#ILILC2 SUNDAY KEYNOTE JOSE PICARDO KEYNOTE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Sunday morning was the night after the Show and Tell on the Saturday night (a whole post on that to follow at a later date) but the lure of Jose Picardo talking about social media in education was strong enough to see a full house at an early hour on the second day of the conference.

José started off by pointing out that the new tecnologies being used in some classrooms is comparable to reaction of society with the advent of post boxes, pencils, etc The same can be said re the use of internet and it isn’t going anywhere. Yet in this day and age, many teachers are pedagogically unconvinced of the benefits of the internet.

The first point to bear in mind is that our pupils still need to be taught how to use the technologies. Bear in mind that it is perfectly alright to learn along with your students, points out José. Do not be friends with your pupils on Facebook as you are exposing yourself and them to unacceptable risk. However it is good to have school and/or departmental pages.

José moved on to talk about "the people formerly known as the audience" As teachers, we need to bear in mind that they have editing suites in their pockets and that we do them a disservice if we ban mobile phones, given that we are then abandoning them to their own fate. The benefits of using the pupils' mobiles, etc, are that these are free tools for the school so there is no financial investment. As José asks, were we that different when we were young? Same behaviour, different tools...

In Jose's school, phones are allowed, with 6th years hooking into the school wifi on their own devices. The school recognises that there is a need to avoid inappropriate behaviour of course but that pupils are more likely to be bullied in the school corridor or on the bus. By banning mobile phones, schools are ensuring that pupils use them on their own without guidance and without rules of practice.

As a profession, teachers themselves not always good at using social networking appropriately but we are learning as we go. José comments that we are not too far from considering social media as normal in education, and teaching is evolving to catch up with learning

A key question is if we should we teach ICT in schools or if it should be embedded in the curriculum through other subjects? There is a new skill set coming up and currently pupils are having to learn by themselves. José is not advocating giving up on all that is going on in your classroom, by any means. Social media can be used to knock down the school walls and bridge the gap between home and school. Yes, there is a lot of inappropriate material on the net but they are fully exposed to that at home so by ignoring that, we are sticking our fingers in our ears.
Possibilities include:
• Learning on demand eg VLEs
• Voki was never designed for education but has been used for that purpose
• Blog
• Comments on peer assessment
• Blog on trip
• Flickr page
• Learning environment
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Edmodo

This was a great keynote, lots of food for thought for those of us who still have a long way to go before we reach the point in the road that José's school has got to, but with the promise that we should all get there, hopefully sooner rather than later..
And to end on a silly note... Alas, as we all went into near-hysteria at the thought of the impending pronunciation of 'Edmodo', José taunted us and refused to say it. However, the canny Zena Hilton saw us right, and a roomful of females swooned as the bashful Sr Picardo said 'the word' It was worth coming to Southampton just for that!

#ILILC2

So my second visit to Southampton for the ICT Links in Languages was much anticipated and did not fail to impress. There was much excitement amongst the attending members of the #MFLTwitterati on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the conference, both from those of us lucky enough to have attended last year, and those who were coming for the first time.
There was a gathering of the clans on the Friday night, with the unveiling of the wonder that is Suzi Bewell's #mfltwitterati t-shirts.

This set the tone for the whole weekend. The workshops and talks were excellent, led by Joe Dale and José Picardo's fab keynotes, and the chance to network, meet new enthusaistic language teachers and chat was superb. I am going to blog about the brilliant workshops and talks I attended over the next week or so, but suffice to say there was plenty of expertise, stimulation and humour on show.
The highlight for many was the Show and Tell on the Saturday night, with just the right level in terms of weightiness of topics combined with singing, dancing and general euphoria. It is enough to mention human dominoes, Tchik et Tchak, turnips and barmen to provoke sniggers and laughs from all who were there.
In these days of pressure and stress, #ILILC2 was a much needed tonic and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with many of my PLN whom I now consider true friends.