Last year I made enquires about getting a cert IV in workplace training. Being a somewhat expensive and time demanding course I asked about credit for all my teaching experience only to be told that I could apply but I have only taught children, working with adults is much more difficult. I had to bite my tongue and never bothered to go any further. Any educator who has taught a wide range of abilities and age groups knows what really is harder.

Today I was at a presentation on Vocational Education Training for senior high school students, the presenters were from education and business sectors. They knew there material and spoke well but their lack of knowledge in using digital presentation tools was very apparent. They were connected to an IWB but didn’t even realise it, even when they did discover this fact they continued to ignore the board and fuddle around at their laptop.

Watching them made me realise how much more efficient their presentation would have been if they had simply known how to use the IWB or if the PowerPoints themselves weren’t so cluttered with text. Teachers are a critical audience as we do know how to present. Sitting there today I felt just like a student does when their teacher misuses technology in front of their class. Some points for at least trying but not a good experience for the audience.

Must have been because working with adults is so much harder.    ; )

When my kids were little be aquired a rather large teddy bear which was forever known as Big Ted.

The TED I really want to talk about stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. With origins way back in the early 1980’s, it is a conference that brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers. Unfortunately until recently I had never heard of it. Guess I don’t meet the above qualification. Whilst most of us mere mortals may never get to grace the TED conference floor, we can view the material presented there by visiting the TED website. TED’s title banner promises “Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers” and it delivers just that. There is no education category but there is a lot of educational relevance throughout the site. I found “Do schools kill Creativity” by Sir Ken Robertson particularly interesting.

The files can also be downloaded in several formats.