Just returned from one of the best conferences you’ll find anywhere on the planet. It’s called U-Learn, and it alternates each October between Christchurch and Auckland over in beautiful NZ. Enthusiastic attendees, quality presentations, top organisation….. and a sensational conference dinner. World class, I assure you.
So many great learnings on my part. People think that they learn from me when I’m presenting (well, hopefully they do, to some degree at least). Yet I find that I learn heaps as well. From questions in the groups; to the post-workshop discussions with attendees; to sitting on buses and talking with other facilitators (thank you Pete. Your mobile phone lessons sound superb).
Here are a couple of my observations / learnings:
* During one of the keynotes, I sat with Greg Gebhart, a very talented Aussie. Worth reading up on him, by the way, especially if you want some superb support on being netsafe. Greg intro-ed me to Twitter, and although I already knew about it, I hadn’t yet made the effort to use it. I’ve gotta tell ya….I was intrigued by the applications…. and unsettled by some of the downsides.
With Twitter, you send short sharp punchy text messages (to a max of 140 characters), and tell others what you are doing (or thinking) right at that time. I watched it being used by a portion of a crowd of 1700 people, during a keynote presentation. The twitters ranged from ‘This guy’s entertaining’, to ‘Clap, clap now!’. A form of non-verbal collective consciousness.
Somewhere in the near-future, I’m going to work out a way of utilizing Twitter, either in a presentation, or even with a class lesson. F’instance, I could ask for questions / comments / perspectives on what I had expounded, and flash them up on the screen. Would be interesting with a group of 14-year-olds, given their frequent non-capacity to ask questions in front of their peers.
Downsides? Too much of the twittering tends to become a little shallow in substance; and certainly does not add to the sum total of intellectual human capital. Given that, here are two further ideas in terms of this twitter process:
1. The first person who starts up a twitter needs to make a comment that is intellectual sound (especially if it’s a comment from a teacher!!). This may then set the pattern for all others who follow.
2. Does it really work best to continually twitter during a talk from someone? The Buddhist elders probably wouldn’t be impressed with the lack of attention being paid to the speaker. Instead, perhaps we could have a barrage of reflective comments right at the end, replete with ratings and constructive comments.
Now. Here’s my challenge for the far future (ie 3 to 5 years from now). Some US companies are presently in the early stages of developing a vast array of ‘neuro-devices’ ie technology that can enhance our thinking capacity. As a example, a form of Brain Cap already exists, and can be worn while playing a video game. As a user, you can train your brain to send signals that move the images on the computer screen.
Within 5 years (my prediction), we’ll be able to send rudimentary thoughts to other Brain Cap wearers (whew. Just imagine the privacy regulations we’ll need to implement).
However, link this in with Twitter, and what do we have?? An astonishing new process for teachers to receive continuous feedback from students on the effectiveness of their lesson. I think this is called ‘network-enabled telepathy’.
Perhaps this will eventually become the first form of tangible human collective consciousness, in which we can telepathically engage with any or all others who are wearing the Brain Caps. Now I’m getting deep!
Anyway, this is where my thinking goes, when I attend great conferences such as U-Learn. Just goes to show how important it is to continually stimulate your intellect (depending on where it goes!!?).
