Teach less, learn more

I have now had some time to reflect on this week's Plymouth e-Learning Conference. For me, No. 6 has been the best of the series so far. A growing collection of colourful images of the conference can be found at the Flickr Group Pool for sharing and download. Several people came to me after the event and said that they thought the conference had morphed, turned a corner, transformed into something entirely new. And to be honest, there did seem to be a new ambience around the conference this time that I had not previously encountered. Was it that we included children this year, on Day 1, for the student voice technology showcase? Possibly, because they certainly added a new and very welcome dimension to the event. Looking around the room as they spoke, the audience was all smiles, and many people have stated that it was one of the highlights of the conference for them to listen to groups of such articulate and confident young people showing us oldsters how they used technologies to enhance their own learning in the classroom. We will reprise this next year, that's for sure.

Was it perhaps that Day 1 was a free day, to which anyone could come, to pitch in, watch the robot show, take part in the open workshops, and generally share their ideas in a very friendly and open environment? Overall, the ethos of PeLC is that everyone is included, there are no hard and fast rules, and everyone has a voice. People are even allowed to say they don't know and to share their failures as well as their successes. Northern Grid for Learning's Simon Finch identified this as one of PeLC's unique features:

"Where Pelc differs from other conferences is in the behaviour conventions of the audience. There are, at most conferences, unwritten rules that discourage movement of any kind. Many conferences feel more like auction rooms with each delegate scared to move a hand, reach inside their bag or even shuffle in their seat to ease a creeping cramp. At Pelc I constantly took pictures with my Android and then my camera, and then tapping and reading tweets, sat on the floor and uploaded images to Flickr via my laptop, stood on the stairways and left and entered sessions at will. This freedom to take ownership of my learning is a rare experience for me and one that has ensured that I have taken far more away from this conference than any other more ‘analogue’ conferences."

Perhaps it was the presence this year of a Teachmeet, where teachers and trainee teachers were invited at random to talk for just a few minutes about their recent classroom experiences - sharing best practice with each other in an informal, fun and entertaining atmosphere. Or perhaps the presence of the Twitter screens showing #pelc11 tweets live as they happened, or possibly the live streaming of some of the key sessions (219 people were watching Teachmeet from outside the conference at one point) served to create the connections people needed to be able to enjoy the event in a new dimension.

Maybe it was the world class quality and quantity of our invited speakers. PeLC prides itself by inviting exciting, authoritative and engaging speakers each year, but this year we pushed the boat out, with four keynotes and several invited workshops. John Davitt, in his quirky, off-the-wall session: 'From Silo to Orchestra: The staccato progress of eLearning' encouraged us all to perform our teaching in a different way, using different steps, alternative tempos and creative melodies, so that learners were engaged in many new ways.

John Sheffield, a new blogger, and one of our student teachers, was present for Davitt's keynote and noted: "he said 'Teach less so they learn more'. I think this is quite profound, that in effect we as teachers can get in the way of a child's progress. Just look at what the children at Saltash.net achieved without teacher input, or the children of Sugata Mitra's Hole-in-the-Wall project. The final thing he mentioned that resonated with me is that 'It's not about computers, it's about tools, activities and risk'. This was quite inspiring, and linked nicely back to his first quote. We have a wealth of exciting things, but if we don't try them and use them effectively, then they go to waste. There should be no fear of trying something new."

Stephen Heppell also gave an inspiring speech on designing physical learning spaces, drawing on what we had already learnt from virtual spaces. He showed examples of a number of 'playful learning spaces' including rooms with no corners, 'fidget seats' that you fall off if you sit still for too long, classrooms where you remove your shoes and go barefoot, and even a classroom where they bake bread in an oven. These kind of sensory experiences, said Stephen are important for us to consider in the wholistic education of young people. "This generation of learners will astonish us", he declared, but only if we astonish them by providing stimulating and relevant learning environments.

PeLC will continue to astonish too I hope, with new ways of engaging delegates each year. Next year, the theme of PeLC12 (April 18-20, 2012) is 'Create, Connect, Collaborate: Learning in New Dimensions'. We aim to create an even more dynamic event for all who participate, and we aim to connect more than ever, thereby fostering new ways to collaborate. We certainly plan to hold more Teachmeet type open forum sessions, and how about this - a Failure Confessional. Instead of talking about our successes as educators and learners, we will encourage presenters to talk about their failures. What will we learn from this? We don't know until we try. Are you with us?

Images courtesy of Jason Truscott

Teach less, learn more by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.