Devon cream tea (calorie free)

Here are some more reflections on the Plymouth e-Learning conference.... Besides a large contingent of Plymouth bods, it was great to see people at the conference from Edinburgh, Salford, Chichester, Norwich, Swansea, Coventry, Leicester, Bournemouth, Staffordshire, Exeter, Gloucester, Cumbria, Portsmouth and DeMontfort Universities (and I have probably forgotten several others). The presenters were professional and polished in their delivery, and the audience was smart and tech-savvy, asking some pertinent and searching questions. Throughout the day, our learning technologists and other volunteer helpers slaved to keep the event on track, running around fixing technical issues before they became disasters, folding and stuffing (delegate folders mind), answering questions, running errands and generally making themselves useful.

The catering was also pretty darn good. Lunch was excellent. I have to own up - On a whim I organised an afternoon Devon cream tea for 80. I have a confession to make. I informed the conference in my opening speech that at the University of Plymouth clotted cream and scones was calorie free. I lied. It's packed full of wicked, naughty things, but I don't care (and neither did the delegates, many of whom wandered around oblivious with cream all over their faces). Mark Stiles lamented: (and I quote) 'it's impossible to eat this with a beard!' Another delegate was overheard saying: 'you wouldn't get this at my university!' Cream tea aside, it was a very successful day, with plenty of useful dialogue around usability issues, access, interoperability, intellectual property, copyright, sustainability, social interaction, professional mentoring, semantic web applications, ethics, innovation, policy, widening participation, and of course most importantly ... learning.

We are going to do it all again next year on 23-24 April. It will be bigger and better. We will have a social event, and two keynote speakers. A larger programme with plenty of interactive demonstrations. A book is planned (this year's 2008 event has already been spoken for - the best papers will go into an edited volume entitled: 'Digital Learning, Repurposing Education'. The editorial board is being chosen as you read this. Oh ... and we will have Devon Cream Tea again. I promise.