Tech on the Tyne at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK
CESI was represented by Mags Amond at the recent (June 8th & 9th) double event in Newcastle [UK] hosted by Martin Bailey of Animate2Educate – an unconference evening Talk on the Tyne, followed by a day conference Tech on the Tyne
TALK ON THE TYNE – Very much a classic TeachMeet, in CESImeet style – a relaxed but really tightly organised evening of short presentations, and one mini keynote. CESI was made to feel very welcome, and given a nano presentation spot at the start of the evening to invite discussion of TeachMeet itself – Martin pointed out CESI’s role in introducing the concept to Ireland. There was an informal theme of mental wellbeing running through quite a few of the presentations. The ‘TeachEat’ was a substantial part of the middle of the evening, so there was good time to chat to many UK teachers, a sizeable number being early career teachers and first time TeachMeet attendees. There was also a marked “Wild Geese” presence – very many there were first or second generation Irish and that made for much talk comparing our two present day education systems.
TECH ON THE TYNE – This day long conference featured a dozen short presentations – approx. 20 minutes. Each presenter was excellent; there was a fair mixture of experienced and novice speakers. The audience – about 150 people – was engaged throughout, and no one left early. Powerpoint and Prezi were both used very well – hardly a bullet point in sight. In one way it was like an extended TeachMeet – it was very practice oriented, and although the conference was officially about technology in education, the theme of wellbeing in the classroom was stressed. Each presenter was brimming with passion, and there was humour and caring and fun also, with many outstanding moments. Friend of CESI, Dughall McCormick (@dughall) set the tone of the day in his opening keynote, Navigating The Tech-Related Mental-Health Minefield; Carol Allen was riveting and fierce on inclusion, accessibility and tech-mediated ‘special needs’ education and is a must follow for all teachers (@caroljallen); as ever Steve Bunce (@stevebunce) made us think by doing about computational thinking by leading a finger knitting session! Julian Wood (@ideas_factory) uses every presentation to showcase how best tech can be used with students and although his style is like a stand up comic, his passion shines through and he puts detailed thought and imagination into what the way he weaves tech into his classroom practice. One to look out for is Adam Chase (_geekyteacher) – a young teacher with wise and wonderful ideas fermenting – watch that space. On a personal level, one lovely meeting was with Sarah Neild, who has twice been a CESI Keynote with her late partner Tim Rylands, of whom there was warm conversation at both the TeachMeet and the conference.
More details at https://magsamond.com/2018/07/01/talking-tech-on-the-tyne-cesi-visits-talkonthetyne-techonthetyne/