Miss this, you do not want!

There are some fantastic events happening in the next few days, and you can participate from your lounge chair, the beach, or your office - all you need is an internet connection. Best of all, if you don't like what you see you can just log off! 

(ooo first I will mention I was interviewed for a podcast - click here to listen to me on the illustrious Ed Tech Crew show)

Now, my colleague Mark (@markliddell) is an energetic thinker and is right in the thick of leading his team at my school through a process of redefining what maths teaching looks like. For one, we're getting rid of maths textbooks and the students will work from an iPad instead. What? How? Well, come along and hear some insights by a passionate man thinking outside the square, because tomorrow (Monday 15th November 2010) he is presenting on technology for teaching maths.

He is web streaming his presentation so you can watch live and even ask him questions in the chat channel. Ready more about it here at his blog. The web stream can be accessed live here, and the time of the presentation in your local time is here (9.20am Sydney time) and another presentation 4 hours later.

THEN, Tuesday 16th November 2010 two other colleagues of mine, Chantelle Morrison and Louise Deibe, are presenting on "Capturing the hearts of reluctant writers with online publishing". Every teacher has come up against this brick wall, where students have no confidence or inspiration to write a word. They have taken web publishing to some interesting places and had great success breaking this impasse. In particular they will refer to www.calameo.com, a nifty website allowing students to easily create online glossy magazines. 

Chantelle and Lou have been preparing meticulously for this session, doing a complete run-through practice session on Friday. They have fascinating video footage, some mind-bending mental exercises, and much more in store for you. I will be there with bells on and hope to see you there.

Chantelle and Lou's session is on Tuesday at 4pm Sydney time, click here for your local time. To attend, simply click here and the conferencing system will load in your browser.

Actually, Chantelle and Louise's presentation is just one of a plethora taking place this week at the "Global Education Conference". This is being held over web conferencing. You click a link, and BANG you're in the session, listening to the presenters and interacting in the chat system.

It just goes to show, you don't need to attend a face to face conference anymore to hear the best ideas from the best people in the world. And let me tell you, the people who attend these online conferences, from their lounge chairs, beds, breakfast tables, or school offices, or wherever, are wonderful creative people to connect with. If you've not attended this sort of thing before, come along and give it a go. You'll uncover an energetic and progressive grassroots movement of passionate educators. 

Read more about the conference here: http://www.globaleducationconference.com If you click on 'Schedule' you'll be able to choose your time zone and get a full list of upcoming presentations.