slf08

Now that the dust has settled a little from my exciting two days at the SLF08, (thank you to my bosses and colleagues for facilitating this) I am reflecting on the messages I have taken from the experience. Before I went, someone said to me that he wasn’t motivated to go to SLF this year, as it seemed to hold less attraction for him, year on year. I think he would have been inspired by the Teachmeet unconference.










He would have liked Derek’s demo of the Virtual Art Gallery for kids project. He would have enjoyed the opportunity to chat to colleagues from other areas there and in the Glow Lounge. He would certainly have been impressed by the guitar heroes strutting their stuff!

The speakers I went to hear ranged from inspiring (Ewan McIntosh) through thought-provoking (Ruth Sutton, Charles Leadbeater, Frank Crawford) to disappointing (sorry, Gill Robinson on Next steps with ACE). The sessions I enjoyed most were those where the speaker left time for questions at the end. This I think is a symptom of the extent to which many of us are becoming used to and expecting more participation and dialogue. I hope this happens more in future SLFs. It takes a brave speaker to open up to this, but also, don’t forget, a brave teacher to step up to the microphone with a question.


I was impressed by Fiona Hyslop’s courage in this respect, and thought she came over very well in response to a good few bloggers (Neil, David, Adam and more) and others who posed questions. Unfortunately, her answer to most things seemed to be that she agreed with the teacher view, but Local Authorities were not under her control, and could do as they liked with the extra money/teachers/class size capacity she was giving them.



The common theme throughout the conference was personalisation, and relationships, and how the way in which these are built up is crucial to learning. From my point of view, being at most sessions on my own, allowed me to engage in brief conversations with teachers from all over Scotland, and beyond. Meeting people face-to-face with whom I normally interact online also adds an important perspective to my understanding.

It was even worth negotiating both Glasgow's and Edinburgh's rush hours for.







What am I going to do next?
Investigate some things like Google Sketchup and Alan McLean’s motivation work. (Should have known about both of these but didn’t)
Take a deep breath and volunteer for the next Teachmeet.
Keep my own guitar hero attempts strictly private.