Drape's Takes

Last week I was privileged to attend the first day of the fourth annual Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange, an "open conference that encourages free access to presentation information and materials, and facilitates the sharing of knowledge."


As I have written about this conference before, I must now report on how pleased I am with a number of small additions that have been made to the conference experience - implementations that all conference organizers would do well to incorporate:

1. Every session was video-taped and made available online in a mere matter of minutes after the sessions were completed. Video was streamed and archived using Apple's free Quicktime Broadcaster. Quick, easy, free, and an instantly available archive. What's not to like?
2. TTIX now has its own blog to which conference presenters and participants can contribute. Great idea that could be improved upon with a simpler registration process and a larger pool of writers.
   
3. Every session has it's own web page with a dedicated chat room (back-channel). Included is a brief evaluation form for participants to give their feedback regarding the presentation. Here's an example. This kind of instant, participant-driven feedback will define 21st Century learning.
   
4. The lunch-time speed demos, presented by any willing participant, were an excellent opportunity for anyone willing to share.
5. Conference organizers utilized and encouraged Twitter use as a way to further collaborate.
6. The entire conference was FREE. Including LUNCH and a free USB thumb-drive. All provided by conference sponsors.