Sparked by #cesicon

ALONG WITH 340 others, I attended the 10th running of CESICON, the annual gathering of Irish educators who cleverly use clever computing to teach. The weekend empowered me with ideas and set down some markers that will improve the way I teach and the way I learn.

Although the keynote speeches deserved pride of place on the schedule, the popular acclamation--both on site and online--gave huge props to several presenters who deserve recognition beyond a 40-hour gathering.

Makey Makey featured at Teach Meet CESI on Friday evening, on Saturday during the main event and then resonated via Twitter and Audioboo with people affirming their enthusiasm for a host of Makey Makey tools.

James Corbett from MissionV brought his Oculus Rift headset and enthralled viewers through their own eyes or through a video capture of a 10 year old boy who used the head gear to explore an historic site. On the back channel, John Tierney described how his archeological research has created a 3D trench network that history students can use to explore WWI.

I have plenty of notes to follow lists of links suggested by Catherine Cronin, Joe Dale and Conor Galvin. And I have up to the second weekend in May to catch up before I meet these helpful educators again at #ictedu in Thurles.

[Photo of John Heffernan snapped by Lumia at the CESICON closing session.]