I just returned from Quest 2010 in Toronto.

I must say this was one of the best conferences I’ve attended in a long time; 900 participants including parents, students, teachers, administrators, university types, government.

All sessions were conducted at round tables, even plenaries with 700+ people. It was a mega undertaking in a huge room with stage lighting throughout. That is, it was darkish with key lights so you could see people and interact at tables and with computers.

The keynote speakers were excellent, as were the two speakers (from Scotland and Ireland) whom I followed for two of the conference themes. Ollie Bray from Scotland was very good.

The Ontario Premier and Minister of Education each spoke briefly on Friday, signalling importance of education in Ontario.Michael Fullan (OISE), conference co-leader, commented that such a conference likely could not happen in B.C. He was referencing that while Ontario, BC, and Alberta score well on world education measures, BC remains an anomaly in Canada with little conversation across the education communities.

I guess I’d love to prove that view wrong by demonstrating a more federated approach to serving our learners across BC by finding a way to bring the conversations together.

Keynotes here: http://bit.ly/dr0x1P all streamed live by Rogers.

Links to excellent slides here:

• Cheryl Lemke’s slides (Best slides in my view)
• Ollie Bray’s slides: Emphasizing more about *what* to do with social technologies, rather than simply referencing their existence and capabilities.