The Irish Teaching & Learning Festival

The Irish Teaching and Learning Festival is the first ever interactive conference and exhibition focusing on the future of education in Ireland. It takes place this weekend in the Citywest Conference Centre, on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th October. The event consists of a large exhibition centre, with displays from a wide range of commercial, teaching and learning organisations including 3M, the Centre for Talented Youth, Edco, Gointeractive, MySchoolWriting.ie and many many more. In fact there over 80 exhibitors displaying their wares at the festival, aimed at all sectors of education including primary and secondary teachers, parents, principals, parents and management. There are also a whole series of workshops and seminars to allow everyone involved in the educational process in Ireland to air their views and share ideas. Many of these workshops will focus on the incorporation of technology, using podcasting, animations and film making, and on the effective use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Here are the seminars I'm most looking forward to:

• Friday 12pm - Advice for schools on purchasing ICT equipment - Tom Lonergan - NCTE - Creativity Suite
• Friday 2pm - Enquiry Based Learning Instruction in Junior Certificate Science - Joanne Broggy UL - The Promethean Demonstration Suite
• Friday 3pm - Keynote Address - Lord David Puttman - Keynote Theatre 
• Saturday 10pm - “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything around here?” - How Cloud Computing is transforming schools - Simon Lewis Anseo - Creativity Suite
• Saturday 1pm - Interactive White Boards: A Literature Review, National and International - David O’Grady - UL - Promethean Demonstration Suite
• Saturday 3pm - Virtual World Primary Schools Project - Using 3d Immersive Technology for the Support of Exceptionally and Twice Exceptional Students - Margeret Keane & James Corbett - Giftedkids.ie - Keynote Theatre

The event is sure to be an excellent opportunity for teachers to explore new ways of bringing innovation into their classroom and to share ideas with teachers with similar aspirations. I'm certainly looking forward to networking with peers with similar ideals. To obtain free admission, delegates must register their interest on their website: www.itlfestival.ie. For a complete programme of events click here or here to read their latest press release. I hope to see you there! Follow the ITL Festival on Twitter here.