The Conference Checklist

Notice how seminars, workshops and conferences are always OVERFLOWING with bottled water and sweets? What do they think the participants are? Dehydrated kids visiting the doctor?

What's supplied in abundance reveals what's prioritised. If H2O and Hicks rule the day, it would suggest that thirst and bad-breath are the main concerns of conferences. 

Yes, of course there're loads of pencils and paper but, in my experience, they're never nearly enough per participant. I gotta steal from the other (usually vacant) seat.

So what else, at 'international conferences', could be in supplied in cart-loads? What, if made more generously available, would encourage learning, interaction, and so on? How about:

• blogging facilities
• mind-mapping gadgets
• coloured pens (for the visual-heavy folks)
• post-its' (and I don't mean merely for the 'group activities')
• analytical templates (to guide those who've yet to figure what they're doing at the place e.g. what are the three most helpful things of this talk? etc.)
• free-flow coffee (for the insomniacally-challenged, of which there usually many at workshops)
• white-boards and/or flip-charts all over the walls (which everyone is encouraged to use)

Keep the list going. Most importantly, use it the next time you organise a get-together for like-minded people.

Mr Jon's Edu Apps

Some fun and fantastic Web 2.0 applications for use in teaching and learning. Almost a one-stop resource place!

Top 25 Web 2.0 Applications to Grow Your Business

Google Calendar, Campfire, Freshbooks, Proposable - the list by Neil Patel goes on.

Temple Grandin - "We Need All Kinds of Minds"

5 Reasons why Malaysian Graduates are Unemployed

from M'sian Insider...KUALA TERENGGANU, Feb 27 — Lack of industrial training and poor English are among five factors why graduates are unemployed, according to a study conducted by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

Other factors are low problem-solving skills, job-hopping and lack of self-confidence, said Higher Education Ministry student development and affairs director Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Ramlan.

He said as graduates were bogged down with poor communication skills in English, they should improve their command of the language.

“They have themselves to blame if they fail to convince employers on their potential,” he said when closing a two-day graduate etiquette programme at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu here today.

He said graduates should also avoid being choosy about jobs and shrug off bad attitude of preferring to work in ones’ hometown. — Bernama

Classroom Bullying

Elona Hartjes shares two stories on bullying :

1. "A student is trying to bully me"
2. "Stop bullying in my classroom"

Easier to teach Compliance than Initiative

A short note from Seth Godin:

Compliance is simple to measure, simple to test for and simple to teach. Punish non-compliance, reward obedience and repeat.

Initiative is very difficult to teach to 28 students in a quiet classroom. It's difficult to brag about in a school board meeting. And it's a huge pain in the neck to do reliably.

Schools like teaching compliance. They're pretty good at it.

To top it off, until recently the customers of a school or training program (the companies that hire workers) were buying compliance by the bushel. Initiative was a red flag, not an asset.

Of course, now that's all changed. The economy has rewritten the rules, and smart organizations seek out intelligent problem solvers. Everything is different now. Except the part about how much easier it is to teach compliance.

Frank McCourt podcasting "Teacher, Man"

If you haven't read the book,

you can hear McCourt read it (whilst you go and buy a copy, *grin*).

Five sites beyond Google

"I’d never argue that Google is always the fastest, most effective way to find facts, seek advice, take actions, or simply satisfy your curiosity about the world around you. Actually, there are more viable Google alternatives than ever. For the most part, they don’t compete by trying to out-Google Google at basic Web searching. Instead, they do useful things that Google doesn’t."

Harry McCracken shares some brief thoughts about Bing, Siri, Twitter, Aardvark and Wolfram/Alpha.

Jamie Oliver Against Obesity (TED Talk)