Archive for February, 2012
My own TIES 2012
Hi there,
TIES 2012 is now over. You know I love congresses, but this one was special in one particular regard for me: I’m a big
Punya Mishra
fan, in a perfectly professional academic way, of Punya Mishra and TPACK, and as I was participating in the organizing committee of this congress, I suggested him as a key note speaker. Surprisingly for me, many of my colleagues did not know of him or his research and I thought that was a great opportunity to bring America closer to Europe. I was not wrong. Punya did generously accept our invitation and now he has many more fans just like me this side of the Atlantic, because his presentation was just what I knew it was going to be: Inspirational! There are people you listen to that make you want to do better, to change things for better… Punya makes me want to be a better teacher, to learn more, to explore more, to innovate and share more.
TIES 2012 was also special in this one thing too: it was very participatory. There was plenty of time for discussion after the presentations – I was in some very interesting discussion rooms-, but there were also moments to continue discussion, like the “meet the expert” and “Discuss” spaces. The conclusions of the congresses, which the organizing committee went gathering and elaborating every day over lunch were discussed and completed in an open session which closed the meeting. They will be published in the TIES 2012 web page soon.
After three days of intense discussion and months of preparation, we ended Friday 3rd worn out. Even so, I was so happy for managing to hold on to the end. People who are able to persist till the very last minute of a congress leave with a feeling of “duty done” that feels just fine.
TIES 2012 left me with a philosophical question… In many presentations and discussions I noticed a tension between control and freedom, creativity and usability, learners’ or market driven pedagogical approaches… Where do we find the correct balance between those forces in our educational practices? How do they affect my pedagogical practices? There are no easy answers for those questions, but that is the thrill of the academic work… Every new piece of information you have produce many new questions to think about. Keep thinking, let’s keep thinking you guys!
And take a lot of care!
=)
