Featuring in the Spring 2008 Languages Update Newsletter is a flattering report about my lead practitioner seminar in October written by Samia Earle, SSAT National Specialism Coordinator for Languages and delegate herself on the day.
Here too are the main points I made in my own evaluation of the event which I recently sent to the Trust as part of my LP responsibilities. You may find these interesting.
Quotes
- Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)
- Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)
- Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)
- Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)
- You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)
- A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)
Useful areas
- Practical hands-on sessions
- Inspirational speakers
- Plenty of choice
- Warm and welcoming atmosphere
Areas for improvement
- Staggered starts and break out sessions for more informal discussions and time to see exhibitors
- More variety of food including hot dishes
Actions and issues
- Streamline booking where delegates register and choose sessions in one go which is then added to a spreadsheet automatically and I receive a confirmation email.
- Organising a two day conference for next year to include the same number of sessions (14), but with more flexibility to aid discussion and networking (25th-26th October 2008)
- Organise a free Show and Tell session for the Saturday evening
Important factors
- finding inspirational speakers from around the UK
- advertising early
- promoting the event in as many ways as possible, particularly via the web
- writing regular posts on my blog describing the latest news about the conference
- highlighting its value for money
- contacting national organisations, local networks and other interested bodies to add the seminar to their events page or in their email newsletter, if they have one.
- leaving messages on forums that colleagues who may be interested in attending the event would be likely to read.
- sending out a mailshot to local schools and key schools further a field, particularly those with a specialism in MFL in the South Central region
- creating a downloadable delegate pack including information such as programme, timings, session content, travel and accommodation
- organising a ‘Show and Tell session’ for the evening before to allow colleagues to get to know each other and network
- attracting commercial sponsorship to subsidise costs
- asking Nodehill colleagues to help on the day with technical support, filming and general organisation
- offering delegates the opportunity to download speakers’ presentations and audio recordings of their sessions
The outcomes
- very positive feedback from delegates who found the range of sessions, practical, informative and in many cases inspirational
- creating opportunities for building networks at the event and subsequently through emails, social networks and videoconferencing
- colleagues putting the ideas into practice and starting to publish the results on the web in the form of blogs, podcasts and animated films
- establishing the event as an excellent form of CPD for those interested in using technology in the classroom
The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 was the best attended LP seminar of this year with 72 delegates coming from all over the UK, Ireland, Jersey and Spain to learn more about how to use technology to enhance learning. For next year, we would like to improve the event further still and would welcome any comments on how to do this.
In the next few weeks, I would like to publish more of the audio and video shot on the day. There should also be an article about the conference appearing in the Education Guardian on 8th January, the week before the BETT show where I'll be talking about Blogs and podcasts: ICT in your Pocket.
For the time being you can check out the new pictures which I uploaded this week from the conference taken by one of my Nodehill colleagues or listen to David Noble's reflections in his Booruch podcasts No. 48 (14.19) and 49 (16.01). Inspiring stuff.
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