ITE 2010 (Interactive Technology in Education) was organized this year for the 21st time. Many things were familiar from previous years: the crowds, the presenters, the atmosphere. This is apparently a working concept as it is, but the program could always use some spicing up with a few fresh names and ideas.
A sense of experimentation was introduced into the conference by the Sometu network, which realized its session with a rotation of panelists – these kinds of panel discussions which break the mould are oddly refreshing. The exhibition area also offered a greater input than expected: for example, the well-rounded presentation of the smart board raised the excitement, as did the simulations from the Emergency Services College. However, they were not enough to substitute for the disappointment caused by the fact that main speaker Stephen Downes was forced to hold his speech on personal learning platforms long-distance, due to the volcanic ash cloud over Europe.
In our Social Media – Beneath the Surface theme seminar, Satu Nurmela and I held our presentation “10 Theses For and Against the Educational Use of Wiki, Blogs and Social Networks”. After our own session, I had time to gain some familiarity with the useful Elma report and a seminar which discussed libraries as sites of learning. All in all, the conference dissects the field of online learning well, but offers only a few new things to try.
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| Tapio Neuvonen from the Emergency Services College demonstrates how the firemen train with the aid of simulations. Elina Harju and Ulla Vehmasalo from Tampere held a wonderful presentation entitled “Is Digital Life Fun, Easy and Free of Cost”? Kari Hintikka published a report on e-learning business models together with Anne Rongas. The leaders of our own theme seminar, Marja Kylämä ja Pasi Silander, got serious for the last effort. | |||