Hello to all ka.
Last week, I was asked to give a talk on the topic of, 'Innovative Mobility for Sustainable Learning and Living', focusing on AIMS (Asian International Mobility for Students Program... a SEAMEO RIHED's flagship project) ka.
The event was organized in Thailand for the first time by BETT with a conference and expo. From its homepage, BETT is the global community for education technology to spark ideas, create connections, and accelerate trade, driving impact and improving outcomes for teachers and learners.
Admission was free and visitors could enjoy all the sessions plus free coffee and lunch ka.
My talk went for 20 minutes in a huge ballroom (and honestly, I was glad it wasn't filled up ka....if it did, I could have been even more nervous ka!)
Even when I've been sort of close in the RIHED circle, it wasn't that easy to prepare the talk. In any case, it was done by discussing several times with RIHED's Director, Dr. Romyen Kosaikanont to get detailed info for my further synthesis and proposed ideas.
Like other big conferences, the stage was well-equipped with tools to facilitate speakers from two screens down below the stage to show the slides, and digital time counter for us not to run over time ka. Both were biggggg enough for us to see clearly! Thank goodness. The technical team at the back helped with everything to make speakers' lives even simpler ka.....had a final ppt check on the stage screen and clipped a wireless digital microphone controlled by this team. Speakers only focused on the talks as someone would turn both on when needed.
I also had a chance to walk around the Expo section to talk with some exhibitors. Leading companies and agencies like Microsoft and the British Council were there ka. Quite a few promoted language learning tools. The British Council has both self learning and vdo talks with teachers online.
Here are what I learned from attending this event ka:
- Again, preparing a talk takes time to synthesize info and form some ideas that could be useful to the audience. With such a limited time, I didn't even share what exactly SEAMEO RIHED was. The session moderator was asking how to pronounce it and what it was for his own introduction ka.
- Such a stage setup and time alloted didn't allow any questions or comments like what traditional keynotes are na ka. (I quietly felt good kraaa!)
- On one hand, having BETT in Thailand was a real plus in an economic term (numbers of our Thai people hired to work for the two days and the hotel as its venue). On the other, it was unfortunate that not so many Thais were there to learn more about what's been going on in EdTech and what could be most applicable to our institutions.
I couldn't help but think of when I registered for a big event like NAFSA (International event for international educators held in the US). Fulbright had to pay a high registration fee. BETT was held here in Bangkok, offering free access and food! It could have been well-attended by seniors and many more from our university communities na ka.
- The exhibition section told us clearly that Thailand's
still the right place to sell language learning courses ka . Wonder when we
can cross this language barrier.....nothing can help much except each
individual to feel self-motivated with the urge to acquire the language skills
na ka.
- Personally, I think Thailand has always been able to keep up with modern technologies. But the challenging issues stay the same ka -- how to engage humans to optimize and maximize the use with integration to respond to reduce our weakness and strengthen our core objectives of learning. This was one of the key points I stressed in my talk ka. Technology isn't everything. IT people need to see themselves as part of the overall organization culture and driver of vision/mission. Both IT and others in the university community need to work together in some of the key processes with consistent communication.
- After I was done with my talk, a few came to me to mention my energy ka. Wasn't sure how to react to it as I felt it could have been too much and I may need to learn how to control it not to be too much!?! However, if my energy level could draw people's attention, what could tell me about the content shared? Really curious about the latter ka.
Get sick with my sharing about speeches mai ka? If not, I have 2 more talks in the coming weeks and may share with you here naaa kaaa! Watch out kraaa!
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