Company Name

I have to say I was very impressed with the whole day - it all went very smoothly. I hope you get really good feedback from the teachers who were there.
Peter

Thank you for one of the best conferences for content, the learning experience, and stimulating new ideas, that I have attended in a long time.

I learned an awful lot about the challenges that are facing our schools, governors, headteachers, teachers and pupils, in coping with the rapidly growing learning environment known as cyberspace.

If that was not enough to pack into the day, your conference also gave me many new, helpful ideas and advice that can be put into practical use back in the day job.

A big thank you to all your speakers and presenters, but most of all a big thank you to the ictGateshead team, who must have worked really hard to make this conference such a success.

Well what a day! It started with rain and ended with sunshine over Blaydon Bridge. We really enjoyed the day and we hope you did as well. We wanted to send you away not only with a bag of goodies but with some serious thoughts on how we harness this technology. Remember we are experienceing a revolution and you are part of it. "Doing nothing is not an option" as they say in Government speak. We need to try and find ways to allow our pupils to use the technology in exciting ways and learn with it. Funding is always an issue and I am sure I can remember having debates about introducing "Schemes" for learning in my early days of teaching and people arguing that the schemes were very expensive but once they were proved to work and could aid the teaching and learning process they were adopted and altered over time by feedback from practitioners. Technology is the same we look at the cost of one item and quickly devise a list of alternative things we could buy. The one item though will do many things and we need to take stock or at least be away of what we are comparing.
I hope you have gone away with many different thoughts about what you have seen and heard. The reality is that Lisa (not her real name) is sitting in a classroom in Gateshead and has the aspirations that we portrayed. The Lisa of 2020 is relying on the teaching profession to make sure she has the skills to take her into adult life, I do not want to let her down. By working together I am sure we can find imaginative solutions to the problems we will encounter along the way.
Thank you all very much for making this conference special today but remember the work has only just begun.
The ICT Team

POST CONFERENCE MUSINGS

Just got home after having time to think and reflect on the journey . . .

Really well presented conference - a tribute to the hours (and hours and hours) of preparation and work put in by all involved.

Morning keynote speaker a bit more provocative / thoughtful / animated than afternoon speaker (no doubt she had a message, but I'm afraid it was lost because of the style).

Workshops attended obviously gave people significant amounts of food for thought - now how do we meet that hunger? When you raise people's expectations, you/we have to be in a position to meet their new, higher aspirations and needs.

Housekeeping arrangements outstanding - and no fighting about car parking!

Corporate image of CLC / ICTGateshead VERY strong - gave exactly the right impression of professionalism with approachability.

Loved the goody bag - everyone likes to think they've got a freeby! By the way, any leftovers (especially the flashy pens) that need a home can be assured of a warm welcome in the deep south of Birtley!

Sleep well and enjoy the rest - you deserve it.

A super conference, truly inspiring! Very well organised with lots of great exhibitors - especially Shoo Fly - can't wait to start using it!
Thank you CLC

HI I attendend the mobile technology workshop, fantastic use of mobiles never thought it could be used as a teaching aid can't wait to see it in the class rooms...

GAMES BASED LEARNING

Fantastic opportunities for developing children's imaginative and creative processes. I can see the possibilities for 'in-house' tailored games, designed by children for other groups of children.

Pity about the pricing structure though!

Hi all,

Hope it's a good day at the CLC. I'm just sorry I couldn't make it over to join in!

The developments that are discussed at the CLC always fill me with excitement. It's great to see how we can use these technologies to advance our practice. Not just in education, but in the health sector as well.

If this is how the modern public are interacting with each other, then we need to join them!

I hope a good day is had by all!

Hi all,

Hope it's a good day at the CLC. I'm just sorry I couldn't make it over to join in!

The developments that are discussed at the CLC always fill me with excitement. It's great to see how we can use these technologies to advance our practice. Not just in education, but in the health sector as well.

If this is how the modern public are interacting with each other, then we need to join them!

I hope a good day is had by all!

Mobile computing session again raises the spectre of finance . . .

The technology on show is brilliant, but no matter how we look at the situation, it's gonna boil down to money in the end. The present situation of haves and have nots will persist until EVERY chld in EVERY school is given the same opportunity to exploit the technology.

Equal opportunities cannot be allowed to exist only for those who can afford it.

Plopp looks fantastic, thanks for introducing it to me. Endless fun for all.

I can't wait to get more involved with all of this once I'm back in school. There is so much going on.

Amazing day and venue. Wish we had this in our LA

I attended the web radio sesh and really enjoyed it. I currently use Audacity to produce a 15min online radio show, which is fine but the things I saw and learnt today has really inspired me. I can't wait to start using the new equipment. Thanks.

Timemaps was great. A really useful resource for both children and teachers.

thought this was supposed to be about e-safety, not about more social networks and web2.0 stuff - that is what the 2nd session was all about.

Waste of a great opportunity.

Very nice day, well organised and informative. Rather disappointed that the day was orientated more towards primary than secondary. Perahps a similar event could address this issue?

At risk of being contraversial - what is all the fuss about web2.0? Surely we as educators should just see them as tools for use within and without the classroom and save arguing/discussing about whether it is good or bad.

If we don't know about them, get the kids in front of you to teach us about them.

Moblie Learning session was great - really want to get access to the technology in school, but money is the issue. Just playing with low volume PDAs with GPS cards and mediascape and looking for whole class ideas - unrealistic to have 15/30 units.
Would be great if these mobile things were usable on all these phones the kids have in school . . . the technology needs to converge to make it everyday.

Web 2.0 presentation thought provoking - opens up HUGE areas for development, but also raises issues, in education, over web safety, sustainability of software/hardware, cost etc.

It also prompts a repetition of the earlier comment about suitability for purpose.

Social networking sites and weblogs are good, if that's what you want or is needed. But there will always be a need for the 'traditional' website and or technology, if that is what is needed, instead of a blog. In the same way that there will always be a place for the traditional written word printed on paper.

BECTA session interesting, but facts & figures all seemed to relate to adult use of ICT in schools.

If we raise expectations in pupils, over their own personal use of technology, we MUST be in a position to service those expectations.

Funding is therefore a real issue and cannot be addressed by referring to the likes of e-learning foundation activities, which rely on school budgets and parents making what are, in many cases, substantial contributions to costs.

Schools in areas of significant social deprivation are never likely to be able to access the contributions needed to be included in the schemes currently available. Therefore the so-called digital divide will row unless central resourcing closes the existing gap and prevents it from re-appearing.

Enablers: People, School managers, strategic vision, LA ICT and CLC people, Transparent technology, Money, E-Learning foundation, broadband network, real learning can happen, people need to be aware, support for teaching technology,

Barriers: Blackboard! money again, resources at home, internet access, corporates MS can be both good and bad, Parents need to be aware and actively involved in the learning journey, decision makers limitations in understanding ICT

Enablers The learning environment has to flexible enough to enablel learning to take place according to indiviedual requirements.

Barriers: Overload of systems/network
Ensuring that all the features for learning are known and are obvious
Using the same interface for different platforms helps.

HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY

Enablers

Enthusiasm of leaders / pupils
Support mechanism of LA
Suppliers to be on board and 'in touch' with needs of end users
Adequate technical support an ABSOLUTE essential.

Barriers

Inadequate technical support
Finances - either of school or community
'Fear factor' of parents/staff?
Inconsistency of attitudes - depending on who is giving advice (personal agendas?)
Overload factor for staff - making best use of time and/or resources available.

Nice start to the day - good choice of bagel filling!!!

Interesting keynote speech, but with a fundamental conflict included:

On the one hand, concern expressed that childre were now being equipped with laptops / handheld devices, but in some cases were being expected to take part in 'ordinary' lessons.

On the other hand, we were advised that if 'traditional' resources (handouts etc) did the job better than a technological solution, we should use it!

Either we are professionals and should be trusted to use our professional judgement, or we 'need to be directed' by those who purport to know better than us.

The cynic in me wants to suggest that everone is an expert in education because everyone has been to school.

David Hilton was absolutely fascinating. He challenged and gave us plenty to discuss back in school. I feel quite energised. Thanks

Interesting BECTA prsentation of using new technologies as a mixed media approach to T&L in field trips, pupils are engaged as independant learners'. I would like one of these PDAs with GPS! Interesting use of statistics of the use of ICT.

Just in the Becta session at the moment, some very interesting figures for the future, how will we be teaching in the future, what technology will children be using by 2017...

BECTA presentation has a shed load of interesting facts and stats...exponential times indeed. Challenge is how we harness changing techs so that learners get the best deal....

We've just had a sneak preview of Maad's Mobile Learning session - It is fantastic. Book for this session!

Hi, Just booked a place at your conference. Looks amazing. Looking forward to meeting you all and trying things.

Really looking forward to the Web 2.0 session with Josie Fraser...need to get a handle on this stuff.