Today I took part in the Learning and Teaching in the Sciences 2009 unconference at the University of Leicester. There were a number of participants from different parts of the UK and we had opportunity to discuss various aspects of teaching, learning and assessment.
I had opportunity to learn from colleagues on their strategies for providing feedback to large groups; particularly laboratory classes. It was also interesting to see that a number of colleagues had developed pre-practical assessment as we have done with Introductory Chemistry labs at Ulster.
Overall it was a very worthwhile event….
I suppose I should mention that the meeting started about 10:30AM and ended about 12:30PM with lunch. For most of us from N.Ireland this type of meeting involves an early morning start, drive to the airport, flight delay, taxi on the other side, attend the meeting and then do it all in reverse, arriving home on a Friday evening frazzled.
Today was a much more pleasant experience as I was able to follow and participate in the event via Twitter. In fact I didn’t even have to leave my desk. The conference could be followed via a Twitter hashtag (#uollts) or using the amazing TwitterFall which I only discovered after the event! Responses from non-attending delegates were relayed onto a screen in the conference room. So we all got our say!
This was networking in the best sense of the word. A big “thanks” to all who took part and most importantly to the organisers who made it such a great success.
Stephen McClean
22/5/09
PlanetChemistry's Blog 
Excellent. I’m glad you found it useful. And nice to make contact with you.
Really awesome example of social media tools being utilized to deliver convenience and functionality to an event of this nature. The important part of what you said, to me, was that you all got your say, because the Twitter feeds were displayed at the conference.
I’m always interested in perspectives like yours’ when it comes to using social media tools to enhance your day to day operations. Thanks for sharing!