Congratulations to the PLE_BCN team for organising a great event in Barcelona – fabulous venue, interactive sessions, interesting people (with over-large egos refreshingly absent) and lovely food.
The scene was set before the event started with a request from the organisers for us to design our own conference badges – the creative results are showcased here
Interaction was the name of the game, and Twitter the tool of choice (more than 5,000 contributions from both the audience and from #PLE_BCN followers all around the world). The Session Chairs highlighted relevant tweets sent while the presentations were taking place, and Twitterfall displayed them all to the room. @cristinacost put me on the spot in the first session by asking me to elaborate on one of my tweets – and so the first time we meet face to face she is shoving a microphone at me!
In the first Keynote, @courosa and @grahamattwell had a few technology challenges to overcome but their keynote ‘walked the talk’ on Personal Learning Environments, bringing in contributions by video and making effective use of the skrbl boards where people could raise questions and start debates relating to each of the key conference themes. These items then display in real time on the virtual white board.
In the second Keynote , @ictologist and @jordi had us moving around the room to ‘vote with our feet’ and complete the grids displayed in their slides, on issues such as whether the PLE should be located inside or outside the institution. The results may have been slightly skewed by hopeless Brits like myself misinterpreting the instructions (given in Spanish…)
A few reflections to end this post…despite all the talk of engagement and interactivity in PLEs, some presenters seemed keen to stick with the traditional delivery model, and even amongst an enthusiastic audience, not everyone wants to engage all of the time…we need some “down time” to catch up on what’s been happening in our own PLNs, or just to chat in the cafe with other delegates. And there are different types of engagement – some people go for quantity of contributions, others for quality (and a few lucky peeps even manage to do both! You know who you are…)
Finally, here is the summary of today’s PLE_BCN tweets from Archivist
Next week I’ll be in Sunny Spain at the PLE Conference (@PLE_BCN)
What is a PLE you might well ask?
Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) include the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals. It represents a shift away from the traditional model of consuming information through independent channels such as the library or textbook, and towards a more active approach where connections are made and relationships are developed both online and offline. A PLE also puts learners in charge of their own learning processes, challenging them to reflect on the tools and resources that help them to learn best.
In a refreshing contrast to many academic conferences, this event looks likely to “practice what it preaches”:
- The keynote speakers ( including @courosa and @grahamattwell) have already posted up video and slides previewing their sessions and requesting comments and questions from the delegates.
- The conference hashtag (@PLE_BCN) has been active on Twitter for many weeks.
- We have been asked to design our own ID badges, with the instruction to “be creative”
- There is an active conference social network on Crowdvine
- And a YouTube channel
Amongst all this innovation and creativity, are my boring powerpoint slides:
I will blog some feedback about the event next week 
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