How technologies offer new ways to engage, converse and collaborate

I was really pleased to be involved (along with many of my colleagues) in the learning technologies conference (#emtech11), which was held at the Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh on Friday, 25th February. Despite Scotrail let-downs which prevented a number of people from attending, there was a great turn out – over 100 people – to what shaped up to be a very informative day.

Organised by SSSC, IRISS and the Learning Networks and managed by Focused on Learning, the aim of the programme was to foster better use of technology in social services in a time when cuts to public spending is prompting organisations to think differently about how they can sustain services.

Welcome and introductions by Alison Petch, Director of IRISS, and Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive of the SSSC, were followed by a keynote speech from Steph Gray, an advisor on how social media can help public sector organsiations to communicate and collaborate more effectively. A key message gleaned from his presentation was around organisations being sensible about risks and not to be scared of them. Nearly everyone in the room was familiar with the ‘it will never get past IT’ adage, viewed as a barrier to more collaborative working practices (such as using Google docs) that Steph promoted in his presentation.

A varied selection of workshops were on offer in both the morning and afternoon. As I was on various staff duties throughout the day and was required to deliver the social media game workshop in the afternoon, I unfortunately missed out on a lot of the content. Workshop speakers included Steph Gray (@lesteph); Shirley Ayres, a respected commentator on issues of communication in the care sector (@shirleyayres); Keith Quinn, Senior Education and Workforce Development Advisor, SSSC (@kgq962); Ian Watson, Project Manager of Knowledge Media, IRISS (@iandubya); Gordon Chapman, CEO of Deaf Connections; Mary Thorpe and Jean Gordon, Open University; Gavin Oattes and Dougie Clark, Tree of Knowledge (@Tree_Of); and Terri Smith, Staff Development Officer, Quarriers. Reactions to the workshops were very positive on the whole, and I think most people who were involved in the social media game went away with some new ideas about how they might use social media to improve workplace learning.

Brandishing some fine stand-up comedy skills, Gavin Oattes from Tree of Knowledge, delivered a refreshing speech on the importance of encouraging fun and creativity in the workplace in order to improve learning. He was followed by Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) who gave an inspiring presentation on the use of the iPad (every student in his school has one!) in education. He viewed the iPad as the new games, paint and pens of the classroom – a new way to be creative and learn and not just a way of being fed content. He also showed examples of how the iPad could be used effectively by people with disabilities.

The day was brought to a close by way of a video conferencing session (with very few connection blips!) by Stephen Downes (@Downes), a senior researcher for Canada’s National Research Council who demonstrated ways to communicate and collaborate with others using tools such as Join.me, a free and instant way to conduct online meetings.

Well done to Jon Bolton (@jonbolton) at Focused on Learning, the main organiser of the event, and to everyone else involved who worked to make it a highly successful and enjoyable day.

While I'm on the subject of social media, IRISS has recently created a Practical Social Media online community, which provides a simple and easy way for people to keep up with new developments, discussions and resources on the subject of learning technologies and social media in social services. We would encourage you to join and to spread the word to colleagues who may benefit from it.