I’m liking the idea of TeachMeet, though as Steve Collis pointed out, a presentation is not always a conversation. I was impressed at TLV11 with the quality of concise nature of the Case Study presentations, which to me were a stand out of the two days, so have been rather obsessing about how useful it would be to share more of that kind of thing online. Even a micro or nano presentation still takes a lot of time to prepare, especially if you get hung up on production value. Twitter drives me nuts I have to say in the era of #hashtags and events. There are plenty of evocative statements, plenty of RT-ing, but I often struggle to put much of it into any context as a result of not ‘being there’ in person. It’s the debate and feedback that I’m interested in, and getting that as a result of presenting something that is more ‘use case based’ that a general rah-rah about the state of education.
Dr Mick Healey (2004) presented the idea of a swap-shop, which has been used to not only present work in progress use-cases, but also to allow people to commit what they are doing to paper (or other), so that other can access a sort of dumpster of ideas, some more complete than others. In his suggestion, he asks people to bring a one page concise document, but I think that these days, the written word is perhaps too limited a medium to convey the richness of technological ideas. I am always more interested in the problem and how it was overcome than how zippy a new tool is, so in presenting the format, it seems useful to break it down into managed segments.
As a suggestion, perhaps an augmentation of the TeachMeet format, I think it would be useful to allow people to post swap-meet ideas digitally online, and then to seek feedback online. So I’m putting forward the idea of TMSwapShop – so that those who can’t get there, can make a nano video and get nano-video responses online and from the event, recording on an iPhone (or other) or writing simple blog post, using a consistent format approach which enables use-cases to be built over time.
A nano-video, from which people can receive feedback using simple video-capture to avoid making a presentation or post production, seems a way to go, and perhaps during a teach meet, this can be discussed and video-responses/comments made – using a common format.
Suggested format for TMSwapShop
Title
Your Details (nano-bio)
Main features (amend to suit your practice / idea)
What was the initial prompt/problem?
What is the practice / idea trying to achieve?
How were (will) your practices changed (change)?
What are the gains and losses?
What was student (staff) feedback?
Do you have any other evidence that the activity/practice enhances student learning or teaching?
Comments and feedback welcome!
Well looking at TMSydney’s Mission your idea fits in well enough.
I can’t speak for the others but I think that part of TMSydney’s appeal is the opportunity to physically meet people and share our stories through presentations or during the networking breaks (1 hour out of 2 1/2 total, recommended format). I’ve only been twice and both had roughly the same formats but still unique due to the venue, theme, presenters and attendees; I quite like that variability within the structure. I certainly enjoyed both. I’ve also seen conversations continue via Twitter mostly, though through blogs as well, as a product of what was heard/seen at the teachmeet.
All that said, I agree that there is room for a wider form of sharing just as you suggest. And more case-studies is good. The question is, “Is teachMeet the right platform and if not, what is?”