There are several conferences coming up in computing, ICT and education technology. If you’re not careful, you could spend all your time and money going to conferences without getting any actual work done! Still, I do think it’s worth going to two or three a year if you can persuade the powers-that-be that it’s in their interests to allow you to attend. So, here’s the current listing. I’m not saying it’s a definitive list, just the ones I know about.
ISTE
I mention this for the sake of completeness really, because the ISTE conference takes place on June 28th to July 1st, in Philadelphia. I’ve been to ISTE a couple of times, and it is amazing: thousands of educators, loads going on, and fantastic opportunities to meet others and network. It is absolutely worth going to I think if you can get to it. On one occasion Peggy George (who is one of the hosts at Classroom 2.0 Live) and I ran a poster session together, about the free book on Web 2.0, Coming of Age (a seminal work that is still available on the free stuff page on my website). On each occasion I met a whole load of my heroes, some of whom (bizarrely) regarded me as one of their heroes! Mutual admiration society anyone?
Digital Education conference
Nothing to do with my newsletter of the same name, this conference takes place in London on the 30th June and 1st July. The speaker list includes Sir Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra, Richard Gerver, Tim Rylands, Sarah Neild, Daisy Christodoulou, Ewan McIntosh, Andy Hutt and many more. There are talks, seminars and workshops, so it looks quite packed.
Some of the topics that will be covered include:
• Using augmented reality to enhance learning
• Enhancing learning through online quizzing: How can big data transform education?
• A practical guide to gamifying learning
• Get safe, get savvy, get social media
• The digital revolution: 20 ideas to transform teaching and learning in your school
• Implementing a digital learning vision into the classroom
• Bridging the digital skills gap: The importance of STEM in education
• Preparing pupils for a super-intelligent future
• 10 top tips for tweeting teachers
There’s a flash sale, if the £95 tickets haven’t run out, and more information here: http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/digital-education-uk/index.stm
Child Internet Safety Summit
This takes place on 3rd July, and I have a code for free entry for five of my newsletter readers. I’ll be putting the link for that in the next edition of the newsletter, which I hope to publish soon. Actually, entry is free anyway if you work in a state school, but everyone else has to pay. The conference website is here: http://www.childinternetsafety.co.uk.
ITTE Conference
Finally, on the 4th July there is the ITTE conference. ITTE is for teacher trainers in the field of ICT, but I think the conference looks interest enough for teachers and others to attend as well. It’s only £20 too! The theme of the conference is Digital Futures: Shaping tomorrow’s learning and teaching. Details are here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/itte-annual-conference-2015-tickets-16766181099
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