A better conference wordle

Just taken out all the usernames from the conference wordle which results in something more informative and less self-referential (a part from the word 'twitter!). Click on it to see the original and bigger image.

Quick conference wordle

Just got back from an excellent Association for Learning Development in Higher Education conference. I'll write more of a report another time but just wanted to put up a wordle for the #ldhen10 conference hashtag (downloaded these using this Twitter tag downloader tool)

Hmmm, probably should have taken out the usernames using edit/replace as well as the hashtag! Still, another time...

Same talk different conference

Well, it's not quite the same talk but a catchy title I thought!

On 31 March I'm running a workshop at the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education conference in Nottingham with Becka Currant from the University of Bradford. The title is Engaging without invading: using social networking tools to connect with students.

The abstract that we submitted a while back says the following.

Use of social networking tools has exploded over the last few years with staff and students making more use of tools to stay in touch with each other. Both the University of Bradford and University of Leicester have used tools such as twitter, facebook and other social networks e.g. the Develop Me! ning site to keep students in touch with each other and also to promote University activities and support services.

And we've said this session will:

• provide an overview of some of these tools and how they have been used at Bradford and Leicester
• give participants an opportunity to explore how they could use the tools to support the learning of students and staff
• stimulate debate and discussion about whether or not these tools are useful in supporting the development of skills in staff and students

You can see my draft slides below - they cover the overview of stuff I've been doing in Leicester. I'd really appreciate any comments you have on them because I want to make this really clear.

Engaging Without Invading

View more presentations from Stuart Johnson.

However, these slides are just introductory - covering the what-we're-doing-at-Leicester bit. Becka will also give an overview of her work in developing http://developme.ning.com/ at Bradford. But we have the workshop punters for 90 minutes in an IT lab so the big question for me is what do we with them for the rest of the time? Any suggestions? In my experience it's very difficult to introduce people to web 2.0 tools, in particular social networking tools, in a workshop environment. So what do you suggest?