Attended my first online educational conference this afternoon via Elluminate. The conference was titled, “The Future of Education” and was partly sponsored by the University of Manitoba. Everyone pretty much logged in about 20 to 10 minutes or so before the speaker was to start and there was some banter and chit c
hat before the speaker started. Learned quickly through comments and questions that I added that not everyone likes the terms “digital native and immigrant”. Too absolute, I guess, for these theorists. Had no idea of such a strong objection to the terms, but thought it funny at how they would rather talk about acceptance of these terms rather than the real questions I put forth regarding technology and its acceptance into educational pedagogy.
The session was okay, nothing really world rocking, but what really caught my attention was the discussion that appeared in the text box area as the speaker presented via audio and powerpoint slides. Let’s just say that educators continue to be, in my opinion, one of the hardest audiences to present to. There were so many side comments to what the presenter was talking about, some of it really not terribly relevant. It was almost “rude” and at one point I could tell the presenter was slightly irritated. It was as if the teachers were acting out like their students do when they present. I wanted to ask if this was the norm, but didn’t dare. Too many of the attenders were participating in such a manner. Would like to have seen the chat/text area turned off until the speaker was done. Found it distracting and a bit irreverant. But, all in all, Ellumniate is a really cool tool and would love to explore it more to see what it can do.
hat before the speaker started. Learned quickly through comments and questions that I added that not everyone likes the terms “digital native and immigrant”. Too absolute, I guess, for these theorists. Had no idea of such a strong objection to the terms, but thought it funny at how they would rather talk about acceptance of these terms rather than the real questions I put forth regarding technology and its acceptance into educational pedagogy.The session was okay, nothing really world rocking, but what really caught my attention was the discussion that appeared in the text box area as the speaker presented via audio and powerpoint slides. Let’s just say that educators continue to be, in my opinion, one of the hardest audiences to present to. There were so many side comments to what the presenter was talking about, some of it really not terribly relevant. It was almost “rude” and at one point I could tell the presenter was slightly irritated. It was as if the teachers were acting out like their students do when they present. I wanted to ask if this was the norm, but didn’t dare. Too many of the attenders were participating in such a manner. Would like to have seen the chat/text area turned off until the speaker was done. Found it distracting and a bit irreverant. But, all in all, Ellumniate is a really cool tool and would love to explore it more to see what it can do.
