Retro ALT-C

For those who attended ALT-C 2008, and for those who didn't but wished they had, a report on the conference has just been published, nicely capturing the mood, highlights and reflections of the event. Thanks go to Matt Lingard and his team, Athina Chatzigavriil and Kris Roger, who have done a great job conveying the atmosphere and ambience of a very diverse and enjoyable conference. The report is a good read, and comes complete with photos from several sources, including one from our very own Helen Keegan. Look out for the Learning Technologist of the year award presentation - Josie Fraser - and then tell me whether she looks bemused, triumphant, or .... something else. There is also a nice section on the ALT Fringe (F-ALT) events that punctuated ALT this year for the very first time, and some reflections on that astoundingly good Gala dinner at Headingly Cricket Ground. Enjoy reading the report, and then get ready for ALT-C 2009, to be held at the University of Manchester, in September.

Bazaar sounds again

Noises off... and now it's live. Just in case you forgot, Emerging Sounds of the Bazaar, recorded live during ALT-C last week, was a great event. More good news - it's now available for download on the Pontydysgu site. Hosted by Graham Attwell and Josie Fraser, and featuring interviews with Scott Wilson, George Siemens (pictured with Josie) and a host of others, the programme is fast paced, full of pithiness and humour, and features great contemporary music. There are even some poetry performances by George Roberts and me, so it has a little of everything, for everyone. Thanks to Joe, Graham, Cristina, Dirk and the rest of the Bazaar crowd for putting this together.

For me, it is simply a case of listening to it all over again, so that I can relive the very entertaining and thought provoking hour over a hundred of us spent beside the JISC stand at the conference in Leeds last week.

A tough act to follow

As Paul Simon once declared: 'Gee, but it's great to be back home.' I'm glad not to have to worry about paying £5 each morning before 09.00 so my car could avoid the 'clamp', climbing 5 flights of steps to get back to my shoe box of a room in the Henry Price Building, at the University of Leeds, worrying if I have any shower water, trying to find a power socket to recharge my laptop battery, etc... But ALT-C this year, to echo the sentiments of one Thomas Franklin, was probably the best I have attended. Here are my own personal highlights:

An excellent opening keynote speech by Hans Rosling left the audience buzzing, and seemed to inspire just about everyone I talked to. His incisive wit and insightful perspectives on world economic, social and health trends, his use of eye catching software and memorable madcap antics, his masterful melding together of all these elements with e-learning to produce something that was meaningful and resonant with all delegates, was one of the highlights of the conference.

The ad hoc, disorganised, crazy and yet totally relevant and (b)leading edge debates, discussions, conversations and fiery toe-to-toe stand up arguments of the ALT Fringe (F-ALT), were unmissable. In fact I feel a little sorry for those who couldn't be there because they had to be witnessed to be believed. The F-ALT badges were much in evidence everywhere I looked, yet there were only 40 in the limited edition. Coupled with this, another highlight was taking part in the live radio podcast of Sounds of the Bazaar, hosted by Graham Attwell and Josie Fraser.

Several workshops, including James Clay's "It's a Web 2.0 World out there..." and Frances Bell et al's "Digital Divide Slam" were enjoyable on every dimension, and some very interesting and valuable artefacts were created which will serve the Educommunity for some months to come. Our own humble contribution on the digital gender divide "It's not for girls", is already a popular YouTube video and it's less than 24 hours old.

Crowdvine triumphed as the online success story of the conference, and at the close of the event, 441 members had registered and created profiles (there were a total of 700 delegates this year). Crowdvine was used prior to the conference, and during it, to enable delegates to connect, converse, share and compare. And talking of online resources - if the photos in this blog post are not enough for you there is a veritable treaure chest of images on the Twemes ALT-C Site, and also even more in the personal Flickr photstreams of James Clay, Sam Easterby-Smith, Helen Keegan, Josie Fraser, Emma Duke-Williams and Cristina Costa, and my own to name just a few.

The final highlight for me was the Gala Dinner held at Yorkshire County Cricket Ground - Headingly. The iconic surroundings, delightful and passionate company of so many delegates, and the almost immaculate presentation of the 5 course dinner by the young people from the catering colleges, were... well, unforgettable.

The organisation of the event was, as ever, superb, efficient and friendly, so our thanks must go out to Seb, Marion, Mark and the ALT team for their almost hurculean efforts to hold everything together. The programme committee must also take their share of the limelight. Here's to next year's event, which will have a tough act to follow...

Sessions, slams and serious fun

It's been an interesting and varied day here at ALT-C Day two, at the University of Leeds. A somewhat controversial keynote, and several morning papers and workshops kept us all busy. The Digital Divide web slam event was engaging, fun and jam packed full of ideas about how we are all using technologies to either bridge the digital divides (yes there are several) or to perpetuate them. Several slams were performed, including one by myself, James Clay and Joss Winn (collectively known as the Slam Virgins - don't ask). We actually received the most votes from those present, surprisingly, so we were the winners on the day. The video of our slam 'It's not for Girls!' can be viewed here on Youtube. (Picture by Helen Keegan).

I later spoke at a F-ALT fringe meeting in the middle of the dining room at 3pm, on the subject of Edupunk. There was fertile and passioned debate about whether edupunk exists or is just a fad, and whether the name actually does the concept justice. Thanks to all those who took part - it was another enjoyable and captivating session. (Picture here)

The cream on the cake, literally, was our evening ALT-C Gala Dinner, which was held this year in the executive rooms of Headingly Cricket ground - the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the scene of many fascinating Test matches between England and the tourists. The turf was being dug up as we arrived, which was a disappointment, as I wanted to see the ground in it's full glory. Never mind. It was still pretty spectaculr, as was the food, brought to us by two local catering colleges.

Highlight of the night was watching Josie Fraser receive the prestigious award of Learning Technologist of the Year, and a substantial cash prize, presented by in-coming ALT president Steve Draper (London School of Economics). A splendid time was had by all. Look out tomorrow... last day, here we come.

Safe Hans

The weather here yesterday in Leeds was appalling. It poured down from the start of the day until the evening, but were our spirits dampened? No they were not, because we enjoyed an excellent first day here at ALT-C 2008. The day started with a rousing keynote speech from Professor Hans Rosling, who soared to new heights when he suddenly decided to climb a step ladder half way through his speech. Mark van Harmelen (ALT Director of Development) rushed to grab the ladded to steady the speaker, and through his white knuckle anxiety, we could all see the health and saftey risks and potential litigation flashing through his mind (photo from Helen Keegan's Flickr stream). Hans was safe however, and proceeded to wow the assembled delegates with a virtuoso performance, and opened our eyes to demographic statistics of birth and death rates, economic rises and declines and carbon emissions across the globe, using a new piece of graphic animated software he and his son had developed. Known as Gap Minder, it reveals statistics in a way never before seen, except perhaps in a more simplistic way by the likes of visual search engines such as Quintura.

In a style reminiscent of that other great Scandinavian, Victor Borge, Hans Rosling made some pithy omments that had the audience both laughing and questioning their previous take on life. Encyclopedia Brittanica, he said, is read by people who believe it to be true. Wikipedia is read by people who know it is not true, and that is its value. The main global trend now, he declared, is convergence. And still the gems kept coming - 'TV stations use graphics and animation to brand rather than to inform, he told us'. 'Ignorance is the best friend of the teacher'. And finally.... 'there is no digital divide - only a continuum'.

For those who missed this most excellent keynote, the video on demand is now available on Elluminate here. Now for day two of ALT-C....

ALT-C underway

The first plenary session is underway for ALT-C 2008 here at the University of Leeds. We are going out live over Elluminate at this link for those interested in participating remotely. You can experience the atmosphere and the content without suffering the downpours we all had to negotiate to get to the conference hall.

Pineapple flavoured Leeds

Wow, that was quite a drive - 320 miles, done in 7 hours, but I'm now here in Leeds, for the ALT-C conference, and I'm sat trying out the Ethernet connection in my student room. I have a nice view from the fifth flooor out over the campus, with plenty of greenary and the big white tower glowering from the distance. I bumped into Jane Seale who had arrived just before me, and we made our way down to try to find registration. And got a little lost. Fortunately we were intercepted by Mark van Harmelen, (ALT's Director of Development) who showed us where to go.

The conference venue, what I have so far seen of it, is spacious, with a large balcony (registration) overlooking the dining area on one side and the Conference Exhibition area on the other. Great if you don't suffer from vertigo.

The parking here is difficult. I'm about a mile, three months and a weekend away from my digs, and it took all my remaining strength to trog my case over, and up 5 flights of stairs (there is no lift in the Henry Price Building, so Henry, you should be ashamed, whoever you are). I managed to spill a carton of pineapple chunks in the bag holding my cables during my slog over from the car park, and it went everywhere. I am now the only official ALT-C delegate with pineapple flavoured computer cables (make that Leeds). It's quite warm here as well, and to cap it all, I now have sticky pineapple juice all over my cables (see my earlier blog) where my pineapple carton burst Getting ready now for the pre-conference buffet which takes place at 18.30 tonight. I think I need a shower first though....

Travelling lite

I'm travelling light today on my drive up to the University of Leeds to attend the UK's annual learning technology bash we all know as ALT-C 2008. As you can see from the image left, I'm taking a minimum of kit to be able to get the most out of the event, presenting my talks, communicating with home as well as twittering, blogging, and any other which way reporting live from the event I can think of. At least this event is in the UK so I don't need to worry about all the international power adaptors and other paraphernalia I usually take with me. No passport required either. In my electronic kit I have:

1 Acer Aspire 2920Z Wireless Laptop
2 Ethernet cable (just in case...)
3 Camera UCB cable
4 4x Gang Mains extension
5 Laptop Power cable
6 8 Gb Flashdrive
7 Apple iPhone
8 iPhone Power adapter and battery charger
9 Sony DSC-W80 Cyber-shot camera
10 Camera battery charger
11 Nintendo DS Lite
12 Nintendo DS Lite Power cable

Gone are the days when all I needed to take were my business cards a change of underwear ... ah, that reminds me....

Punk it up

I'm getting ready for the 310 mile drive up to Leeds tomorrow to participate in ALT-C 2008. I'm going to be speaking in the main conference about some of the research we have been doing in Plymouth on wikis in teacher education. I'm also speaking in the fringe event F-ALT entitled WTF Edupunk, where I will try to show how the punk rock ideology has parallels with contemporary thinking about going outside the walled garden of the institutional VLE to use free, open content, social software tools. The movement behind this idea is referred to by many as Edupunk. I make no apologies to Jim Groom or anyone else for repurposing the idea behind his poster boy image (above) because that's what punk is all about - do it yourself!

There is a growing consensus that punk philosophy can and indeed, does, have a resonance with those in universities and colleges who are considered mavericks. I have never used my university VLE for a number of reasons, preferring instead to use a variety of tools, websites and methods that in my opinion, work better. Just about anything a VLE can do, social software can do better, with the possible exceptions of surveillance and control (and even those are debatable). Joining me for the presentation at this fringe session will be Helen Keegan and Graham Attwell, and we hope that there will be some lively debate on this thing we call edupunk.... Punk it up!

Looking forward.... to ALT-C

So many things to look forward to next week at ALT-C 2008 at the University of Leeds, although I don't relish the long drive up from Plymouth. The conference promises to be the best yet, if the pre-mailed abstracts and research proceedings books are anything to go by. I'm looking forward to the workshops in particular, including the sessions on Web 2.0 - 'It's a Web 2.0 world out there' (James Clay) and 'Learning about the Digital Divide' (Frances Bell, Helen Keegan, Josie Fraser et al). From such presentations come a host of new ideas, and better still, an energising to go off and try out some new things you hadn't considered before.

There are already success stories before ALT-C has started. Take a look at the Crowdvine site the ALT team set up and you will see that there are already over 340 members (well over half of the 600 plus delegates who are booked into the event). I have already made contact with a number of people I am intending to meet, including one of the keynote speakers, Itiel Dror (Southampton University) and Mark van Harmelen (ALT Director of Operations).

Then of course, there is the Fringe ALT-C event - or F-ALT, as it is being called. There are a limited edition F-ALT badges designed by Josie Fraser that are being given away to the first 50 people who sign up to the F-ALT Wetpaint wiki site. When I looked just now there were already 36 people registered, so be quick if you want a badge! Yes, there is plenty to look forward to....

The Lite goes on

I wrote yesterday that I had submitted a poem about the divide between the generations as a part of the workshop on the digital divide at ALT-C next week. Well isn't life interesting? My poem features the infamous Nintendo DS Lite. There is also a quip about Brain Training software. My son has a Nintendo DS. Both my daughters have one each (one is actually a lurid pink - the DS not my daughter). I even gave one to my wife for Christmas (look, stop it). But me.... I have never even touched one. Never felt the need to. Until today, that is.

This morning, sat smiling at me on top of my Faculty of Education standard issue desk, was a parcel. Contained therein was a free, spanking new, Nintendo DS Lite, complete with Brain Training software. Courtesy of HandHeld Learning 2008 - the conference that will be held in London in October. I had forgotten about it completely! Apparently if you registered as an early bird before the deadline, you were given one free to use at the conference. At the time I thought it was an excellent marketing ploy and an innovative idea. True to their promise, Handheld Learning sent me a DS Lite. Bummer. Now I will have to spend time getting to know how to use it. More time spent having to learn how to use these new fangled gadgets... I don't know. I think I'm turning into a grumpy old man.

Anyway, here's the link to the poem for you to (hopefully) enjoy.

I heard it on the Crowdvine

It's immensely enjoyable, and quite addictive this Crowdvine thing. My Twittering is suffering, I can tell you. ALT-C 2008 has set up its own space on the social network tool to enable people to discuss, organise, schedule and generally get together prior to the event next week at the University of Leeds. As I write this blog entry it already has 260 members, and more are joining every hour. There are already several threaded discussions on eclectic and diverse topics, and everyone is building up their own little networks of people they want to meet, talk to, have a beer with, etc.

As James Clay commented on Crowdvine yesterday - 'How things change'. Two years ago, only 6 people participated in the ALT-C wiki, and last year saw the first surge of interest in blogging from the conference, with about 15 of us regulalry posting. This year, social networking is de riguer, and we can expect a lot more blogging, tweeting, flickring and other digital jiggerypokery going on as the conference takes off. To join in go to the ALT-C Crowdvine site here.

Trains and planes ...

I'm off up to Birmingham tomorrow, to meet with the rest of the Programme Committee for ALT-C 2008. Next year's ALT Conference will take place between 9-11 September at the University of Leeds. It's already shaping up to be a good conference, with keynote speakers including:

• David Cavallo, Chief Learning Architect for One Laptop per Child, and Head of the Future of Learning Research Group at MIT Media Lab;
• Dr Itiel Dror, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Southampton;
• Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and Director of the Gapminder Foundation.

You can download a flyer for the conference here. Tomorrow, we will begin to choose the theme speakers for the event, and go through the protocols for reviewing papers, workshops, etc. I hope the train ride back home will be more comfortable than last year - got back to Plymouth, collapsed with chest pains and ended up in hospital! (Between you and me, I think the buffet car may have had something to do with it....).

I had to take a month off work, which I couldn't afford to do this time... I'm off to speak at ICODL in Athens on Wednesday where I will meet up again with my old friend Michael Moore, and when I'm back from that conference, I have a day off (which I will need to spend in Oxford, on the ALT-J Editorial Board meeting). The very next day I'm flying out to Berlin to speak at Online Educa. Too much flying about. I'm tired just thinking about it.