My first take on IATEFL Harrogate 2010 - Part 1

I have been lucky enough to be at IATEFL Harrogate 2010 to enjoy some of the best ELT speakers ever! The best thing about it is that most sessions have been recorded and can be accessed through Harrogate Online.

So what I would like to share is the highlights of the sessions I attended so that you can also check them out. The original post is too long so I decided to split into two parts to make it more readable.

Learning Technologies Pre Conference Event on the current state of technology for language learning. Discussion led by Stephen Bax, Scott Thornbury and Mark Pengrum was conducted face to face and in Second Life simultaneously. The technology aspects were brilliantly managed by Graham Stanley and LT sig team.

Plenary 1: The Professional Life Cycles of Teachers by Tessa Woodward

Tessa gave an enthralling talk about the different stages of a teacher’s professional life in which we could all feel identified.

Teaching the Mobile Generation by Nicky Hockly

Nicky engaged the audience with her fresh look at the potential of mobile learning by showing easily accessible resources and practical projects.

They just can’t hack it! by Gavin Dudeney

Gavin managed to address attitudes to technology through a witty presentation based around myths, which he attempted to demystify. And he certainly did!

Web 2.0: What’s in it for teachers? by Burcu Akyol

Burcu showed a variety of web 2.0 tools but focused mainly on the practicalities of blogs and wikis. As Jeremy Harmer pointed out later she “even made embedding widgets interesting!”

Before and after Twitter: Personal learning environments by Graham Stanley

Graham conducted the most crowded session I saw! His take on social networking tools to build your PLN was great!

What teachers do next by Jeremy Harmer and Carol Higho

Jeremy started the session with a personal anecdote which he then related to teachers’ need to feel alive. He then referred to professional development as a key element of keeping current. Carol finished the session showing some specific PD options. Unfortunately, there is no recording available for this session.

What students get out of Twitter by Petra Pointner

Petra’s session was incredibly effective in showing what you can actually do with your students using Twitter.

Computer gaming to learn by Kyle Mawer

Definitely one of my favourites because of my personal interest in Digital Game Based Learning. Kyle showed an amazing number of games that can be easily used for language learning.