The Computer in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) is gearing up for its annual conference on Saturday February 22nd, and, as it’s the 40th anniversary of the foundation of CESI, the theme of this year’s conference is “CESI 4.0: Back To Our Future”. The conference will be held this year in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) campus in Galway. The blend of talks, workshops, vendors and networking opportunities which has proven so popular in previous years will again be a feature of this year’s conference.
Friday Night CESI Meet
As always, the conference will be preceded on the Friday night by a CESI Meet in the Clayton Hotel, Galway. This follows a “Teachmeet” format where the atmosphere is less formal. Presentations are delivered in three formats: Nano (2mins), Mini (7 mins) and Soap Box (15 mins). Throughout the evening there are usually competitions and spot prizes and the evening finishes off with refreshments and chat.
Keynote Speakers
John Naughton is Vice-President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University and the Observer’s technology columnist. Born, raised and educated in Ireland before moving to the United Kingdom, John is an electrical engineer, academic, journalist, lecturer, blogger and photographer. You can read John’s blog at http://memex.naughtons.org/ and follow him on Twitter at @jjn1.
Dan Meyer taught high school maths for six years, studies math education at Stanford, and speaks internationally. He has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, and Everyday With Rachel Ray, and his TED Talk ‘Math class needs a makeover’ has been viewed over one million times. Dan was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future. Dan lives in Mountain View, California. You can read Dan’s blog at http://blog.mrmeyer.com/ and follow him on Twitter at @ddmeyer.
Registration
Registration for the Conference is now open on the CESI website. Tickets for the Friday night CESI Meet are sold out but you can join a waiting list. However, you can register and pay for the Saturday conference/workshops through the website. For teachers interested in the integration of technology in the classroom, registration for this annual conference is a must. Early registration for the conference would greatly assist the committee with the organisation of the event.
Presentations/Workshops
The conference programme has just been released and presentations and workshops at the conference include:
* “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” A comparative analysis of Dragon Naturally Speaking V11 with Windows Vista Speech recognition plug-in. Its impact and uses for students with Dyslexia in a classroom environment
* “To look at the universe through the eyes of others” – Connecting language classrooms with Cultura
* 40 Technologies for the Classroom (presentation by Seomra Ranga)
* A Creativity Crisis? How do we make Space for the Hackers and the Makers?
* A Critical Framework for the Future of i-Technologies in 21 Century Schools
* An Apple a Day…
* Be a 3D Superhero
* Computational Science: A Hands-on Workshop
* Creating Online Learning Resources for Home , School and the iPad / Tablet
* CyberBullying in the Classroom
* Delivering the new Junior Cert using ICT
You can get more information about the full workshop/presentation programme HERE
You can follow CESI on Twitter at @cesitweets to keep up-to-date on all things CESI, and use the hashtag of #CESI40 for specific information on this year’s conference, including real-time tweets from attendees and participants on Friday evening and Saturday.
