{"id":4612,"date":"2018-07-01T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/knowledge\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2022-12-19T17:55:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T17:55:58","slug":"edtechx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/knowledge\/edtechx\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Educational tech conferences and should you go to them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conferences on Technology in education are a great way to keep up to date on what is happening\u00a0<\/em>and how you can turn attendance into a plus for you. Here Gus Worth focuses on one of the biggest\u00a0<\/em>such conferences, EdtechX<\/em><\/p>\n

Author\u2019s note: Neither I nor Vedamo are connected to EdtechX in any way<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are a teacher and wish to work online, perhaps by setting up your own business, or you have a\u00a0physical school and you don\u2019t want to be left out of the digital revolution, then educational technology\u00a0conferences are for you. In this article I will concentrate on probably the biggest to give you a flavor of\u00a0what it is all about, EdtechX. So, what is it? It is where the top technological educational players get\u00a0together yearly to pool knowledge, showcase products and ideas, link with investors and push on online\u00a0education. It happens in Europe in the Summer, early Autumn in Africa and late Autumn in Asia and,\u00a0with side events, lasts about a week each time.<\/p>\n

Who will be there and what are the topics?<\/h2>\n

What can you expect? All the big names will be there, a random sample from this June\u2019s(2018) one in\u00a0London reveals the BBC, Coursera, Google, Lego, Rosetta Stone, Babbel and countless others. There are\u00a0constant talks, discussions, demonstrations, and also the chance to walk around and talk to companies\u00a0at their stands. There are simultaneous events, so be warned, you need to prioritise what you want to\u00a0see or participate in unless you bring a team and and can manage to fit everything in. It can be a bit\u00a0overwhelming and difficult to take it all in.<\/p>\n

An illustration of the topics reveals a diverse range: Eternal Learning, Global Networks, The Power of\u00a0Artificial Intelligence and Personalising Education, Redefining the Classroom, and Startup Pitches give\u00a0you just some idea of the choices. If you have an interest in tech education, whether within a company\u00a0or an educational establishment or a startup, you should be there.<\/p>\n

Companies are now trainers<\/h2>\n

The big shift in recent years has been that companies are increasingly taking responsibility for the\u00a0training and education of their staff. Some, like Google, have a preference for taking staff from high\u00a0school and training them themselves. In company training is constantly increasing as work becomes\u00a0more and more specialized. This is reflected strongly in Ed tech conferences. Opportunities abound for\u00a0those who can provide such training whether as a teacher or organization.being\u00a0forged. You will be able to see and hear these workings at first hand.<\/p>\n

We have the ability to link education remotely and now the challenge is to do it successfully. That is\u00a0proving difficult. Uptake of online education is proving a little slower than anticipated. Still it is moving\u00a0upward. These and other events help to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n

Having fun<\/h2>\n

Another important point is the fun you can have as you watch robots, 3D teaching, clever use of videos,\u00a0niche products, and those that are pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved. And sometimes\u00a0have a laugh as the technology fails as a robot did on stage 2 years ago in London. Or I can remember\u00a0Lord David Puttnam, the former Hollywood film producer now heavily involved in online education, who\u00a0got very angry because they couldn\u2019t get his microphone to work. Even the highest tech can let us down.\u00a0Keeps us humble, I suppose.<\/p>\n

Networking<\/h2>\n

As for networking, it is unsurpassed, although you may have to be patient to grab a chat with some of\u00a0the more popular participants. No matter what your desire, whether you want a job teaching with some\u00a0of these companies, you want to push your startup, or you want to connect your school or company to\u00a0online providers, they are all there from the top to, if not quite the bottom, certainly small scale\u00a0operations.<\/p>\n

You can go to the talks and grab your chance to talk to the speakers afterwards or wander\u00a0around the stands, get a private demonstration and introduce yourself as a potential employee or\u00a0contractor. I do have to say here, though, that it is not a place for a wallflower. The speakers are often\u00a0high-powered, busy and in huge demand. You may have to bustle your way to the front. I have done this\u00a0myself when I really wanted to talk to someone. Of course, as an attendee, you do get access to\u00a0contacts for all participants so you can get in touch afterwards as you assess who is most useful to you.
\nYou will also find your own email inbox has had a few hits as companies try to network with you.<\/p>\n

Increasing our knowledge<\/h2>\n

Ed tech conferences also provides a great opportunity to increase your knowledge, to see how pedagogy\u00a0is changing, to reflect deeply on our new world and see if you can apply the ideas to your own teaching.\u00a0Areas such as A.I., lifelong learning, teaching in developing countries, working across cultures, teaching\u00a0individualized courses, teaching mass courses, training in specialized areas for companies and, of course,\u00a0the largest area for online teaching, language training are all in flux at the moment. These and other\u00a0parts of the educational world are occupying the minds of the experts and new directions are<\/p>\n

It could be essential<\/h2>\n

The only real downside to attendance, for me, is the expense. The ticket (not cheap) and travel plus\u00a0accommodation all take a good slice out of your budget. You need to be seriously interested and feel it\u00a0can make an impact on your life. However, if you are an educational establishment, university or\u00a0whatever, I believe it is essential to send someone so they can keep your organization ahead of the\u00a0curve. After all a keynote discussion at this year\u2019s London EdtechX was \u201cWill schools exist 50 years from\u00a0now?\u201d. You don\u2019t want not to exist, do you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conferences on Technology in education are a great way to keep up to date on what is happening\u00a0and how you can turn attendance into a plus for you. Here Gus Worth focuses on one of the biggest\u00a0such conferences, EdtechX Author\u2019s note: Neither I nor Vedamo are connected to EdtechX in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":4614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[975,976],"yst_prominent_words":[6984,6985,6982,6979,6986,1397,6323,6981,6987,103,118,6980,1400,202,1097,6729,6983,1727,1081,70],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4612"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39220,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions\/39220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/media\/4614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}