This week has been such a joy. I had high expectations and was looking forward to returning to ILTA’s annual conference AND giving my paper on inspiring open edtech case studies I’ve been working on wit Jim Groom and Reclaim Hosting. It’s been 10 years since Jim and I first met at the OER Conference in Edinburgh, and it means a lot to me that our continued work together has resulted in us attending this beautiful conference together in Dublin this week (plus, I got to enjoy his the tour de force that was “Ohhh Blogging is a Place on Earth“).
Edinburgh had a significant presence this week, including a brilliantly inspiring keynote by Dr Ben Williamson from the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. He presented cutting edge research on edtech futures and left me feeling thoroughly inspired with lots of reading to do! The keynote line up of the entire event was stellar, as became immediately clear when Dr Abeba Birhane from the AI Accountability Lab kicked off the first morning. Her concluding thought, AI in education = commercialisation of a collective responsibilities, posed a welcome challenge to participants, to focus on that collective sense of responsibility, which pervaded the whole event. Prof. Felicitas Macgilchrist, the third keynote, was maybe my personal favourite, and her ethnographic approach to exploring Edtech as infrastructures of feeling really resonated with me. The brilliance of the keynotes was matched by the warmth the Co-Chairs and Conference Committee brought to all the plenaries and social events. The uniquely Irish welcome and mirth I’ve long loved about this event was palpable and welcome indeed as we explored some of the darker visions of technology in the classroom. Incidentally, I saw both Co-Chairs, Kate and Rob, present their own work as part of the conference, which only underlined how much their leadership put the ethos of the event into practice.
With seven parallel streams this year’s ILTA conference was busy indeed, and I came away inspired and with many notes and links of resources to explore. It’s nearly impossible to pick out highlights and yet for me there’s a moment that stood tall (forgive the pun) amidst the others. The Gasta sessions, always a highlight at ILTA and wonderfully vibrant and energetic under the inimitable leadership of Tom Farrelly, featured an unforgettable 4 minutes and 20 seconds delivered in an understated manner by Ian Linkletter in his Gasta: Standing tall in the face of tech giants. Suddenly, at twenty past five in the afternoon, when energies are usually low, the room turned silent and the atmosphere intense. I’ve never seen anyone, anyone, get a standing ovation after four minutes on stage, and yet I stood with the crowd of participants clapping loud and long for someone we all admire with awe. It was a moment to remember, to inspire – and to prompt each one of us to stand tall for what we believe in.
There were many more moments that will stay with me, including a fabulous conference dinner, and a lively debate “Big EdTech is getting worse (exactly as planned)” to bring the conference to a close. I’m full of energy for small edtech, slow edtech, open edtech, fragile edtech, messy edtech and the people who make all of this happening, the learning technologists, the educators, the researchers… in short, all the folk of ILTA.
It’s always a good sign when a conference makes you blog before, during and long after its days are ended and I can’t imagine a better compliment. So this is my salute to ILTA and its beautiful community! Long may you continue to support and celebrate each other across Ireland and beyond.
