25 things I’m looking forward to at #altc

In the run up to the ALT conference next week  as it’s the 25th anniversary of ALT  I thought it might be fun to share 25 things I’m looking forward to at the conference.  As my little brain was trying to think of a good way to organise these things, the alphabet sprang to mind. Now I know what you are thinking, dear reader, there are 26 letters in the alphabet . . . however, it seems that sometimes 25 can be 26 and who am I not to follow the example of my co-chair.

So,  here are 25 things I’m looking forward to at the #altc conference 2018.

• a is for  ALT, the association itself
• b is for blogging – there has been a steady stream of pre conference blogs, but I’m really looking forward to the ones that are published during and after the conference
• c is for criticality, one of the themes of the conference and central to practice and research
• d is for debate, I’m sure there will be many across the three days of the conference
• e is for education, in all its guises
• f is for fun, every conference needs a good bit of fun
• g is for Gasta, a new feature inspired by our colleagues in Ireland
• h for hashtags, as well as #altc look out for others including #femedtech
• i is for inspiration, I know I will be inspired by my peers throughout the conference as I am at every #altc
• j is for juggling, I will be doing a lot of this in terms of what I am doing at the conference but I apparently I may also be attempting to actually juggle
• k is for kudos, lots of this will be shared throughout the conference
• l is for listening, I will be listening intently to all the sharing of practice, knowledge and research at all the sessions I can get to and of course during the keynotes
• m is for music, I am looking forward to the live music at the reception at the end of the first day and at the gala dinner
• n is for network, the conference is such a good way to catch up with your network both face to face and online
• o is for optimism, the alt conference always provides me with optimism about the difference that people and learning technology can make
• p is for playlist, if you can remember it, are your favourite tracks from 1993 (the year LT was founded) in this playlist?
• q is for queues, there are going to be over 400 people at the conference, we may have to queue at times but what a opportunity to have a chat with other delegates
• r is for reflection, I know I will be doing lots of this during and after the conference
• s is for shoes – ’nuff said. I am of course looking forward to the #shoetweets – though why everyone associates me with shoes I really don’t know . . .
• t – is for tea, a good cuppa is an essential part of any conference
• u is for understanding, every year the conference extends my understanding of lots of issues
• v is for Virtually Connecting, I’m delighted that we are hooking up with Virtually Connecting again for some virtual sharing with onsite and online buddies
• w is for web, the web a key technology for face to face and online participation in the conference
• x is for, well if I leave this one out it does mean I have 25 things . . .
• y is for Youtube, if you can’t make the conference in person all the keynotes and a greater number of session than ever before will be streaming and available on youtube
• z is for zzz, we’ll all need a wee bit of a rest on Thursday night