Category: Conferences / Events

What is Pecha Kucha?

Pecha Kucha is a presentation format.  It’s increasingly common at conferences and for #altc2011 a variation is being used for poster presentations.

Tokyo TowerPecha Kucha presentations are 6-minutes 40-seconds.  The speaker must use 20 slides that auto-advance every 20-seconds & you are not allowed to run-over! Strictly speaking each slide should only contain an image. The format was developed in Tokyo (hence the Japanese name) by two foreign architects: Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein. Pecha-Kucha roughly translates to chit-chat.

It’s a great format as it really makes you focus on what you need to say and keeps it short for the audience ;). It has been used to effectively at the LSE for students’ seminar presentations on a Geography course, with positive feedback from staff and students.

Pecha Kucha at ALT-C 2011

This year the traditional poster exhibition has been replaced by ePosters with accompanying short presentations spread over 6 sessions.  The presenters will be delivering Pecha Kucha style, but with different timings: a maximum of 9 slides for 45-seconds each & without the image-only restriction.  I’m really looking forward to these sessions and will be attending at least 3  (as I’m chairing them!).

How do you pronounce Pecha Kucha?

I’m not usually pedantic but as an ex-Tokyoite English teacher I have a duty to answer!  There are two basic options: traditional japanese (ie the correct way) or incorrectly (with limitless variations it seems).

  1. In Japanese it is pronounced pe-cha-ku-cha (ie as written) with equal stress on each of the 4 syllables
  2. The most common mis-pronunciations are pe-chak-cha or pe-chach-ka usually with emphasis on second syllable.

How many ways can you pronounce Pecha Kucha?


I’ve only tried it once, it’s hard.  This is a recording of my live PK on Cloudworks in 2009.

Full details: Less is more

Getting Ready for ALT-C 2011

An overview of online participation at the upcoming ALT-C 2011 Conference

Leeds University CampusIt’s just under two weeks until ALT-C 2011, the 18th international conference of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). I’m on the conference committee as one of the “Web Participation Co-ordinators” (WPCs!) and our role is to help ALT make best use of the internet for both delegates and non-delegates.

Participating online at #altc2011

Firstly some stuff that is new for 2011:

  • ALT Live Beta – fellow WPC @jamesclay and my LSE colleague Darren Moon will be broadcasting live from the conference exhibition space everyday. As the name implies this is experimental.  James & Darren will be interviewing speakers and delegates throughout the day.  James has likened it to Glastonbury Backstage 🙂
  • e-Posters – we have replaced the traditional conference posters, relocating them from the Exhibition space to the internet.  In addition, poster contributors will be giving short, Pecha Kucha style presentations, on their posters in 6 scheduled sessions.
  • Streaming Keynotes & Invited Speakers via Adobe Connect – this is a new tool rather than a new feature.  Adobe Connect is replacing Elluminate as the tool of choice.  The live sessions will be open to all offering non delegates access to live audio & video of the main conference presentations.
  • Slideshow – In the main lecture theatre as delegates enter & depart we will be showing a Twitterfountain.  It’s a combination of a photo slideshow and tweets.  The photos are fed from Flickr, Picasa, TwitPic, mobypic & yFrog.  So please upload your photos with the altc2011 tag.  Example TwitterFountain using altc2011 Twitter + altc2010 slideshow.
  • Conference Feeds – in addition to last year’s feed of blog feeds, this year there will be a feed of bookmark feeds and a feed of everything out there tagged altc2011: blog posts, flickr photos, diigo bookmarks, Slideshares etc etc etc.  The feeds (not much in them yet) are available on the conference website.They are created using Google Bundles.

More of the same (stuff from last year):

  • Conference website – again the main website for the conference is the ALT-C 2011 Crowdvine site, a social network pulling together all the online aspects of the conference, including the full programme & discussions. The website is public although participation is restricted to delegates.
  • Twitter & Facebook – both will undoubtedly be busy via the Twitter hashtag #altc2011 & the Facebook page.
  • Recordings of Keynotes & Invited Speakers – these will be available on the ALT Youtube channel soon after the conference.
  • Voting for Best Poster – viewing and voting for the best poster will be done via the conference site and open to all.

I think that’s your lot.  Hope to see you in Leeds!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt/1450421/

Using mobile devices in the classroom

Presentation at LSE Teaching Day 2011 on the use of PollEverywhere by the Media & Communications department & the Careers Service.

At the LSE Teaching Day I contributed to a presentation Use of mobile devices in the classroom for student participation & feedback (PDF of slides) given by staff and students from the Media & Communications department & the LSE Careers Service.

Students Komal Parikh  & Ev Boyle explained how they had enhanced a class student debate on media imperialism using PollEverywhere (See audience voting tools review).  The students had used 15 questions to gauge interest, check understanding & elicit questions. Judith Baines, an LSE Careers Advisor, had used the same tool to collect feedback from multiple groups.

Moodlemoot UK 2011 Keynote via Twitter

Report on the Gráinne Conole’s keynote at Moodlemoot 2011 based on the #mootuk11 twitter stream

Senate House (by @nrparmar)

I’m not physically at the UK Moodle conference this year.  There’s no live streaming (although the sessions are all being recorded), so I’ve been keeping an eye on the #mootuk11 Twitter stream to see what I can glean.

How well does Twitter capture a lecture?

I thought it might be interesting to write up the keynote based on my Twitter viewing.  It’s difficult to say how well this works; perhaps someone who was there will comment below.  I feel that I probably have a good idea of the broad topic but lack detail and the nuances of Gráinne’s thoughts.  Also, it’s not always clear when tweeters are giving their own view or reporting the speaker’s view.  I have lots of links because sharing links is a popular use of Twitter at live events.

Background

I know Gráinne, we’ve met a couple of times and I follow her blog and we’re friends on Twitter.  I mention this because it means I come to her keynote with a certain understanding of her work and the things she is interested in.  I know about her Cloudworks project and I gave an Introduction to Cloudworks (6-mins, includes audio) talk once.

Continue reading Moodlemoot 2011 keynote via Twitter

Report from Plymouth E-Learning Conference 2011

The Plymouth Elearning conference punches well above its weight. This year the school kids stole the show.

My conference highlight, offering us (HE) real food for thought, were the contributions from school students. I came across this quote ahead of the conference while preparing for my own session on blogging:

I love our blog, it’s so fun to go on. I learn lots of new things in our blog. I especially liked working with the other P5 class from Tannochside Primary on the rainforest. It’s awesome, I hope I get to come on tomorrow.

Chloe F, Year 5, Chapelside Primary School

Many of the sessions at pelc11 were great but the Student Voice Technology Showcase organised by Dan Roberts was my standout session. In all of the examples the students are active learners, creating and being creative.

Continue reading Report from Plymouth E-Learning Conference 2011

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