Teachmeet meets Computers in Education Society: Conference 2015

I am reliably told that this CESI conference is our 13th one! I have seen changes in logo, executive committee members, speakers and format over that time but I am always guaranteed that I will leave inspired and thankful to be in the teaching profession.

On the Friday night, I headed on out to the annual Teachmeet East (used to be CESI meet) in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. A Teachmeet is an organised (but informal) meeting where participants are offered a variety of nano (2 minute) or macro (7 minute) presentations on any aspect of education. Participants can be actively involved as presenters, or can simply relax and listen to all that will be on offer.

I couldn’t possible name them all of the presenters but I’ll start with Joanne Gilmartin  who was giving her first teachmeet, which I was surprised at! Joanne spoke about augmented reality and she was using Aurasma, http://www.aurasma.com/what-is-it/ with her class.

Maggie Green’s other half, Dantarctica presented from Antarctica. A very interesting and touching presentation. You can check out his blog and twitter feed if you would like to share his adventures and work with your class. He is at www.dantarctica.com and @dantarctica

Next up, we had a mystery skype caller. Mystery Skype Caller is where a person is beamed live using skype in the classroom and children can ask questions to establish the person’s location. I recognised Mary Foskin immediately! It is an excellent tool for oral language skills development and could be used in various ways.

Sabine McKenna gave an informative presentation on minecraft. Her presentation seemed to be written for beginners or immediate teachers of minecraft, which I welcomed as sometimes tech talks can be a bit too” techie”and over my head!

Bianca Ni Ghrógáin told the audience about plickers. It is a powerful and simple tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices. A simple and effective way to use formative assessment. You can find out more at www.plickers.com

Dughall McCormick spoke about professional development on farms! It was a short and sweet presentation, exactly like a good teach meet presentation should be! He told us all about Camp Ed which is a learning festival, an educational festival for the whole family, taking place on the weekend of 23rd – 25th May 2015. He invited us all over!

I said I wouldn’t go through each presenter so if you want to hear more then get yourself to a teachmeet soon! I really enjoyed every speaker and came away with many ideas and links and apps to check out for my return to the classroom in September. Thanks to Ciara and Kathleen, who organised the event. Looking forward to the next one.