Thursday Sept. 24th 2nd day #SLF09

The second and last day of the Scottish Learning Festival. I couldn't possibly write about all of it so I want to mention a few key items.

A/ Sessions were very interesting, it is wonderful to know that as educators we are all facing similar challenges in working with and creating the 21st Century learning atmosphere, I can't say the learner as they already exsist but they need to the skills to succeed, this is where we as educators have to step up.

B/ One of the great features of the conference was a wall they called Conference in Pictures, there was a gentleman there who talked to the participants and then in seconds creted a cartoon of their main idea and the thoughts they had about education. I took some great photos. He would be amazing to have at a pd session or when you are trying to capture the thoughts of many. I guess after the conference all the cartoons are then made into colour hardcopy posters that will appear on the SLF and LTS website.

C/ Video link with a school in Aberdeen, well I had a great time with students from a variety of schools. One of the schools had 2 level 6 and 2 level 7 students running their booth, they also had a live link with their school. It was great. I have connected with the teacher and am looking forward to making a connection with the one to one students at Corpus Christi.

D/ Intel, man they can be creative. I had the pleasure of chatting with this robot, yes we chatted, it came up to me and asked me all kinds of questions and then offered to do a spin for the camera, told me it liked my camera etc. I have a picture here but will later post a podcast of the conversation with the computer.

E/ Oatcakes, I was treated by a group of students who had travelled by plane from one of the north islands to join the conference. They told me all about their island, their school, traditional foods and they even taught me some Gaelic.

Wonderful day of learning and meeting new people. Interesting to me that the integration of technology is progressing but at the same time the issues of engaging students continues to be front and foremost. I was most pleased to hear that the ideas of assessment, peer assessment, feedback loops, critical thinking, analytical thinking are all being discussed in this Education system too.