My To-Do list for iCTLT 2012!

2 years ago I missed iCTLT because I was away for army reservist. I’m glad I am able to attend iCTLT 2012!

I still remember I used Twitter to follow the conference then. This time round Twitter is unleashed and the hash tag #ictlt2012 has been enjoying success in usage.

My To-Do list:

1. Must attend @Sham Sensei‘s awesome ‘Lead Teach Tweet’.

2. Support my colleague’s presentation on using Digital Mind Mapping with Popplet.

3. Meet up with the great people behind Edmodo and Core Education.

4. Many concurrent sessions related to using technology to teach languages.

5. Meet up with like-minded educators and wonderful tweeps in my Twitter PLN.

See you in iCTLT 2012!

iCTLT 2010!

Last year when I received the news that my army reservist clashing with iCTLT 2010, I was really disappointed. Edtech has advanced much over the past 2 years (the last iCTLT was held in 2008) and I look forward seeing and hearing educators all over the world sharing their edtech adventures. Now I can only pin my hopes on my Google Reader, Twitter (also check out hashtag #ICTLT2010) and the Official iCTLT homepage.

To all educators who will be attending iCTLT 2010, have fun advancing learning with ICT: Innovate Collaborate Transform! To overseas educators, enjoy your stay in Singapore and do give a shout-out to me here or Twitter!

iCTLT 2010

Not sure why but there is no iCTLT this year (was fixed in November). However the one next year is in March. Maybe a merged event?

The theme for 2010 is:

Advancing Learning with ICT: Innovate Collaborate Transform

Whether presenting or just going, it should be another wonderful learning and professional development experience.

Technology Goes to School at iCTLT 2008

From Schoolbag.sg

“But it’s homework!” That’s what your children might insist the next time you catch them blogging on the Internet instead of slogging at their worksheets. And they’d probably be right. There’s no escaping technology in today’s connected world, and Singapore schools are gearing up to give students a head start on the skills and tools they’ll need in a society that values creativity and connectivity.

A nice summary of iCTLT.

iCTLT Keynote: Creativity and Innovation in Teaching and Learning by Sir Ken Robinson

Here’s the soft and noisy recording I was talking about. Apologies for the poor audio quality as I was sitting in the last row and had a slight cold then!

iCTLT Sir Ken Robinson’s Keynote

Updates: A better podcast link

iCTLT Closing Plenary – Web 2.0 and Pedagogies for Learning

One of the few decent recordings I took during iCTLT.

Photo credit: xmac2005

iCTLT Closing Plenary – Web 2.0 and Pedagogies for Learning

Updates: Recording of Sir Ken Robinson’s keynote is rather soft and noisy. Will upload soon

iCTLT 2008!

iCTLT is my second education technology conference I attended as a teacher. The first was a Chinese edtech conference in May 2007. In fact that conference was where I discovered a whole new world of edtech. That was when I started to use Google Reader to read edublogs.

The Pre-conference workshop conducted by John Connell was wonderful. I must admit I was too shy to introduce myself to John. In fact I was even too shy to admit I have a blog (in fact a few blogs)!

The main conference was awesome. Although I didn’t manage to attend all the Spotlight sessions I sign up (due to some unforeseen circumstances), the keynotes were already worth everything. Sir Ken Robinson‘s keynote was simply amazing, and as usual extremely witty. I will post more reflections later, as well as upload some poorly recorded speeches.

Thanks to the conference, I discovered more Singapore educators who blog, like Prof Ken, Xmac , Jeff and miss_A.

For those who are interested, all the iCTLT presentation slides can be downloaded here.

Workshop and Spotlight sessions I will be attending during iCTLT!

Workshop:

Learning 2.0: A Participative Discussion on the Power of Learning in a Networked World

by Mr John Connell, Cisco Systems

Schools no longer need to be merely the buildings where teachers and learners come together – it can become the hub for pervasive learning in students’ lives.

The workshop will discuss the concept of “Learning 2.0,” in which social technologies are brought to bear on the central issues and relationships in learning. It will introduce the notion of ‘network learning’ (sometimes called connectivism) and contrast it with constructivism as a paradigm for considering the changing nature of education in the modern world. Discussion will centre around the realities of creating pockets of ‘Learning 2.0’ practices in the real world of existing educational practices. It will also highlight the future of education in a world where the onset and permeation of digital technologies are transforming the way we live, work, and learn, including discussion on teaching, learning, and the shifting nature of schooling, the changing roles and relationships of teacher and learner and the developing concept of “network learning”.

Spotlight sessions:

1. Getting Tomorrow Right

by Gene Carter

To guarantee that today’s students are ready for their future, schools need to transform from being places of teaching to environments for learning. How can educators harness the potential of today’s technologies to ensure that students are prepared for 21st century success?

2. Learning in a Digital Age: The Differentiators

by Cheryl Lemke

Optimized learning is at times, personal, social, and/or collaborative. High tech tools serve as an extension to the student’s thinking — a place to explore ideas, research questions, test hypotheses, compose thoughts, and come to conclusions – in other words, to learn. These tools serve as vehicles for building skills, advancing thinking through multimodal learning, collaborating through social networking and increasing understanding through authenticity – highly effective differentiators of learning. Join this session to learn how technology can open doors to learning never before possible. The result will be deeper learning and more engaged learners. Take a look at how these tools are being used effectively by schools to advance literacy, scientific thinking, critical thinking, self-direction, global awareness, and cultural literacy.

3. Deconstructing and Reconstructing Pedagogy in the Age of Digital Media –12 Years of Shape-Reforming Against Conventional Wisdom in Education

by Yan Tien

The dynamic quality change in education is not brought about by mere introduction of digital media, but are certainly enable by it. The shape-reform in how we conduct education in the 21st Century needs to spearhead by challenging static ideas that had worked in the past. The real challenge lies in changing habitual beliefs. The speaker shares 12 years of knocks-and-fall in shape-reforming education for creative talent development; how conventions were deconstructed and reconstructed, pedagogy redesigned, digital media integrated, and staff realigned to form the basis of talent-centric curriculum in a creatively demanding field of digital media design.

4. 21st Century Learning – The New Balance

by Bernie Trillin

The creation of 21st Century schools and learning is the most fundamental challenge every nation on earth faces. There is a growing worldwide consensus on the key skills needed for success in 21st Century work and life – the “Seven Cs”. Combining the effective use of technology, a collaborative project approach to learning, an emphasis on innovation and creativity, and teachers skilled and committed to teaching in a 21st Century approach, are what is needed now.

I’m going to iCTLT!

See you there!

p/s: I will try my best to update more frequently!

iCTLT 2008

This International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology (or iCTLT) is jointly organized by the Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE is the organization that hosts the premier NECC (or National Educational Computing Conference) annually in the U.S.

I am really looking forward to this conference in August. I thought Sir Ken Robinson is absolutely brilliant.

I hope my school will sponsor me for the full conference and pre-conference workshops ($450SGD)! Also, I hope my lessons would not be affected significantly because of my absence. PSLE will be around the corner then (I am teaching a Primary 6 class). So really got to plan ahead for it.