many other Web 2.0 tools.  However, the byline to last year’s conference (which struck a chord with me then and continues to), is particularly relevant.  Technology alone cannot save us.  The use of technology for technology’s sake is counterproductive.

Take Twitter for example.  Now I know that there are many of you who use Twitter and love it.  I was open to using it and have played around with it for a few months now.  However, I struggle to come up with an educational application for it – especially one that would engage students in just the sorts of ways that I would like to.  I remain to be convinced and perhaps someone out there can set me straight?  Flickr is cool but I rarely use it in class.  Google Maps and street view are also a lot of fun and have certainly fueled some good IT ethics discussions – but again I struggle to find an application for my own classes. 

I certainly welcome any nifty ideas or resources that anyone cares to move in my direction – and despite how the paragraphs above sound, I will give anything a go.  Did I mention that it is all about engagement?

VITTA’s ICT week has just concluded as I sit down to write this – and so it is probably a good opportunity to reflect on the past week, the ICT Careers Expo and the state of the ICT industry.

ICT week is now in its second year and has gone from strength to strength.  It has now become a National event and the ICT Careers Expo (as the flagship event of the week) continues to be successful.  Many of you have gone out of your way to organize events for the week and have either promoted the Expo or attended with your students.  However, this week is just one of the ways in which we can redress the recent downturn in our enrolments. 

One of the key messages that we wanted to deliver during the Expo was the state of the job market.  Many students are not aware of the opportunities that exist.  Of more concern is the attitude of parents towards the industry – and many of them still believe that the industry is suffering the aftereffects of the ‘dot-com’ crash. 

In Victoria, the ICT industry now generates over $24 billion dollars per annum.  It exports over $1.8 billion and employs over 85,000 people.  Nationally, the figures are much more impressive than this.  The growth of the industry is evidenced by an increase in the number of ICT jobs in Victoria – which has grown by over 40% in the last four years (over 24,000 new jobs).  I have these figures available (together with the national figures) in a presentation available on the VITTA website for you to download – which I would encourage all of you to do.

Slowly but surely we are breaking through the stereotype of the nerdy guy sitting in a basement glued to an LCD monitor for many hours of the day.  The reality is that the ICT industry is incredibly broad, spanning most other industries and encompassing a wide range of specialties.  Add to this the possibility of world travel, great pay, flexibility, a wealth of job opportunities.  You don’t have to act like a used car sales-person to sell this to your students – in fact, it’s amazing that they are not beating down our doors!

‘We are going to make history today..’ Steve Jobs said, looking straight at me (as well as 5,000 other people). An incredible buzz had filled the auditorium and when Steve Jobs walked onto the stage, everyone erupted in applause. Some had waited outside for several hours and everyone knew that a big new product was to be unveiled. 

As I write this I am sitting outside the main exhibition hall at MacWorld in San Francisco, having just listened to the keynote address by Apple CEO and IT visionary Steve Jobs. What brought me here you ask? Well, the beginning of my trip has been a break from a really busy year – a chance to ‘reset’ for the challenges ahead. My attendance at MacWorld is based on two main motivations. Firstly, it is a worldwide IT event in which many of the latest technologies are being demonstrated and discussed. The expo is a chance to network with many software and hardware vendors, find out about new products and hear from leading educators from across the globe. Secondly, the Mac platform is one which I have little experience with.  This is a great opportunity for me to expand my knowledge of this platform.

 For me, it all comes down to ‘tunnel-vision’ – and trying not to have it. Many of us have our favorite software packages, and in a broader sense, we often categorise each other with labels such as ‘open source people’ or ‘Mac people’. In this rapidly changing field, none of us can really afford to favour one technology to the exclusion of all others. Who knows what technology we will be using in 10 years time? As well as this, who knows what skills our students will need to move forward? Does this mean that each of us needs to be a ‘jack of all trades’? Well, I don’t believe so – even if it were possible. However, I believe that we should all try to be as open minded as possible – in the hope that our students will be the same. Being here has caused made me to reflect on the changing face of the IT industry and the challenges this presents for us as educators.  Not only do we have the task of implementing new curriculum initiatives, but we have the bigger challenge of attracting students to our study and promoting IT career pathways. Making this challenge even more daunting is the constantly changing landscape of technology, the needs of students and those of industry.