A very successful CESI Conference was held last weekend in Portlaoise. “Creative Technology for Challenging Times” was the theme of the conference. The Heritage Hotel was the venue on Friday night for the CESI Teach-Meet where there was a great variety of two-minute, seven-minute and fifteen-minute presentations. This is a fantastic format as everything was quick-fire and it certainly held your attention. The venue on Saturday was Portlaoise College where the keynote address was given by Joe Dale, author of the award-winning “Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom” Blog. The general consensus at the conference seems to have been that the journey would have been worth it to listen to his address alone. Joe threw out a myriad of ideas for integrating ICT into the curriculum in a very casual style. His address was certainly inspirational and challenging. Simultaneous workshops made up the rest of the day so it was impossible to make it to all of them. Feedback was generally positive about all of the workshops. Congratulations to the Executive and the Conference Committee of CESI for organising a great conference.

To give a flavour of the conference, some of the following were recommended by various speakers:

• Clonezilla – A free software disaster recovery, disk cloning and deployment solution. Allows a user to clone an individual machine or many computers simultaneously
• Twin Space – A multilingual tool designed specifically for eTwinning projects.
• Google Maps – using Google maps to look at World Heritage Sites in 3D
• Google Searches – using symbols to refine searches in Google
• Format Factory – free download to convert .wmv files to .flv files and to then upload them to Podbean, the podcast hosting website. This programme is also a multifunctional media converter.
• Live@Edu – Live@edu provides students, staff, faculty, and alumni long-term, primary e-mail addresses and other applications they can use to collaborate and communicate online.
• E-Teach Network – an interactive network where teachers can find out more about the use of ICTs in education, share ideas, experience and resources, engage with other teachers and promote good practice.
• Flickr Slidr – allows you to easily embed the classic flickr slideshows on your website or blog
• Voicethread – group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world
• Diigo – online social bookmarking website
• Ning – online social networks
• Personal Learning Network – creating a Personal Learning Network (PLN) with Web 2.0 tools
• Tweep ML -manage and share groups of Twitter users
• Camtasia Studio – record onscreen activity and edit it into a video
• Virtual Magnifying Glass – free, open source screen magnifier
• National Library of Ireland – full of great resources for the classroom including the National Photographic Archive
• Why Twitter is Great in the Classroom – blog post from Joe Dale’s Blog
• Search Youtube Via Username with RSS – blog post from Joe Dale’s Blog
• Zamzar – recommended for converting .flv files from Youtube to show in school
• Authorstream – online Powerpoint Presentations and Slideshow sharing
• Storybird – create online stories for sharing
• Moblogging – taking photos with your mobile and sharing them online
• Animation Factory – Powerpoint backgrounds, templates, animated clip-art and video backgrounds
• Xtranormal – create online animated movies
• There.com – online Virtual World
• FÍS Book Club – site for pupils to create online video book reviews
• Eurocreator – school’s digital media network
• FÍS Interactive – online CPD course on video making