Hi everybody!– She says…

(Academic information comes at the end, so… ignore the first maybe 1000000000 words please )

Well, my journey started from yesterday 12:05…

Stayed on the train for about 6 hours and arrived in Coventry at early evening, took a taxi to the Warwick University (cuz the writer of this blog has no sense of direction at all), arrived at Roots Hall reception later and got a key for the acommodation and a map of the campus, then got lost AS ALWAYS on the way walking to the accommodation…. finally arrived and setted down.

Had one ANXIOUS night in bed cuz I couldn’t stop thinking about the oral presentation that I need to do this morning.

Finally the morning came… went to put my poster on display and realized that ‘seems like i got the shape wrong…’ well, luckily the organizing lady found an extra board and let me to put my poster up…

… the presentation went ok, slightly better than I thought although I guess I can need be calm while giving a talk, (Plus, very happy to see a PC in the room, not a Mac lol)

I guess I could have put more information in the powerpoint and shouldn’t be worried about the timing too much.

Later, I listened a few very interesting presentations (and started to feel that I dont really need to spend too much time to make the powerpoint ifself looks nice, no need for pretty background, it is not a class for primary school children) … I like this one the most, “The uses and abuses of power: a foucauldian reading of refresentations of the headteachers in children’s literature” done by Pat Thomson. With the same title, a chapter was published this year. According to the handout and information can be found here: http://www.artsandcreativitysearch.org.uk

It was so interesting to see how headteachers are protrayed in children’s books.

I am particularly interested in papers relating to e-learning at BERA.  I have found the online abstracts quite time consuming to use and cross-reference back to the programme.

The VRE is the community section of the BERA website – the home of SIGs and other community activities.

During the conference Margaret Greenwood will be available for informal drop-in sessions to give support and guidance in the use of the VRE. Please email Margaret to let her know which session you wish to attend – margaret.greenwood@bera.ac.uk

Sessions will take place in Room 002, Humanities Building as follows:

Wednesday 1 September

• 12.30 – 1.30pm
• 3 – 4pm

Thursday 2 September

• 12 noon – 1pm
• 4 – 5pm

Friday 3 September

• 12 noon – 1pm
• 2.45 – 4pm

The conference program looks great. I have  found some great papers in my field of research interest (mathematics education).  Coming to Warwick will be my first trip to the UK (apart from a fleeting two days on the way to Copenhagen about 5 years ago). My memories of Heathrow are that it is large and chaotic.

Looking forward to meeting newbies to the conference. Shelley (from Australia)

Hmm – this is harder than you might think …

First problem I had – not realising how to approve messages (actually I am struggling with why I need to pre-approve messages given that we control who can post a message in the first place).

Second problem, which I think I am not alone in having, is really understanding who I am writing this for (and indeed why I am writing it – what I am hoping to achieve by writing it).  Several possible audiences (and purposes):

• Folk new to the BERA conference (helping them to get know other people through engaging in the process of blogging about it with others)
• Other attendees at the conference (eg if they want to find out about sessions they were unable to attend)
• Folk not able to attend the conference (eg to find out about papers presented)

I have added some categories to try to help posters and readers:

• BERA 2010 – Anything related to BERA 2010
• Early Careers Research Conference – Anything related to the Early Careers Research Conference on Wednesday 1st September 2010
• Introductions – for folk (who are blogging for BERA 2010) to introduce themselves
• Reflections – ‘Personal’ reflections on the experience of attending BERA 2010
• Session summary – Posts which provide a summary/analysis/reflection on a particular session in the conference

Any hints and tips on how to blog effectively are always welcome – as is feedback on individual blog posts …
(and remember that if you are tweeting then use #bera2010 )

PeterT

Hi everyone

I’m a newbie to BERA but probably regarded as an oldie in terms of conference attendance as I have attended many AARE conferences in Australia. This will be my first (extended) trip to the UK (apart from a flying visit to London overnight some years ago). I am looking forward to this conference that I have heard so much about from my peers at The University of Queensland where I am located.

Hello everybody. Just wanted to make sure this was working. I’ll be in Warwick in a few weeks for my first BERA conference. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Best regards from Basel.
Dean B.

It is great to join the team.

I am happy to know that BAA employees are working on a deal so that they will not go on strike. This means that international participants like me can come to the conference without being stranded at airports worldwide, waiting for British airports to open…

This is a new venture for me but I look forward to the possibilities. I am also looking forward to attending BERA for the first time.

Kia ora koutou
I am looking forward to BERA and to being part of this process. I am familiar with online learning as I teach some courses by flexible delivery. I notice that I am not the first New Zealander to post something. I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by the number of papers offered at BERA and realise I will have to put some time into deciding what to go to. I am presenting on a social justice theme  on research a colleague (Vicki Carpenter) and I conducted last year into the visibility and inclusion of LGBTT in our facutly of education.   I am also interested in my specific area of early childhood education and teacher education. Cheers Debora