digitalmaverick

Around this time last year Ian Usher, Leon Cych, Tom Barrett and I sat down (virtually speaking) and discussed how we were going to support Stephen Heppell in organising TeachMeet BETT and, with the power of the community behind it, we now know how successful that was. In my opinion that inspirational event and the community effort behind it, left an indelible mark in the annals of educational dissemination and provided an impetus for the plethora of TeachMeets that have happened round the country in the intervening year. It is therefore rewarding beyond words to see so many more people wanting to help set wheels in motion this year.

 

So far this year, and well ahead of last year’s schedule, there HAS already been much work afoot behind the scenes by some of us to ensure this year’s phenomenal offer by EMAP of a venue to house THREE nights of ‘teacher curation’. However, without anyone having true ‘ownership’ of TeachMeet (and TeachMeet BETT specifically) and its concept, I’ve found it hard to make any plans for the forthcoming THREE days as offered by EMAP without potentially offending or upsetting anyone, whilst at the same time still trying to ensure that something was being set up. On the other hand, I believe my level of involvement and commitment last year (as one of the few without whom…) and that of others who I’ve approached with the ideas contained herein, gives me at least some entitlement to do so. I sincerely hope I’ve managed to approach the matter properly – any oversight or tactlessness has been an unintentional oversight on my part. There are no egotists amongst us, although some people have to put their heads above the parapets, but ultimately we’re helping to show how genuinely benevolent our profession can be.

 

Sciatica and a VERY hectic start to school this term, couldn’t have come at a worse moment for me in terms of announcing the preparatory work that I have been personally doing (phone calls, emails and meetings since early August), but I have made every effort, when I can to inform people who were involved in TeachMeet BETT last year to tell them of my proposals (as outlined herein): Ollie Bray, Tom Barrett, Leon Cych, Ian Usher, Steve Beard, Danny Nicholson, Dale Jones, Leon Cych, Merlin John, Anthony Evans, Theo Keuchel, Dave Smith, John Davitt, Daniel Needlestone, Dan Sutch, Andrew Rhodes, Richard Milwood. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for the time they spent listening to me formulating my suggestions. Many of them said I should just ‘get on and do it’, but I’ve hesitated for fear of causing offence – possibly I have hesitated for too long, but I hope not. I should also point out that I have discussed these ideas at length with Martin Jack of EMAP and he seemed happy and excited by with all of what follows. I’ve promised this outline of my proposals before now, and it’s to my shame that I have not delivered it until now.

 

It’s my belief - and I know this is shared by the vast majority of those that I have spoken to and listed above - that the TeachMeet model (whilst still being the educational game-changer that it is) will be diluted if the IDENTICAL style of event is held on three consecutive nights at the BETT show. Moreover, I feel enough alternative models currently exist to ensure that that we can use these equally well to focus on the incredible fact that EMAP are prepared to let TEACHERS CURATE THREE CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS at the BETT show. Read that bit in caps again – yes this really is an epoch-making moment, so we need to make a great impression and ‘get it right’! After all we as teachers, should be all after the same thing, namely to encourage and nurture others to embrace technology to aid the learning going on in classrooms today.

 

Mainly as a result of the supportive and hugely positive feedback for a host of influential people, here is my proposed structure for the hitherto unprecedented THREE NIGHT TEACHERS RESIDENCY at BETT 2010.

 

I suggest that THREE DISTINCT MODELS of evening take place, one on each of the three nights, with some sort of commonality existing between the events - for illustrative purposes I am going to use: ‘Inspire. Instigate. Innovate. Include’ for the rest of this document. The title would collectively suggest an ethos for ALL THREE nights, with each word also individually describing the objective of the particular evening - the models themselves in each case fitting those ‘Inspire. Instigate. Innovate. Include.’ (where ‘Include’ is a summative word to describe the WHOLE experience) like a glove. In all of this I think it’s important that as many people are as involved in the organising, planning and attending these events as possible, albeit in different capacities due to the format of each evening. I say this because as mentioned above, brilliant though the TeachMeet model is a) it only affords a few people the chance to speak in an evening and b) it is will be diluted if spread over three nights - so my proposal is more radical.

 

Also as more and more TeachMeets start to take place around the country, different models of teacher-curated events will prevent the model from becoming stale. This is best evidenced by Tom Barrett’s brilliant questions analysing how TeachMeets themselves can evolve – and in actual fact that seminal and thought-provoking work heavily influenced the proposals I have put together here.

 

All of what follows has been ‘prepared’ in the weeks leading up to now, not in some elitist, exclusive way – but rather to set wheels in motion as was the case last year, with an open floor to anyone who would like to get involved in organisation of any of the evenings, in any capacity. Whatever transpires, EMAP are asking teachers to CURATE three nights events at the BETT show, and that is an incredible feat in itself. Of crucial importance is EMAP’s generous offer of the use of the venue which dramatically cuts the need for huge sponsorship monies to be raised as this was such a headache to the few of us who were involved in fundraising last year.

 

Inspire. Instigate. Innovate. Involve.

 

Three DIFFERENT nights, one SINGLE goal (whatever that may be eg. ‘Inspire. Instigate. Innovate. Include.’).

 

Wednesday Night - Inspire

 

The world-famous influential organisation TED now allow people to apply for TEDx licences to hold events of their own that are affiliated to the world-renowned TED organisation, but where the organisers can plan their very own inspirational evening. I need hardly add that the kudos that having a TED event affiliated to the Teachers Residency would add to what we are all trying to achieve. After about 2 months of application & rigorous email tennis between myself and a TED mentor, I have obtained a licence to hold ‘TEDx Orenda’. I can explain about the word ‘Orenda’ at a later stage, but choosing a name was in itself a battle, and without saying anything more a) TEDxBETT was a complete non-starter & b) its been a huge concession that TED are actually allowing a licence for an event that will take place attached to a commercial event – they hate this, but have relented due to what I described as the ‘special status’ of BETT. Whatever happens this could kick start the Three Day Residency superbly.

 

[A note about the name ‘Orenda’: All of the BETT or EDU/teaching/learning-related name suggestions I came up with were rejected by TED, and locations such as Olympia and Kensington would have been totally meaningless. The word ‘Orenda’ is found in Howard Rheingold’s excellent book ‘They have a Word for That’ and is a Huron Indian word which is the opposite of ‘fate’ in other words it well describes how we influencers are not accepting ‘the way things are’ but are innovating and leading by example. So although ‘Orenda’ may be unknown word ‘wiki’ was once when I was using it to people 6 years ago Also because the name is not location- or event-specific I am happy for anyone else to hold a TEDxOrenda in the future whenever and wherever they want – as long as they clear it with TED first].

 

TED lay down strict rubric for the format for the event and this would dictate some of what happens – including that they ask no presenter is paid a fee. However, essentially it would follow this pattern:

 

Presenter – I have already contacted Rory Cellan-Jones about the prospect of compering the event, although other people have expressed an interest, including Maggie Philbin, and Krishnan Guru-Murthy. The event is in Theatre format hence no seating re-arrangement required.

 

Theme 1 (for example purposes, lets say ‘Play)

 

Short TED video 1 – to be chosen by ‘public vote’ in lead up to event, thereby garnering interest in the event, t be based on the TEDxOrenda theme – whatever we choose that to be

 

Four speakers speak for 20 mins each – not necessarily teachers, nor those we’d normally hear speak but those who can inspire teachers and importantly, speakers that teachers have CHOSEN to hear (please note these are only EXAMPLES) Pat Kane – author of The Play Ethic (and member of Hue & Cry), Dugald Hind - creator of Schoolofeverything.com, Alfie Dennen award winning creator of Britglyph project, Alexandra Deschamps-Sensino Using Arduino to make animals talk.

 

Musical interlude from an artist who will talk about their inspirational work – Imogen heap did the last TEDGlobal event

 

Break

 

Theme 2 (not the same Theme as above, but the same format)

TED Video to close

 

At the end hundreds of teachers will have had the opportunity to share in a TED event (of sorts) and the whole event would be streamed live around the world and, importantly, archived on TED’s website.

 

Thursday – Instigate

 

Leon Cych in particular – and we should know how brilliant he is at picking out relevance of technology in today’s society – and Tom Barrett and I have had differing degree of involvement in Amplified – a truly groundbreaking project funded by NESTA. You can find more about Amplified here, and please do as without doing so the relevance of this event to teachers may not be apparent to you. But, essentially, Amplified is a ‘network of networks’ trying to make society better through sharing ideas and ellicting change – hence ‘Instigate’. The three of us have represented school education at Amplified events for a year or so now and ultimately have ensured that our sector of society will ultimately play a part in this important organisation. A few months ago we were asked to organise an educational-themed Amplified or AmpED event at which ALL sectors of education (from Nursery to University of the 3^rd Age) would be participants. The format of Amplified is the Barcamp model: anyone can suggest a discussion topic, they then start a discussion (in a round table type way) which can then involve any attendee who wishes to speak. This is where it is important to ascertain what Amplified goals are so again I direct you to their website. As NESTA would fund an event held in another location, this funding will not be necessary as EMAP are providing free use of the location – hence NESTA’s money could be used to rearrange the seating ‘cabaret style’ to provide the ‘round tables’ etc.

 

Format:

 

Introduction

Session 1 – 40 mins

Networking – 15 mins

Session 2 – 40 mins

Networking – 15 mins

Session 3 – 40 mins

Networking – 15 mins

 

Plenary

 

Any attendee can suggest an educational topic to speak about, and instigates the discussion. Clear guidelines and examples would be given as to chosing topics. All roundtables are filmed and archived on NESTA’s site, with some projects then becoming working parties of their own.

 

So, for example, say I wanted to talk about making use of empty shops to teach disenchanted children out of school hours. I would put this forward as a topic, which would appear on a schedule. So if it was in Session 1 people would come to my table to hear my idea, and then the discussion would move the idea on. At the end interested parties would then agree to pursue the idea further themselves, but reporting back to us all as organisers. Many brilliant social projects are currently underway as a result of Amplified eg. Bletchley Park veterans day archiving, collapasonomics (Google it) to name but two. In this way (and unlike Teachmeet) EVERY attendee could have the chance to be heard and then actually set up or get involved with a project.

 

Friday – Inspire

 

TeachMeet as the flagship event, and third DIFFERENT model, would close the three day teachers residency as we brought the curtain on what would be an incredible week of inspirational presentations. This time the volunteer innovators would be sharing their work to other teachers in the well-established style with which we are so familiar. The TeachMeet format would be as before with any tweaks as deemed necessary – especially bearing in mind Tom Barrett’s crowdsourced suggestions as mentioned earlier.

 

All three of these events are reading to go NOW and with the power of Twitter for raising awareness being what it is I have no doubt that each event as I have described above will reach or exceed capacity.

 

My proposal means that that every level there will be increased level of involvement of those that want to participate: organisationally, participatory or passively – this has to be a good thing for spreading the word about the innovation going on in schools today, without the overt involvement of any commercial companies, cronyism, elitism or competitiveness.

 

A few of us have felt that the wiki limits the organisational and planning process. So Dale Jones has set up and is hosting, at no cost, a Moodle in which, for Teachers Curate BETT 2010 and henceforward all TeachMeet organisation could be hosted. This will add more functionality than a wiki such as the inclusion of discussion forums, wikis, surveys, embeddable videos etc in one single location. Steve Beard, owner of the TeachMeet wiki URL has given his blessing to this move.

 

Dale has set the Moodle up with an overall organisational ‘course’ and three further courses for each of the three event nights. Access levels for each of these would be dependent upon individual involvement in the particular event, but guest access would allow all content to be transparent so visitors could see what was ‘going on’ and the decision-making processes that had taken place. After the event these ‘courses’ would serve as archived exemplars to aid other people trying to plan their own TeachMeet event as the MoodleMoot site currently does.

 

 

 

 

So what’s the way forward? Well, if all of the above that has already been planned by at least some of the individuals named earlier (and others) I propose we set up working groups to start looking at each of the three events; and that planning starts in earnest within the Moodle that Dale Jones has set up (as described above).

 

I hope this long document shows the commitment and thought I have given to this truly amazing opportunity and I hope you will share in my vision to help Teachers Curate BETT2010 to Inspire, Instigate, Innovate and Involve.

 

Drew Buddie 21^st October 2009

 

PS Personally speaking, I’d be happy to help plan/organise/run the TEDxOrenda and Amplified events and would take a back seat/be a gopher etc for the TeachMeet.